Family Court Judge appointed

Auckland barrister Maureen Southwick QC has been appointed a Family Court Judge, Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson announced today.

Judge Southwick QC was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1971 and was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 2003. She practices in Auckland principally in the areas of family, relationship property and trust law.

She is a former partner with Brookfields and is a Fellow of the International Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers. She has also served on the New Zealand Law Society Family Law Committee, presented papers at family law conferences both here and overseas, and has published a number of articles in these areas of the law.

Judge Southwick QC will sit in Manukau. She will be sworn in on 7 October 2011 in Auckland.