Dean Blair, Barrister of Tauranga, has been appointed as a District Court Judge with a Family Court warrant to be based in Hamilton, Attorney-General David Parker announced today.

Dean Blair was admitted to the bar in Nelson 1989 and worked there in firms and as a barrister and solicitor on his own account. Since 2003, he has practiced in Tauranga.

His work has historically encompassed a range of civil and criminal matters in both the District Court and High Court, and employment law hearings and representation. Since 2005, he has had extensive involvement in Family Court cases, having elected to specialise in this.

Dean Blair became a barrister sole in 2007 and has received appointments as lawyer for the child since then, in both the Family Court and High Court jurisdictions, and has regularly received other appointments as counsel to assist in cases spanning various areas of legislation dealt with by the Family Court, and as counsel for subject person in PPPR cases.

He has received several appointments as lawyer for children in relation to return proceedings filed pursuant to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of Child Abduction, including appellate proceedings. He has privately represented clients over a variety of matters.

Judge Blair will be sworn in on 23 August 2019 in Tauranga.

The Attorney-General also announced the appointment of Retired Associate High Court Judge John Gordon Matthews as an Acting Associate Judge.

Acting Associate Judge Matthews retired in January 2019, and has been appointed for a two month term. He will sit in Christchurch.

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