Judge Tony FitzGerald

District, Family and Youth Court Judge, Auckland, NZ

Judge Tony FitzGerald has been a District Court Judge for 22 years. Therapeutic jurisprudence and Solution Focused Courts are of particular interest to him.

​As a result of these interests, Judge Fitzgerald aims to bring a solution-focused approach to all of his work.  That has included pioneering the development of ‘cross-over lists’ for children and young people in the Youth Court who have care and protection status.

In his District Court work it has included the establishment of Te Kooti o Timatanga Hou (“the Court of New Beginnings”) in 2010, for homeless people facing charges, and he has presided in that Court since then.

​He has a special interest in the connection between trauma, neuro-disabilities and disadvantage in the justice and other systems and is devoted to looking for ways to respond more effectively to such issues. He is Patron of the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder – Care Action Network.

Hear from Tony is Session 4: Doing justice differently – what’s working and why? here.