Professional Data:

2014 Judge Survey Score (1-10): not rated Ranking (out of 60): not rated

Judge Clark’s interdependency with others in these cloistered circles of power is arguably unprecedented, which likely prompted her inspiring 8 October 2015 swearing-in speech in which she passionately announced her dedication to approach her judicial duties without fear or favour to anyone.

This professed personal mission will not be an easy one for Clark given the breadth and depth of her fraternal associations. Even days before Clark J’s judicial appointment she was announced to head an inquiry by the New Zealand Defence Force into sexual abuse and harassment. Clark was also recently engaged in Inquiries to manage the Coroner in the Pike River Mine Tragedy, as well as the collapse of the CTV Building during the Christchurch earthquake.

Justice Clark presumably remains a governing member of the New Zealand Council of Legal Education, a statutory body established in 2006 to further education but which in practice if not by design has become a partisan political body focused on quashing diversity and silencing criticism of court judgments by lawyers.

Justice Karen Clark argued for the government in the long running Ahmed Zaoui political asylum case as a lawyer and is a former Solicitor-General who was active in commercial cases for Crown Law.

In 2011, Clark fronted an ‘inquiry’ into a Parliamentary Petition on the Commerce Commission’s jurisdiction. In 2007, Clark engaged in a wink and nod inquiry into Crown conflicts of interest whose most enduring quality is its cloak of secrecy. These followed Crown briefs on inquiries into Securities Market manipulation, powers and operations of the Inland Revenue Department and the Department of Work and Income.

Karen Clark was a mover and shaker for the New Zealand Law Society, sitting as a member of its Legislation Committee from 2002-2006. Ms Clark also sat on the powerful Rules Committee until 2007, a grouped tasked with procedural rules of court, lobbying for legislative change and consultation. During her tenure, the Rules Committee determined NZ Courts were procedurally exempt from the Public Records Act 2005 which required all three branches of government to keep an accurate and archival record of their affairs. The Ministry of Justice later confirmed in a policy statement by Chief Legal Counsel Jeff Orr that “the content of the court record is determined, not by the requirements of any enactment (eg, the Public Records Act 2005, the Crimes Act 1961), but by court practice.”

Personal Data