If you want to understand the constitutional worldview of New Zealand’s brand new Attorney-General, look no further than his Beehive office wall. Taking pride of place is a framed copy of Fitzgerald v Muldoon, the landmark 1976 ruling that removed all doubt about Parliament’s role as the country’s paramount law-making body.
“The judgment’s laid out word-for-word,” Hon Chris Bishop told LawNews in an interview with the lawyer who turned down a job with Russell McVeagh to work in Parliament. “It’s just a reminder to everyone who comes into my office about the rule of law and that Parliament is supreme.”
Bishop was sworn in as First Law Officer in Christopher Luxon’s pre-Easter Cabinet reshuffle, stepping into the shoes of Judith Collins KC, who is leaving politics to become President of the Law Commission. He inherits a Crown Law portfolio at a moment of constitutional churn — and a brand-new Solicitor-General, Anna Adams KC, who took up office on 11 May.
Like Collins, Bishop is bringing a steadfast commitment to black-letter law and a clear expectation that Parliament, not the bench, should be doing the heavy lifting on policy choices.
“My view is that Parliament has not often been clear enough about what we’re trying to do, and intending to do, through legislation,” he said.
“We’ve let the courts fill in the gaps, with sometimes unpredictable consequences. This government, in particular, is trying to be more specific and descriptive around what exactly we are trying to do.”
Wanted: “Smart People Being Judges”
On judicial appointments, Bishop is sticking to the established guidelines and the criteria his predecessors have all leaned on: intellectual credibility, commitment to the rule of law, and excellence. “Ultimately, we need smart people being judges,” he says.
He’ll also retain Collins’s tightened screening process for acting judges, introduced in the wake of the Judge Ema Aitken affair — the Northern Club incident in November 2024 that saw the Judicial Conduct Panel ultimately find a “serious breach of comity” but fall short of recommending Aitken’s removal.
On King’s Counsel, Bishop is closely tracking the debate sparked by leading silk Deborah Chambers KC’s comments over what should merit the rank.
While he agrees outstanding advocacy is the primary standard, he retains a pragmatic openness to recognising excellence elsewhere, citing last year’s elevation of Chief Parliamentary Counsel and former LawFuel Lawyer of the Year Cassie Nicholson KC as a case in point.
“I haven’t seen a lot of pushback against the idea that she’s a very worthy recipient. She’s an excellent lawyer and plays a very important role around here.”
Asked whether he’ll take silk himself, as Collins did, Bishop demurs: “I don’t know. It’s not my decision. It hasn’t been raised with me by anybody.”
The Multi-Portfolio Legal Chief
Bishop is famously workaholic, balancing Housing, Infrastructure, Transport, Associate Finance and the generational RMA reform alongside Crown Law would daunt most lawyers, but Bishop sees the overlap as an asset rather than a distraction.
“RMA reform is the classic example, where we’re repealing the RMA and replacing it. There’s a whole lot of legal complexity on the way through, so I’ve actually had quite a bit to do with Crown Law already, across fast-track, RMA reform and a range of other issues.”
The reshuffle wasn’t entirely a coronation. Bishop lost both the Leader of the House role (now Louise Upston’s) and the National Party campaign chair (now Simeon Brown’s) — moves some commentators read as a check on a senior minister whose star had risen rapidly. Luxon insists it’s about workload.
Crucially, despite deep political entanglements, the Hutt South MP isn’t afraid to don the independent hat of Attorney-General — including pulling Cabinet colleagues into line if they breach comity by criticising the bench. “Being able to stand up to colleagues is not something I’m afraid of,” he says. “The role of a good lawyer is to provide good, impartial legal advice, and I intend to do that.”
The Long Road From Russell McVeagh
Bishop famously chose the National Party research unit in 2007 over a solicitor role at Russell McVeagh — a decision the firm wasn’t thrilled about at the time (“Russell McVeagh weren’t very happy with me. I accepted the offer, then withdrew… but these things happen”). From there he worked in the offices of Gerry Brownlee and later Steven Joyce, with a two-year stint at Philip Morris in between, before entering Parliament in 2014.
He’s never practised, but his legal training has been put to work: three members’ bills drafted by Bishop have become law. His honours research at Victoria University of Wellington was firmly in the public law space — free speech, gang patch legislation (an irony given the recently passed gang patch laws) and Holocaust denial laws.
With a mandate to reinforce parliamentary supremacy and a notebook of changes ready to roll, Chris Bishop appears determined to leave a distinctive mark on New Zealand’s legal landscape, an often controversial debate given the issues around activist judges and the role of tikanga in the law.
Time will tell.
