Attorney-General Christopher Finlayson today paid tribute to the life and career of former Supreme Court Judge, the Rt Hon Sir Thomas Munro Gault, KNZM, QC, who died in Auckland earlier this week.

'Sir Thomas was one of the great leaders of the New Zealand legal profession,” Mr Finlayson said. 'He was a distinguished member of the judiciary and a highly respected practitioner, particularly in the areas of intellectual property and competition law.”

Sir Thomas graduated from Victoria University with a LLM (Hons) and was admitted to the Bar in 1962. He was a member of the firm AJ Park & Son until 1981 when he went into practice as a barrister in Wellington. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel in 1984.

Sir Thomas was appointed a Judge of the High Court in 1987 and in 1991 became a Judge of the Court of Appeal. He was appointed the President of the Court of Appeal in 2002 and was made a Judge of the Supreme Court in 2004 after that court was established.

Outside of the law, Sir Thomas was the first New Zealander appointed Captain of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

'One can look back at the life and career of Sir Thomas and clearly see that his contribution to this country in a number of fields was outstanding,” Mr Finlayson said. 'On behalf of the Government, I extend my deepest sympathies to his wife Barbara, his son Ian and other members of his family.”

Source: Office of Christopher Finlayson.