Chairperson

Chief Judge Wilson Isaac

Ngāti Porou, Tūhoe, Ngāti Kahungunu

The chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal and chief judge of the Māori Land Court is Judge Wilson Isaac. Judge Isaac was appointed chairperson of the Waitangi Tribunal in September 2009.  He was initially appointed to the Māori Land Court in 1994, becoming deputy chief judge of the court in 1999 and chief judge of the court in August 2009. He is also the resident judge at the Gisborne office and presides over the Tairāwhiti and Takitimu districts. Chief Judge Isaac presided over the Mohaka ki Ahuriri and northern South Island hearings and is currently presiding over the National Park inquiry for the Waitangi Tribunal.

Educated at St Pauls Collegiate, Hamilton, and Otago University, Chief Judge Isaac spent 17 years at Burnard Bull and Company, Gisborne, where he developed an extensive practice in Māori land law and family law.

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