Faculty of Law Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture

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Justice Susan Glazebrook

Justice Susan Glazebrook was appointed to the High Court/ Te Kōti Matua o Aotearoa in April 2000, the Court of Appeal/Te Kōti Pīra o Aotearoa in May 2002 and to the Supreme Court/ Te Kōti Mana Nui o Aotearoa in August 2012.  She is a graduate of the University of Auckland: DipBus (Finance), LLB (Hons), MA (First Class Honours).  She also has a DPhil from the University of Oxford (Criminal Justice in Revolutionary France).

Prior to her appointment to the Bench, Justice Glazebrook was a partner in the firm Simpson Grierson, specialising in tax and finance law.  In 1998, Justice Glazebrook was the President of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association (IPBA), an organisation of business lawyers in the region.  She also served on the board of South Auckland Health, the Board of Trustees of the National Provident Fund and a number of government advisory committees.  She was a member of the Tax Education Office from 1989 to 1998.

Since becoming a judge, Justice Glazebrook served on the Advisory Council of Jurists for the Asia-Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions from 2002 to 2010 and, from 2007 to 2012, chaired the Institute of Judicial Studies/Te Kura Kaiwhakawā, the body responsible for judicial education in New Zealand. She currently chairs Tomo Mai, a cross-bench committee looking at ways at make the courts in Aotearoa/New Zealand more inclusive.  She is the President of the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), a organisation of over 6500 members from some 100 countries and territories around the world. The IAWJ is dedicated to the promotion of the rule of law, gender equality and access to justice.

Justice Glazebrook is a Distinguished Alumni of the University of Auckland (2005) and a Distinguished Fellow of Victoria University of Wellington Law School.  In 2014 she was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the judiciary.

Selected publications

Journal articles

  • “Tax As An Instrument of Social Policy” (2021) 54 VUWLR 785
  • “A Call for Diverse Thinking – Address at the 65th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women” (2021) NZWLJ 114
  • “The Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the Courts” (2019) 25 Auckland U L Rev 11
  • “Meeting the Challenge of Corporate Governance” (2019) 34 Aust Jnl of Corp Law 106
  • “The Refugee Convention in the 21st Century” (2018) 49 VUWLR 477
  • “A Charity in all but law” (2019) 42(2) MULR 633
  • “Miscarriage by Expert” (2018) 49 VUWLR 245.
  • “Academics and the Supreme Court” (2017) 48 VUWLR 237
  • Intermediate and Final Courts of Appeal: Chalk and Cheese?” (2017) 26(2) JJA 98
  • “Gender Myths and the Legal Profession” (2016) Canterbury Law Rev 10
  • “Do they say what they mean and mean what they say?” (2015) 14 OLR 61
  • “Restoring Image and Trust Through Judicial Training on Communication” (2014)(2) Journal of the International Organization for Judicial Training
  • “Statutory interpretation, tax avoidance and the Supreme Court: reconciling the specific and the general” (2014) 20 NZJTLP 9
  • “Voices of New Zealand’s Women Judges: Oral History Project” (2013) Oral History in New Zealand
  • “Assessing Witnesses: Can the skills be taught?” (2013) 1 International Organisation of Judicial Training Journal (with Justice Lynn Smith, Canada)
  • “What makes a leading case? The narrow lens of the law or a wider perspective?” (2010) 41 VUWLR 339
  • “Risky Business: Predicting Recidivism” (2010) 17 Psychiatry Psychol. & L. 88
  • “A Specialist Patent or Intellectual Property Court For New Zealand?” (2009) 12 The Journal of World Intellectual Property 542
  • “Human rights and the environment” (2009) 40 VUWLR 293
  • “Looking outwards” (2005) 11 Otago Law Rev 131
  • “Clinical Governance and External Audit” (2001) 21 Journal of Quality in Clinical Practice 30 (with J G Buchanan)
  • “Transfer pricing in the absence of Comparable Market Prices” (1992) 77(a) Cahiers de Droit Fiscal International

Books and book chapters

  • “Lady Hale: a Personal Reflection” in Rosemary Hunter and Erika Rackley (eds) Justice for Everyone: the Jurisprudence and Legal Lives of Brenda Hale (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2022)
  • “Unjust enrichment” in The Promise of Law: Essays Marking the Retirement of Dame Sian Elias as Chief Justice of New Zealand (LexisNexis New Zealand Ltd, Wellington, 2020)
  • “Comment: Mired in the past or making the future?” in Richard Ekins (ed) Judicial Power and the Balance of our Constitution (Policy Exchange, London, 2018).
  • “Keeping It Clean and Green: The Case for Constitutional Environmental Protection Rights” in Caroline Morris, Jonathan Boston, Petra Butler (eds) Reconstituting the Constitution (Springer-Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg GmbH & Co. K, Germany, 2011)
  • “Filling the Gaps” in R Bigwood (ed) The Statute: Making and Meaning (LexisNexis New Zealand Ltd, Wellington, 2004)
  • The New Zealand Accrual Regime, A Practical Guide (1989), joint with Robin Oliver (1999 2nd ed), joint with Jan James, Andra Glyn-Jones and Greg Cole
  • “The Rationale and Long-Term Objectives behind the Recent Taxation Reforms” in Claudia Scott (ed) Women and Taxation (Institute for Governance and Policy Studies, Wellington, 1993)

