Waikato barrister previously worked at Bell Gully and Tompkins Wake
Judith Collins, New Zealand’s attorney-general, has announced the appointment of Waikato barrister James Alexander MacGillivray as a High Court judge who will sit in Auckland, effective 1 August 2025.
MacGillivray obtained an LLB and BA in history from the University of Auckland in 1995, according to a news release from the government. In Bell Gully’s Auckland office, he worked as a litigation solicitor then as an associate until 2000.
He then relocated to London, UK, where he was a litigation senior associate at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer until 2003, the government’s news release said.
At Tompkins Wake back in New Zealand, MacGillivray joined as a litigation senior associate in 2004 and became a partner in 2006, the government said. In this role, he focused on civil and commercial litigation.
He earned an LLM (first-class honours) from the University of Auckland in 2020 and received the University of Waikato Medal in 2024 for his contributions to the university and the wider Waikato community, the government noted.
MacGillivray became part of Mills Lane Chambers in Auckland last January. There, he served as a barrister in the areas of contracts, corporate and commercial matters, insolvency, aviation liability, insurance, professional negligence, and local government disputes, the government added in its news release.
Helen Winkelmann, New Zealand’s chief justice, welcomed the attorney-general’s announcement of MacGillivray’s appointment.
In a media statement, the chief justice shared that MacGillivray would be sworn in at the Auckland High Court on Friday, 15 August 2025. The chief justice noted that MacGillivray’s addition follows Christian Whata’s appointment, effective 1 August 2025, as a judge of New Zealand’s Court of Appeal.
On 19 December 2024, Collins announced Whata’s appointment, which will fill the vacancy caused by Justice David Goddard’s retirement, scheduled for 31 July 2025.
Whata graduated from the University of Auckland and received admission to the bar in 1992, according to a news release from the government. He earned an LLB (honours) in 1994.
Whata worked as a solicitor with Simpson Grierson in Auckland then joined Kensington Swan’s general litigation team. Whata earned an LLM (first class) from the University of Cambridge in the UK, the government said.
Whata joined Russell McVeagh in 1997 and became a partner in 2001, the government added. At the firm, he focused on resource management law and Māori issues. He accepted an appointment as a High Court judge in 2011.
