The occasion was a valedictory sitting, marking the retirement of Justice John Hansen.
The judge (62) said he experienced a ‘‘deep sense of nostalgia'' in court as he relived fond memories of his time studying and practising law in Dunedin and the interesting cases and characters he had encountered.
He also talked about his move to Hong Kong in the late 1970s where he worked in several legal roles, including magistrate, coroner, and Master of the Supreme Court, and his return to New Zealand in 1988 to work as High Court Master in Christchurch.
Included in an often light-hearted speech, he also noted changes to the legal profession. Quoting from a folk blues song he said lawyers should attempt to ‘‘keep their clients out of court as much as possible''.
However, this common-sense advice contrasted with the practice of many lawyers involved in contemporary civil cases whose approach often led to an inflexible, ‘‘entrenched'' position detrimental to the client and the profession.
He also commented on the cost and delay associated with many cases, and touched on the importance of the Legal Issues Centre, established last year, at the University of Otago.
The centre would examine the efficacy of the contemporary dispute resolution process; a system he believed effectively ‘‘disfranchises most of the community''.
Justice Hansen said his experiences reinforced his belief in the importance of judges ‘‘keeping their feet on the ground, and having an understanding of the wider community''.
The make-up of the profession had also changed, and this was evident at many admission ceremonies he presided at where women outnumbered men.
Dunedin Queen's Counsel Colin Withnall, Otago District Law Society president Brian Kilkelly and Otago Women's Law Society representative Debbie Ericsson also paid tribute to Justice Hansen.
Mr Withnall said as the first president Otago branch New Zealand Legal Association, Justice Hansen played a leading role in an organisation which galvanised the then ‘‘staid and conservative'' Law Society of the late 1960s to reform.
Mr Kilkelly noted Justice Hansen had a long interest in sport, and was an International Cricket Council Code of Conduct commissioner.
