Lowell Goddard
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The Honourable Dame Lowell Goddard DNZM QC |
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|---|---|
| Justice of the High Court of New Zealand | |
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Assumed office December 1995 |
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| Chair of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse | |
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In office 4 February 2015 – 4 August 2016 |
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| Appointed by |
Theresa May (as Home Secretary) |
| Preceded by | Fiona Woolf |
| Succeeded by | Alexis Jay |
| Chair of Independent Police Conduct Authority, New Zealand | |
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In office 2007–2012 |
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| Preceded by | Judge Ian Borrin |
| Succeeded by | Judge Sir David Carruthers KNZM |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Lowell Patria Goddard 25 November 1948 Auckland, New Zealand |
| Spouse(s) |
Sir John Scott, 5th Baronet (m. 1969; div. 1971) Christopher Hodson QC (m. 1992) |
Dame Lowell Patria Goddard, DNZM, QC (born 25 November 1948) is a New Zealand judge. In 1988, she was one of the first two women to be appointed Queen's Counsel in New Zealand. She is thought to be the first person of Māori ancestry to become a High Court judge. Currently, she is the longest-serving New Zealand High Court judge still in office. In February 2015, she was appointed to head the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales. On 4 August 2016, Home Secretary Amber Rudd announced that Goddard had resigned from the Inquiry; no explanation was given.
Lowell Goddard was born in Auckland, New Zealand. Of partly Maori ancestry, she affiliates to Ngāti Kahungunu. Her father was Squadron Leader Pat Vaughan Goddard. She was educated at Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland, and then studied law at the University of Auckland, graduating in 1974.
Goddard was admitted to the bar in 1975, and started to practise as a barrister in 1977. Her work included a period as a member of the committee which helped establish a facility for victims of sexual abuse, which assisted police to establish a better approach to the examination and interviewing of victims. She also took part in a youth advocacy pilot for children and young people, and was a member of a panel on New Zealand's policy regarding children in care.
In 1988, she and Sian Elias were the two first women to be appointed Queen's Counsel in New Zealand. She was Crown Counsel and Head of the Criminal Law Team at the Crown Law Office in Wellington from 1989 to 1995, and served as Deputy Solicitor-General of New Zealand from 1992 to 1995.
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