Her Honour Judge Jacquelyn (Jackie) Moran was appointed a Family Court Judge in 2003 and became Principal Family Court Judge in November 2018. She is New Zealand’s fifth Principal Family Court Judge and the first woman appointed to the role since the Family Court’s establishment in 1981.
Born in Ngāruawāhia and educated at Baradene College in Auckland and the University of Auckland, Judge Moran graduated LLB in 1979. After admission to the bar in 1980 she practised for 23 years mainly in family law in Ōtāhuhu, Whanganui, and Invercargill. From 1990 she was in sole practice in Invercargill, and for ten of those years worked exclusively in family law.
While in Southland, she helped establish the Southland Abuse Intervention Programme, and chaired the Southland Care and Protection Resource panel. She was a member of the Southland District Law Society Family Law Committee and president of the Southland Family Courts Association. She was also a member of the New Zealand Law Society Family Law Section and Matrimonial and de Facto Property Committee.
When appointed a District Court Judge with a Family warrant Judge Moran was assigned to Christchurch. For six years she was the Administrative Family Court Judge for the Southern Region, and for a brief period in 2014 she served as Acting Principal Family Court Judge. She has been a member of Canterbury Family Justice Network and took an active role in designing and rolling out nationally the Early Intervention Process to deal efficiently with Care of Children Act 2004 proceedings. In 2013-2014 she was a judicial member of the working party on Family Court reforms introduced at that time.
This website explains many of the things you might want to know if you are coming to the Youth Court, or just wondering how the Youth Court works.
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