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New high court judge appointed
By MICHELLE YIPRUKAMAN
THE incumbent councillor of the PNG Law Society and a long serving
expatriate in commercial law has been appointed as a new judge of the
National and Supreme courts.
Derek Richard Hartshorn, from Leicestershire in England, who has been
providing his services through litigation and commercial law in the
country for 20 years, will be sworn in as a new judge on Feb 12.
The 50-year-old Englishman will give raise to the number of expatriate
judges to four, while also increasing the total number of judges to 22
with only one female judge, Justice Cathy Davani amongst fellow Papua
New Guinean judges.
This was confirmed by a source yesterday, when The National queried
about Mr Hartshorn’s appointment.
Mr Hartshorn was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of High Court New
Zealand in December 1980 to which he practiced both commercial and
litigation with the Messrs Izard Weston Solicitors in New Zealand in
February 1986.
After practising in New Zealand, he then came to PNG and joined the
Deputy Public Solicitor, which was then located at Boroko as civil
litigation lawyer.
In March 1989 to October 2000, Mr Hartshorn was with private law firms,
Gadens Ridgenway Lawyers and Shepherd Lawyers as litigation partner. He
then joined Blake Dawson and Waldron as a resident managing partner
until his appointment.
The source also told The National that there were vacancies available
for three more judges, which will shortly be advertised in PNG, New
Zealand and Australia.
Meanwhile, the source said the Waigani Committal Courts would be
relocated to allow for the construction of a common room, which would
allow parties to negotiate court matters with a judge for settlement.
“When the committal court moves, we will build an Alternative Dispute
Resolution (ADR) room for parties to negotiate settlement with a
mediator. We will also build rooms for lawyers and their clients to
discuss court matters before entering court, and also a common room for
lawyers to rest after or before any court proceedings,” he said.
However, District Court Registrar Cliveson Philip confirmed that the
existing committal court room number 8 and 9 would be dismantled and
relocated to where the traffic court is located, which is within the
premises of the Waigani National Court house.
 
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