Tim Castle

Tim Castle is in private practice as a barrister. He graduated with a bachelor of laws from Victoria University in 1973. He has been chairman of New Zealand’s statutory tribunal with jurisdiction in fishing quota appeals since 1996.

A student at Te Kawa a Maui in 2003, Mr Castle completed Māori 101, having also from 1995 undertaken university, night school, and private tuition in Te Reo Māori.

Mr Castle’s first ‘encounter’ with Treaty of Waitangi jurisprudence occurred in 1987, when he was acting as counsel for the New Zealand fishing industry. At that time, interim declarations (effectively injunctions) were secured by Māori in relation to the introduction of the quota management system. From then on, Mr Castle became increasingly involved, and has recently been deeply engaged, in advocating for Māori on a wide range of Treaty issues and the kaupapa of Te Ao Māori.

Mr Castle was counsel for the New Zealand fishing industry between 1987 and 1992 in the High Court and Court of Appeal Māori fisheries litigation and for the Waitangi Tribunal inquiries into the Muriwhenua and Ngai Tahu fisheries claims in 1988 and 1992 respectively.

Following the 1992 deed of settlement, Mr Castle was retained as one of the legal counsel for Te Ohu Kai Moana (the Treaty of Waitangi Fisheries Commission). He has provided advice in respect of Māori customary and commercial fishing rights and interests, including appearing for commercial interests in which Māori are stakeholders in all the courts of New Zealand and in the Privy Council in London (including also for Iwi Māori in the Privy Council on two occasions). He has appeared as counsel for Māori in their claims before the Waitangi Tribunal, and on a range of issues before the courts in their general jurisdiction, as well as before the Māori Land Court and the Māori Appellate Court.

Mr Castle was appointed by the Clerk of the House of Representatives as independent specialist adviser to the parliamentary select committees dealing with the Māori Fisheries Bill 2003 and the Foreshore and Seabed Bill 2004.

In the last several years, Mr Castle has been engaged as a negotiator for Iwi in significant Treaty settlements including Taranaki Whanui/Port Nicholson Block Settlement Trust, Tainui Taranaki ki te Tonga, and the Māori aquaculture settlement.

Mr Castle’s wide sporting and sports law professional activities are also well known. He is New Zealand’s first member (and Australasia’s first) of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the principal world sports disputes court, based in Switzerland. He was New Zealand’s first representative on the International Cricket Council’s Corruption Commission and Appeals Commission; is an inaugural member of the New Zealand Sports Tribunal; and was previously chairman of the New Zealand Olympic Committee and a member of the board of the New Zealand Sports Foundation.

Mr Castle is a published author of modest extent. His dispute resolution protocols for fisheries allocation for Māori were published in 1995. He was a participant in the first of the Te Papa annual Treaty debates in 2003–04, and he is the author, with All Black Jerry Collins, of Road to the World Cup, which was published in July 2007.

Mr Castle was appointed to the Tribunal in 2008.

Next: Dr Aroha Harris