| Geoffrey Venning | |
| Office: | Justice of the High Court |
| Appointer: | Margaret Wilson |
| Office2: | Chief Judge of the High Court |
| Succeeded2: | Susan Thomas |
| Term Start: | 17 October 2002 |
| Honorific Prefix: | The Honourable |
| Alma Mater: | University of Canterbury LLB(Hons) & BCom |
| Termstart2: | 1 June 2015 |
| Termend2: | 31 May 2020 |
Geoffrey John Venning is a New Zealand jurist who serves as a Judge of the High Court of New Zealand. He formerly served as the Chief High Court Judge from 1 June 2015 – 31 May 2020.
Venning graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1978 with a Bachelor of Commerce in economics & accounting, and in 1981 with a Bachelor of Laws with honours. During his time at university, he received several awards for being top of his class: the Sweet & Maxwell Prize for Legal System in 1979, followed by the Butterworths Prize in Equity and Land Law and the Macarthur Prize in Commercial Law the next year.[1]
From 1982 to 1986, Venning served as a tutor in commercial law at Canterbury University and has been a moderator in the law of torts for New Zealand since 1992. He has conducted several seminars for the New Zealand Law Society and has also tutored in their litigation skills course.[2]
In 1981, Venning joined the Christchurch law firm Wynn Williams & Co, becoming a litigation partner in 1987. He was appointed as a Master of the High Court (now called Associate Judge) in 1995 sitting in Christchurch. He was a member of both the Rules Committee and the Judicial Information Consultative Committee from 1999 – 2005 and a member of the Council of Legal Education from 2004 – 2015.[3] [4]
On 17 October 2002 Attorney-General of New Zealand Margaret Wilson announced Venning's appointment as a Judge of the High Court sitting in the Auckland High Court.[5] In June 2015 Venning was appointed Chief High Court Judge. Venning maintained the list managing Christchurch earthquake litigation and established a panel to deal with commercial cases.[6] Venning presided over the trial in 2019 of serial rapist Malcolm Rewa, for the murder in 1992 of Auckland woman Susan Burdett. He also presided over Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand Winston Peters suit over politicians being briefed that he had been overpaid superannuation.[7] He resumed his role as a full-time judge of the High Court on stepping down as the Chief Judge on 31 May 2020.[8]