Damehood AND Supreme Court appointment for Ellen France

2016 has been an incredible year for one of the most remarkable jurists to come out of Queen’s Law’s Master’s program. For New Zealand’s Ellen France, LLM’83, expertise in constitutional and administrative law, as well as a deep knowledge of government processes, has led to notable back-to-back distinctions: an appointment to the Supreme Court and being named a Dame by Queen Elizabeth for her services to the judiciary  (Queen’s first known law alumna so honoured). 

The Honourable Justice Dame Ellen France, as she is officially known, says she’s “a bit overwhelmed by the title,” but seeing the recognition “really as a reflection on the work of the court” gratifies her. 

“It’s a real privilege being involved in the decision making of our final court. The range of work is varied and interesting,” she says, describing her new role as Justice of the Supreme Court, based in Wellington. 

Before her July 2016 appointment, France had been the first woman president of New Zealand’s Court of Appeal for nearly two years. Last year, she sat on the first all-female bench in that court’s 153-year history. Her 2014 appointment also meant that, for the first time ever, women were leading all three branches of the country’s judiciary, and France was the court’s first woman president. 

France joined the Court of Appeal in 2006 and before that was appointed a High Court Judge in 2002, was Deputy Solicitor General for public law, Crown Counsel for the Crown Law Office, and senior legal adviser in the reform division of the Department of Justice.

A native New Zealander, France has spent all but six months of her illustrious career in her homeland. The time away was for a short-term contract with the Law Commission of England and Wales, working on their Adoption Law Reform project in London.

Legal work, she says, keeps her inspired. “I love the law, getting into a problem and trying to work out how the law deals with it. I am also a firm believer in the importance of public service; I want to do the job well because it affects people’s lives.”

Her husband and LLM’83 classmate, Simon France, is also a High Court Judge. “We do talk about law over dinner,” she admits, “but we have lots of other interests, including sports of most kinds, arts, and current affairs.” 

The two met at the University of Auckland and decided on Canada for graduate studies. “It had a similar legal system we could learn from, and we liked what we knew about the country,” she recalls. “Queen’s fit the bill: there was a good mix of faculty specialization, and we were lucky to receive some funding.”

Queen’s Law, she adds, had a major influence on both her and her husband. “I was very lucky to have Noel Lyon as my thesis supervisor, and Simon had the benefit of Don Stuart as his. They fostered our interests in the areas of the law to which we ultimately 
devoted ourselves. For Simon, that was criminal law and evidence; as for me, I was inspired to develop expertise in administrative and constitutional law.”

How fortunate for New Zealand that Dame Ellen’s Queen’s Law studies set the course for her brilliant, ground-breaking career!

By Kirsteen MacLeod