Unpublished papers

2014 – present

  • “Climate change is not gender neutral” (AWJA Regional Meeting “Equality, Climate Change and Impact on Women” (Buenos Aires, 18–-19 August 2022)
  • “A history of International Association of Women Judges programmes - then and now” Get Inspired: Innovation in Judging and in the North (Joint Canadian Chapter of the IAWJ and National Judicial Institute Program, Yellowknife, Canada, 21-23 June 2022)
  • “Cyberviolence and Electronic Evidence – Opening Address” (IAWJ Regional Conference South American and the Caribbean 26–27 November 2021)
  • “The Rule of Law: Guiding Principle or Catchphrase?” (The University of Waikato & Mackenzie Elvin Law 2021 annual public lecture, Tauranga, 26 May 2021)
  • “The Role of Judges In Climate Governance and Discourse” (Asia Pacific Judicial Conference on Climate Change: Adjudication in the Time of Covid-19, virtual conference, November 2020)
  • “Women and technology” (IAWJ Asia-Pacific Regional Conference, Bohol, 28 February 2019)
  • “The interaction between custom and human rights in constitutions of Papua New Guinea and other Commonwealth countries” (Sir Salamo Injia Lecture Series No 3, Port Moresby, 29 November 2018)
  • “To tax or not to tax: capital gains in New Zealand” (presented at Rise, Australian Bar Association Conference, Sydney, 15-17 November 2018)
  • “Custom and Constitution in the Nigerian Supreme Court” (presented at the Fourth International Meeting of Judging with Gender Perspective, Mexico City, 27-28 September 2018)
  • “Diversity on Boards” (presented at New Zealand Law Society Intensive on Corporate Governance, Wellington, 1-2 June 2017)
  • “Trafficking in the Asia Pacific Region: a Never Ending Tale of Woe” (presented at the Summit of Women Judges and Prosecutors on Human Trafficking and Organized Crime, Casio Pio IV, Vatican City, 9-10 November 2017)
  • “When there becomes here: the domestic application of foreign law” (presented at the Banking and Financial Services Law Association Conference, Queenstown, 29 August 2016)
  • “Mr Big Operations: Innovative Technique or Threat to Justice?” (presented at the Judicial Colloquium, Hong Kong, 22-26 September 2015)
  • “Family Violence – Domestic Measures for a Global Problem” (presented at the Asia-Pacific Regional IAWJ Conference, Philippines, 13 May 2015)
  • “It’s just a matter of time and other myths” (presented at CLE Conference, Women, the Law – and the corner office , 31 October 2014)
  • “Protecting the Vulnerable in the 21st Century: an International Perspective” (Shirley Smith address, Wellington, 17 September 2014)
  • “Cross-pollination or contamination: global influences on New Zealand law” (presented at University of Canterbury, 7 August 2014)

2010 – 2013

  • “From Zaoui to Today: a Review of Recent Developments in New Zealand’s Refugee and Protected Persons Law” (presented at the International Association of Refugee Law Judges Regional Conference, Sydney, 23 March 2013)
  • “Taxation Disputes in New Zealand” (presented at the Australasian Tax Teachers Association Conference, Sydney, 22 January 2013)
  • “Streamlining New Zealand’s Criminal Justice System” (paper presented at Law Conference 2012: Reforming the Criminal Justice System of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 17 November 2012)
  • “The Report of The Advisory Council of Jurists: Sexual Orientation and Gender Equity in The Asia-Pacific Region” (presented at the Asia-Pacific Human Rights Conference, Wellington, 16–18 March 2011)
  • “Judging in an International World” (presented at the 2010 Inter Pacific Bar Association Conference, Singapore, 4 May 2010)
  • “Refugees, Security and Human Rights: Working out the Balance” (presented at the Critical Issues in Regional Refugee Protection conference, organised by the International Association of Refugee Law Judges, Sydney, 12 February 2010

1997 – 2009

  • “Immigration and Judicial Review” (presented at theAustralian Supreme and Federal Court Judges Conference, Hobart, 24-28 January 2009)
  • “To the Lighthouse: Judicial Review and Immigration In New Zealand” (presented at the Australian Supreme and Federal Court Judges Conference, Hobart, 24-28 January 2009)
  • “Human Rights in The Asia-Pacific Region” (presented at AGM Wellington Women Lawyers’ Association, Wellington, 28 May 2007)
  • “Conflicts of Interest: The New Zealand Perspective” (presented at the 23rd Annual Banking & Financial Services Law & Practice Conference, Surfers Paradise, 11-12 August 2006)
  • “The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990: Its Operation and Effectiveness” (presented at the South Australian State Legal Convention, Adelaide, 22-23 July 2004)
  • “Infrastructure for Trading Success” (presented at Women in APEC Meeting, New Zealand, June 1999)
  • “The Role of the Rule of Law in the Asian Economic Crisis” (presented at the Presidential address given at the Plenary session of the Inter-Pacific Bar Association Ninth Annual Conference, Bangkok, 1 May 1999)
  • “Regional Attempts at Harmonisation of Law in Asia” (presented at the American Bar Association Conference (San Francisco) August 1997

Most of the above unpublished speeches and papers are available on the Courts of New Zealand website: Speeches, papers and interviews — Courts of New Zealand