The Right Honourable Sir Robin Brunskill Cooke, The Lord Cooke of Thorndon, ONZ, KBE (1986), [Knight Bachelor 1977], PC (1977)

Lord Cooke is regarded as one of the foremost jurists New Zealand has produced. He is held in the highest regard not only in New Zealand but also the United Kingdom and in other countries of the Commonwealth. He was appointed a Judge of the High Court in 1972 and a Judge of the Court of Appeal in 1976, becoming President of that Court in 1986. On his retirement from the Court of Appeal in 1996 he was granted a British Life Peerage. For five years he has sat as a member of the House of Lords Appeal Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal and the Samoan Court of Appeal. Lord Cooke also is a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Victoria University of Wellington Law School.

Citation prepared 2002