Wellington King’s Counsel, Paul Radich, has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, while Wellington barrister, Andrew Skelton, has been appointed an Associate Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today.
Justice Radich graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 1986 with an LLB (Hons), and worked to senior associate level at what is now Simpson Grierson in Wellington until 1991. In 1991, Justice Radich took up a role as a solicitor at Bell Gully, joining the partnership of that firm in 1994.
In 2003 Justice Radich joined Izard Weston as a litigation partner. From 2007 to 2012 he was a litigation partner at Minter Ellison Rudd Watts.
In March 2012 Justice Radich commenced practice as a barrister sole at Clifton Chambers. He was appointed a Queen’s Counsel in August 2014.
Justice Radich practised commercial litigation, specialising in public law advice and litigation. He has appeared on a number of cases dealing with issues under the Treaty. He has appeared extensively in the Courts and tribunals, including the Waitangi Tribunal. He has represented parties before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Pike River Mine Tragedy in 2011 and 2012, the Government inquiry into Operation Burnham and Related Matters from 2018 to 2020, and the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Attack on the Christchurch Mosques in 2019.
He was President of the New Zealand Bar Association – Ngā Ahorangi Motuhake o te Ture from 2020 to 2022 and has held positions as Chair of the Legal Aid Performance Review Committee and as a board member of Te Kura Kaiwhakawā – the Institute of Judicial Studies.
Associate Judge Skelton graduated from Canterbury University with an LLB in 1989, and joined Kensington Swan in Wellington as a solicitor. In 1991 he relocated to the United Kingdom to study at University College, London, graduating with an LLM (Merit) in 1992.
Associate Judge Skelton worked as a solicitor with London law firm Masons from 1993 to 1995. He then studied at the University of Oxford, Keble College, graduating in 1996 with a Master of Studies (MSt.), and completing a thesis on the relationship between the law of restitution and the law of contract, subsequently published in 1998 by Mansfield Press, Oxford, as Restitution and Contract.
In 1996 he returned to Kensington Swan in Wellington as an Associate, and then a Senior Associate. He was appointed to the partnership of that firm in 1999.
Since 2013, Associate Judge Skelton has been a barrister sole practising at Capital Chambers in Wellington, working in the areas of general civil litigation and arbitration, specialising in property, construction, insurance, company, and professional disciplinary and sports matters. He has served as a faculty member on the New Zealand Law Society Advanced Litigation Skills Course and Expert Witness Programme.
Both Justice Radich and Associate Judge Skelton will take up their appointments on 17 April 2023.
