Former Bay man appointed High Court judge

Former Hawke's Bay man Gerardus van Bohemen has been appointed a high court judge. Photo/File

A former Hawke's Bay man and United Nations ambassador for New Zealand has been appointed a high court judge.

Public servant, barrister and solicitor Gerardus van Bohemen, who grew up in Havelock North, had his appoint as a judge of the High Court in Auckland announced by Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson on July 14.

Justice van Bohemen graduated from Victoria University with a BA (English) in 1977 and an LLB (Hons) 1st Class in 1979.

Between 1978 and 1982 he worked for the legal division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before spending four years at the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the United Nations (UN) in New York.

In 1987 Justice van Bohemen returned to New Zealand and was the deputy director of the legal division at the Ministry of External Relations and Trade, leaving in 1990 to join Russell McVeagh McKenzie Bartleet & Co in Auckland.

In 1993 he returned to New York and spent two years as the deputy New Zealand representative to the UN and the UN Security Council.

On his return to New Zealand in 1995, he joined the Auckland office of Buddle Findlay as a senior solicitor, becoming a partner in 1996.

Justice van Bohemen joined the partnership of Chen Palmer & Partners in 2004.

He returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2005 as director of the legal division and international legal adviser to the New Zealand Government and became the deputy secretary responsible for Multilateral and Legal Affairs in 2010.

In May 2015 Justice van Bohemen was appointed New Zealand's permanent representative and ambassador to the UN and New Zealand's representative to the UN Security Council.

The new Judge will sit in Auckland.