{"id":214234,"date":"2026-01-03T03:33:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:33:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/214234\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T03:33:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T03:33:07","slug":"northland-defence-lawyer-arthur-fairley-on-justice-upbringing-and-the-future-of-nz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/214234\/","title":{"rendered":"Northland defence lawyer Arthur Fairley on justice, upbringing and the future of NZ"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raised by a military father and a kind-hearted Ruahine country woman, his mother\u2019s influence still rings heavily in his mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cMothers make sons. She would say something like \u2018Oh Arthur, I didn\u2019t think you were like that\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEven now at 74, it burdens my mind. It\u2019s far worse than getting a hiding!\u201d<\/p>\n

His childhood was spent exploring the Whang\u0101rei harbour from Reotahi in a dinghy, Canterbury rugby shorts and bare feet, returning home for only dinner.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d go right up to Mangapai and when the tide would turn, I\u2019d go back home,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a privileged childhood, we took that for granted.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fairley<\/a> is acutely aware his time, place and circumstance were the reasons for successes in life \u2013 advantages many never get to experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the moment you\u2019re born, you\u2019re in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI often see kids coming through say from OT [Ot\u0101ngarei] and I think this boy is incredibly bright, he\u2019s picking up stuff just like that, but no chance \u2013 why? Because of his time, place and circumstance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he was born in a different time and place and circumstance, his life could have been whatever he or she wanted to be and that\u2019s the big challenge for this country, I think.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Think on your feet\u2019<\/p>\n

At 18 he moved to the bright lights of Auckland to train in law. His only previous trip before that was to watch the legendary Sid Going score tries at Eden Park.<\/p>\n

But his transition into professional life was not seamless.<\/p>\n

His first job, as a clerk, ended in disaster when he lost a crucial cheque after taking a nap in Auckland\u2019s Albert Park, causing an entire property settlement to collapse.<\/p>\n

He was promptly let go.<\/p>\n

Fairley ditched law and went travelling, working in bars and describing it as the best education he ever had.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt made you see the world and what was going on. You had to think on your feet and in situations you wouldn\u2019t face here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ArthurArthur Fairley: “To be a good lawyer, you\u2019ve got to have the mind of a poet.\u201d Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

By 30, the pressure was on to get his life together and he returned to law, up before dawn and immersing himself in his caseloads and poetry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter six months I knew it inside out. You find with law there is only so many arguments and all you got to do is slot your facts in.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be a good lawyer, you\u2019ve got to have the mind of a poet.\u201d<\/p>\n

With almost 900 jury trials<\/a> under his belt, it is not the gravity of offending that leaves reminders, but the technical errors.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe great thing about law is it teaches you how to think, how to acquire facts and how to analyse what your opponent is saying.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like chess, you work out where they are weak. Put your troops over there where they think that\u2019s where they\u2019re going to attack, but then you get to trial and you attack there and then they realise, I\u2019ve only got half a division here. And it\u2019s too late.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can prepare all you like but, just like a test match, if the ball bounces the wrong way it\u2019s over.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer All Black Rene Ranger with Fairley after being found not guilty of injuring with intent to injure. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Fairley\u2019s<\/a> respect for his brothers and sisters of the bar, no matter which side they are on, stands out as one his proudest achievements.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhil Smith, one of the great prosecutors of this country. He was so great to me, I would ring him up as a young kid and say, \u2018Phil what do I do\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine that happening today, it would be like the All Blacks coach ringing up the Springboks and asking \u2018what do I do\u2019?<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was an amazing guy and on his day cross-examining, there was no one better. He was a genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Be a human\u2019<\/p>\n

He extends that same respect to judges, believing lawyers have a duty to support them rather than undermine them.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you imagine they\u2019re sitting there knowing they\u2019ve got an 18-year-old kid and they gotta send him to jail for eight years?<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what the kid\u2019s done, it\u2019s a huge stress and I think as an officer of the court, our job is to protect them, not to argue with them and be rude and try to show them how smart you are, because you\u2019re not. They\u2019re smarter than you, that\u2019s why they\u2019re there.\u201d<\/p>\n

His trial style has often raised eyebrows, with Judge Duncan Harvey <\/a>once referring to him as the \u201c13th juror\u201d because he constantly positioned his chair next to the jury box.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing you gotta do when you\u2019re speaking to a jury is stop being a lawyer. Be a human being because if they don\u2019t like ya, unless you got a really strong case, they\u2019re not going to buy it.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve gotta talk to them like you are the 13th juror.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NathanNathan Fenton (back) pleads guilty to the murder of Mairina Dunn in 2007. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Fairley says trials are \u201cliving beasts\u201d and the art of tuning in to the atmosphere of the court is being lost among younger lawyers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re on the phone, you\u2019re just removed from a whole lot of information. If you\u2019re not tuned in to the atmosphere of a trial, you\u2019re guessing what you\u2019re going to do and you\u2019ll make mistakes.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like test match rugby, one play can shift the whole colour or tone of the game and it\u2019s the same in trials.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fairley never asks his clients whether they committed the crime \u2013 his focus always remaining on the Crown\u2019s case and legal technicalities.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s come to you for help and the first thing you say is \u2018did you do it\u2019?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re almost saying \u2018I don\u2019t believe you\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re often dealing with M\u0101ori boys from OT or Raumanga who\u2019ve never had an advantage in life. If they can\u2019t turn to people like me, who can they turn to? No matter what they\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ConnorConnor Taylor (left) and Arthur Fairley at the manslaughter trial for Abel Wira. Photo \/ NZME<\/p>\n

Fairley believes the law is falling behind, reacting with the flawed premise of deterrence instead of leading change.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, Three Strikes \u2013 I just think it\u2019s dumb legislation. Boys don\u2019t offend because they\u2019re frightened of being caught or being sentenced, that\u2019s not in their heads.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were a businessman and you had two options with $100 \u2013 option A: lock him up, or option B: put him in rehab. If rehab had a return rate of 30%, any businessman would say, \u2018I\u2019ll put my money there\u2019. But what do all governments do? It\u2019s ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he thinks of the future of Aotearoa for his M\u0101ori grandchildren, he sees a country mixed with the best of two cultures where judges speak both languages.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have great faith and optimism for this country. Within two generations I believe everyone will speak te reo, all our children will be the colour of my grandchildren and where this country will have a brilliant culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real debate in this country is a strategical debate which is centred on a tactical decision which means we all get there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shannon Pitman is a Whang\u0101rei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ng\u0101puhi- Ng\u0101ti P\u016bkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Raised by a military father and a kind-hearted Ruahine country woman, his mother\u2019s influence still rings heavily in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":214235,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[95,58251,1403,129632,3273,42,6148,20053,43,1067,69,1118,90,223,40,38,41,39,129633],"class_list":["post-214234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-and","tag-arthur","tag-defence","tag-fairley","tag-future","tag-headlines","tag-justice","tag-lawyer","tag-news","tag-northland","tag-nz","tag-of","tag-on","tag-the","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-upbringing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=214234"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/214234\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/214235"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=214234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=214234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=214234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}