John Fogarty

John Gerard Fogarty (12 August 1947 – 10 December 2022) was a New Zealand jurist. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1990, and served as a judge at the High Court from 2003 to 2017.

Early life Fogarty was born in Greymouth on 12 August 1947. He studied law at the University of Canterbury, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1971, before completing a Master of Laws degree at the University of Toronto in 1974.

Legal career Fogarty joined the Christchurch law firm of Weston Ward and Lascelles, becoming a partner in 1978. Fogarty sat in the High Court in Christchurch until 2014, when he moved to Auckland. In 2013, he was Christchurch's civil list judge, and from 2007 to 2015 he was a member of the criminal and civil division of the Court of Appeal. Fogarty's judgment was subsequently upheld by the Supreme Court.

Fogarty died in Auckland on 10 December 2022, at the age of 75. The chief justice, Dame Helen Winkelmann, paid tribute to Fogarty, saying that he "brought to the bench a broad and deep knowledge of the law", and that "as a lawyer, and then as a judge, he worked selflessly for a just outcome." She also noted that "he was a man of unfailing courtesy" and that "he was also a kind, humble and elegant man – elegant in his style, in his thinking and in his writing."