Graeme Colgan

Author: Graeme Colgan

Barrister and Employment Law Specialist Graeme Colgan graduated LLB(Hons) from the University of Auckland in 1976 and was admitted to the bar in the same year. Graeme practiced as a barrister and solicitor in the fields of employment law, family law, criminal law and general civil litigation until 1987 when he joined the independent bar as a barrister in Southern Cross Chambers in Auckland. Graeme’s practice continued in the same fields of law until 1989 when he was appointed as a Judge of the Labour Court of New Zealand. At 35 years of age he was the youngest appointee to that Court or its predecessors. In 1990 the Labour Court became the Employment Court and, in 2005, Graeme was appointed as Chief Judge of that Court. He retired from judicial office in 2017 after 28 years on the bench, the last 12 as the Chief Judge. Graeme is the longest-serving judge of that Court and its predecessors. He has presided over cases dealing with significant issues of employment law and practice. He has also presided over numerous Judicial Settlement Conferences (in effect mediations) resolving difficult and sometimes notorious cases confidentially and without need for a public hearing and judgment. Graeme’s experience has not only included being a judge of the specialist Employment Court, but has encompassed lecturing to undergraduate and graduate classes at the University of Auckland, Waikato University, Victoria University of Wellington and AUT University in Auckland. He has delivered papers and presentations to numerous NZ and overseas employment law conferences. Graeme has lectured at the Royal School for Judges in Cambodia and chaired an ILO project for the reform of the labour laws of Cambodia. Graeme has been and remains a member of New Zealand and international organisations including LAWASIA, the Australian Labour Law Association, the NZ Labour Law Society, and the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of NZ, of which he is now an Associate Member (AAMINZ). He is a member of the Australasian Chapter of the American and Canadian Associations of Workplace Investigators. Graeme was formerly a member of the NZ Football Appeals Committee. He has made numerous submissions to Parliamentary Select Committees considering employment-related legislation. Graeme is also a member of the Editorial Board of Butterworts Employment Bulletin (LexisNexis) and a contributor to Mazengarb’s Employment Law, a leading New Zealand textbook. Graeme is currently a member of the New Zealand and Auckland District Law Societies and of the New Zealand Bar Association. Contact Graeme at graeme@colgan.nz.

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