{{Short description|New Zealand judge}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = The Honourable | name = Dame Judith Potter | honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DNZM|CBE|size=100%}} | image = Judith Potter (cropped).jpg | caption = Potter in 2013 | order = Justice of the High Court | term_start = 1997 | term_end = 2012 | predecessor = | successor = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1942|08|23|df=y}} | birth_place = Auckland, New Zealand | death_date = | death_place= | spouse = | relatives = Philip Ernest Potter (father) | alma_mater = University of Auckland }} '''Dame Judith Marjorie Potter''' {{post-nominals|country=NZL|DNZM|CBE|size=85%}} (born 23 August 1942) is a former High Court judge in New Zealand.

==Early life== Potter was born in the Auckland suburb of Mount Albert on 23 August 1942, the daughter of Winifred Marjorie Potter (née Hall) and Philip Ernest Potter, who served as mayor of Mount Roskill between 1950 and 1953.<ref name="Whos who"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19420824.2.2.2 |title=Births |date=24 August 1942 |work=Auckland Star |page=2 |accessdate=20 June 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/dbtw-wpd/CityArchives/DigitalExhibitions/elected_rep_timeline/timeline.htm |title=Timeline of Auckland mayors |publisher=Auckland Council Archives |access-date=9 January 2021}}</ref> She spent much of her childhood in Mount Roskill and Epsom.<ref name="Roskill"/> She was educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School, before studying at the University of Auckland from 1960 to 1964, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1965.<ref name="Whos who">{{cite book |editor-last=Taylor |editor-first=Alister |editor-link=Alister Taylor |title=New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa 2001 |year=2001 |publisher=Alister Taylor Publishers |location=Auckland |issn=1172-9813 |pages=716–717}}</ref> In 1964, Potter joined the law firm Wallace, McLean, Bawden & Partners.<ref name="Roskill">{{cite Q|Q116775081|page=110}}</ref>

==Career== Potter became a senior partner at law firm, Kensington Swan. She is the former President of the Auckland District Law Society and was the first woman president of the New Zealand Law Society, holding the position from 1991 to 1994.<ref name="UA">[https://www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/af-judith-potter Justice Judith Potter - LLB] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120719102322/http://www.alumni.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/af-judith-potter |date=2012-07-19 }}. The University of Auckland.</ref><ref name="Roskill"/>

On 20 March 1997 Potter was appointed as a judge of the High Court of New Zealand<ref name="UA" /><ref>"[http://www.dia.govt.nz/MSOS118/On-Line/NZGazette.nsf/6cee7698a9bbc7cfcc256d510059ed0b/091dc802662da226cc256d25002c727b!OpenDocument Appointment of Judge of the High Court]" (20 March 1997) 25 "The New Zealand Gazette 617.</ref> Potter has presided over several high-profile cases in her 15 years on the bench.<ref name="NZH"/> One such case which prompted a rebuke from the United Nations Human Rights Committee<ref>Emelysifa Jessop v New Zealand Communication No. 1758/2008, 21 April 2008</ref> was the criminal conviction of twelve-year-old Emelysifa Jessop for aggravated robbery. In 1998, Potter convicted and sentenced the girl to 4 years. When this conviction was overturned on grounds the judge had convicted Miss Jessop despite her not entering a plea, Potter presided over the retrial and sentenced the girl to 4 years and eight months.<ref>background, Jessop v Queen SC8/2006 [2007] NZSC 96, 30.11.07</ref>

Her previous roles include director of the Electricity Corporation, a director of the New Zealand Guardian Trust Company, chairwoman of the Broadcasting Standards Authority and a member of the Securities Commission.<ref name="NZH">{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10856696 |title=New Year Honours: Dame Judith Potter |date=31 December 2012 |work= The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=10 January 2013|first=Michael |last=Dickison }}</ref>

