Leading QC and criminal law expert Bruce Squire QC died on Monday.
Known and respected as a tough-but-fair lawyer who took an uncompromised, professional stance on behalf of clients, the former Crown lawyer acted on a range of cases, including successfully representing murder accused Murray Foreman in 2008, accused of the shooting of Hawkes Bay farmer Jack Nicholas.
Long time friend and colleague Kristy McDonald QC, who worked with Squire over 35 years, said he was “an exceptional lawyer who was extremely principled and a man of great integrity”.
“He fought very hard for his clients but was scrupulously professional,” she said.
“At a personal level he was generous to a fault. That was the over-riding impression. He was a wonderfully generous friend and did a huge amount of work behind the scenes on a pro bono basis, including offering professional guidance and help,” McDonald said.
Most recently he acted in the longest-running criminal trial in the District Court when he represented fishing cmpany co-owner Joe D’Esposito, who was charged along with his brother Nino D’Esposito and Nino’s son, Marcus D’Esposito, relating to fisheries charges to which they pleaded guilty last December.
He took a principled stand on many issues, including police criticism of the not-guilty finding in the Forman case, noting that the police reaction after Foreman’s acquittal was essentially, “We got the right man but the jury got it wrong,” a view that left him angry, and left no scope for finding what truly did happen to Nicholas.
The police simply got the wrong man, he said.
I had the good fortune to meet Bruce Squire QC in 1979 when he was Crown Counsel and I was the newly appointed Gisborne Crown Solicitor. I was privileged to be his junior in murder trials and other cases. Those early cases in my career provided the basis for a professional relationship and friendship for 40 years. Bruce Squire QC was a person and lawyer of the highest quality and integrity. He has been aptly described by Kristy McDonald QC in your article. His death great loss to the profession. With my sincere condolences, Terry Stapleton QC
Bruce Squire was a man who in my word was the most incredible man I have ever met. The accolades from Kristy McDonald are something that would be hard to replicate to almost any other man I have met. Mr Squire was my Counsel in a case where I sued the crown, it went on for 7 years, the Crown’s solicitor did everything he could to stretch the case out. It took seven years and in all that time Mr Squire did not ask for any form of payment. He was thoroughly annoyed at the crowns attempts to delay the proceedings and all that did was reinforce his desire to see justice done. He did see it done, he won the case and when he put into the court his account for costs the Judge remarked that he thought they were too light. A man with no equal.