Lowell Goddard

Background

Lowell Goddard was born in Auckland, New Zealand. Her father was Squadron Leader Pat Vaughan Goddard.

Education

She was educated at Diocesan School for Girls, Auckland, and then studied law at the University of Auckland, graduating in 1974.

Career

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.

Of Maori ancestry, she affiliates to Ngāti Kahungunu. Goddard was admitted to the bar in 1975, and started to practice as a barrister in 1977.

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.

In 1990, she was awarded the New Zealand 1990 Commemoration Medal, and in 1993 she received the New Zealand Suffrage Centennial Meda

She became a High Court judge in December 1995, based in Wellington, and is believed to be the first Maori person to have served as a High Court judge. She is the longest-serving High Court judge in New Zealand still in office. She was the first woman to serve as chair of New Zealand"s Independent Police Conduct Authority, from 2007 to 2012.

In that capacity she served as an expert to the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture.

In February 2015, she was appointed to head the statutory public inquiry that will replace the Independent Panel Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse in England and Wales. The British Home Secretary, Theresa May, described her as highly respected and an "outstanding candidate with experience in challenging authority in this field".

Justice Goddard said she was honoured to lead the inquiry and was aware of the scale of the undertaking, saying that "the many, many survivors of child sexual abuse, committed over decades, deserve a robust and thorough investigation of the appalling crimes perpetrated upon them.".

Achievements

• She was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in June 2014, for her work on human rights.

Membership

Among her early work was 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 as a member of a panel on New Zealand"s policy regarding children in care. She has also sat as a member of the Criminal Division of the New Zealand Court of Appeal.