In 2000 Potter issued an influential ruling balancing the rights of those alleging harassment and the rights of freedom of expression in ''Beadle v Allen''.<ref>Beadle v Allen [2000] NZFLR 639 at 662 para 36-40</ref> In 2007 Potter jailed website editor Vince Siemer for his continual breaches of a High Court injunction.<ref>''Stiassny v Siemer'' CIV-2005-404-1808, 30 March 2011</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/business/money-story-archive/13766 |title=Stoush with Stiassny ends in jail |date=20 July 2007 |work=Stuff |accessdate=11 September 2011}}</ref> Potter has been criticised in the media for sentences which were considered excessively lenient.<ref name="NZ_Herald_10600353">{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/justice-system/news/article.cfm?c_id=240&objectid=10600353 |title=Road-rage sentence shocks family |author=Andrew Koubaridis |date=30 September 2009 |work=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=11 September 2011}}</ref><ref name="NZ_Herald_10649347">{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10649347 |title=Killer's sentence 'makes mockery of young man's life' |author=Isaac Davison |date=3 June 2010 |work=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=11 September 2011}}</ref>

On 31 December 2012 Potter retired from the bench in New Zealand<ref>"[http://www.dia.govt.nz/MSOS118/On-Line/NZGazette.nsf/6cee7698a9bbc7cfcc256d510059ed0b/5fd2bed2fcbd6b00cc257a8d005d7327!OpenDocument&Highlight=0,Judith,Marjorie,Potter Appointment of Acting Judge of High Court]" (4 October 2012) 122 "The New Zealand Gazette" 3449 at 3484.</ref> and accepted an appointment to the High Court of the Cook Islands.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/8131513/Potter-Honour-highlights-womens-role |title=Potter: Honour highlights women's role |date=31 December 2012 |work=Auckland Now |accessdate=10 January 2013 }}</ref> Potter was the second woman to become a judge in the Cook Islands following Christine Grice.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cookislandsnews.com/item/38519-judge-judy-appointed/38519-judge-judy-appointed|title=Judge Judy appointed |access-date=2017-12-28|language=en-gb}}</ref>

==Honours== In 1990, Potter received the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal,<ref name="Whos who"/> and in 1993 she was awarded the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/our-programmes/new-zealand-royal-honours/new-zealand-royal-honours-system/types-new-zealand-royal-honours/other-distinctive-new-zealand-honours/suffrage-medal-register |title=The New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 – register of recipients |date=26 July 2018 |publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet |accessdate=18 September 2018}}</ref>

In the 1994 New Year Honours, Potter was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, for services to the legal profession,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=53528 |date=31 December 1993 |page=34 |supp=2}}</ref> and became Judith Potter {{post-nominals|list=CBE}}. On 20 March 1997, on her appointment to the High Court of New Zealand, she became The&nbsp;Honourable Justice Judith Potter {{post-nominals|list=CBE}}. On 27 August 2012, Potter was granted the right to retain the title of "The&nbsp;Honourable" for life, in recognition of her service as a judge of the High Court of New Zealand.<ref>"[http://www.dia.govt.nz/MSOS118/On-Line/NZGazette.nsf/6cee7698a9bbc7cfcc256d510059ed0b/6483aee1160d0d0acc257a710062e789!OpenDocument&Highlight=0,Judith,Marjorie,Potter Retention of the Title ‘The Honourable’]" (6 September 2012) 110 ''The New Zealand Gazette'' 3125 at 3150.</ref>

In the 2013 New Year Honours, Potter was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the judiciary,<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dpmc.govt.nz/publications/new-year-honours-list-2013 | title=New Year honours list 2013|date=31 December 2012 | publisher=Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | accessdate=8 January 2018}}</ref> and became The&nbsp;Honourable Justice Dame Judith Potter {{post-nominals|list=DNZM CBE}}.

== See also == * First women lawyers around the world

== References == {{Reflist}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Judith}} Category:1942 births Category:Living people Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:High Court of New Zealand judges Category:New Zealand women judges Category:Dames Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit Category:New Zealand Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Category:New Zealand judges on the courts of the Cook Islands Category:Recipients of the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Medal 1993 Category:People educated at Epsom Girls' Grammar School Category:Lawyers from Auckland Category:High Court of the Cook Islands judges Category:20th-century New Zealand women lawyers Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers Category:Lawyers awarded damehoods