Honorary Members
Honorary Members
Honorary Membership is for distinguished individuals, who from their contribution to advancing the objects of the Institute, deserve this high honour.
The Honorable Justice Brendan Brown
Justice Brown graduated with an LLB (Hons) from the University of Canterbury in 1976. He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1977 in New Zealand and admitted to the Bar of the Australian Capital Territory in Canberra in 1990.
After employment as a law clerk at Brockett Cameron & Co in Christchurch in 1976, he worked as a solicitor in the Wellington office of Bell Gully from 1977 to 1982. He was a partner from 1982 to 1992.
Justice Brown commenced practice as a barrister sole in 1992. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1997, practising from Thomas More Chambers and specialising in intellectual property law, competition law, taxation and Treaty of Waitangi issues.
Justice Brown was counsel assisting the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification in 2000.
He was appointed a High Court Judge in 2013 and a judge of the Court of Appeal in August 2016.
Doug Calhoun
Doug joined AJ Park in 1974 where he was a partner for nearly 30 years.
He started life as a physical chemist but developed practices in two completely new areas. Biotechnology and plant variety rights. It was real pioneering work back then. Doug quickly assumed the title of 'Mr Plant Variety Rights' in New Zealand.
Doug has had - and still has - an ongoing interest in the reform of IP legislation and related law. This means extensive legal research and lengthy submissions in response to Ministry papers, making submissions to Select Committees in Parliament and generally lobbying for change amongst public servants and politicians.
At one point he was an expert witness before the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification in 2001. His input was all about introducing good sense and judgement in an arena that some would say was lacking good sense and judgement.
Doug was president of NZIPA from November 1991 to November 1993. He has edited the Patent Letter since 2006.
Doug became an honorary member in November 2018.
Bryan Thompson
Bryan joined AJ Park in 1971 where he was a partner for over 30 years.
His specialist areas include trade mark portfolio management, litigation in intellectual property, commercial licensing, copyright protection, and the law relating to unfair competition and restrictive trade practices.
He has been actively involved in advising the government on trade mark law reform, geographical indications and anti-counterfeiting.
Bryan was president of NZIPA from November 1997 to November1999. He has been chair of the exam board since 2004. He was also a hearings officer for many years.
Bryan became an honorary member in November 2018.
Former Honorary Members now deceased:
Philip McCabe
Phil McCabe served as President of the Institute (1985-1986) and started The Patent Letter newsletter. Hewas responsible for orchestrating the injection of humour and social activities into the life of the profession. As well, he wrote a history of the profession, sadly since lost. Phil was instrumental in setting up working parties and a revamped examination system.
Philip became an honorary member in February 2021.
In June 2021, Philip passed away aged 73.
Tom Ennis
Tom Ennis joined AJ Park in 1934, having completed his law degree in 1929 and qualified as a patent attorney in 1937.
He was a 'jack of all trades' doing everything apart from the shorthand and making tea. He did patent and trade mark searching, the accounts, typing, and the register.
On 1 April 1988 he retired from AJ Park after a 50 year term as a partner. He continued to work for the firm as a consultant.
Tom retired from the partnership in March 1988, but continued as a consultant until his 91st year. In October 2002, Tom Ennis passed away aged 93.
Rt Hon Sir Thomas Gault
Sir Thomas Gault joined AJ Park in 1963 and was admitted to the partnership in 1966. He was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1962 and a registered patent attorney in 1963.
In 1982 he retired from AJ Park to practice as a barrister. He had been with AJ Park for 19 years.
He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1984, and took his first appointment to the bench as a Judge of the High Court in 1987.
In February 1991 he was appointed to the Court of Appeal, becoming President of the Court of Appeal on 24 May 2002, the first registered patent attorney to be appointed to this role.
He was appointed a Distinguished Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2001 New Year's Honours, for services as a judge of the Court of Appeal.
On 14 November 2003, he was appointed as Justice of the newly-established Supreme Court of New Zealand commencing 1 January 2004. The court began sitting in 2004 and he was a member of the court until his retirement in 2006, although he continued to sit occasionally as a temporary Judge.
His expertise and standing in the field of commercial law was recognised with his role as Consulting Editor of the legal text Gault on Commercial Law (published by Thomson Reuters).
Sir Thomas was appointed a Non-Permanent Judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal in 2006. A statement by the Hong Kong judiciary says he made important contributions to case law as a member of the Court.
He passed away on 19 May 2015 aged 76.
Bill Howie
Bill Howie joined AJ Park in 1959. He was sent to Havelock North for a period for some intensive coaching from Andrew John Park Jr, and soon graduated as a patent attorney.
He became a partner of AJ Park in 1966, later taking the roles of managing partner and chairman of partners in the 1980s and 1990s.
He served as president of NZIPA between 1976 and 1978. He was elected President of the Asian Patent Attorneys Association in 1988 for a six-year term. In 2001 he was appointed as an Honorary President of that organisation.
Bill Howie retired from the partnership in March 1999 after 30 years as a partner, continuing as a consultant.
He passed away at the end of 2016 in Nelson.
Hon Justice Antony Arthur Travers (Tony) Ellis
Hon Tony Ellis was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1960 after graduating in law from Victoria University of Wellington, also completing an arts degree in which he majored in mathematics.
He worked as a law clerk in Hogg Gillespie Carter and Oakley. He went on to work for Martin & Hurley, (which became Martin Evans-Scott and Hurley). He later joined the partnership. This firm merged with Brandon Ward and eventually became Brandons where Tony remained a partner until 1979.
He became a member of the Council of the Wellington District Law Society (WDLS) in 1973 and served on a number of committees. He was WDLS President in 1980 and was also a Vice-President of the New Zealand Law Society.
He practised as a barrister sole from 1979 and was appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 1981. In 1985 he was appointed to the High Court Bench.
After his retirement as a High Court Judge in 2003, he was appointed as the first chairperson of the restructured Parole Board following the Parole Act 2002. He was also President of the Electoral Commission and a member of the New Zealand Sports Drug Agency. He sat from time to time on the Courts of Appeal of Fiji and Samoa, and was involved in cases in the former until just before his death.
In his distinguished judicial career spanning 18 years, Justice Ellis was judge in a number of high-profile cases including the Lundy murder case, and the Keith Ramstead case, the surgeon charged with manslaughter of three patients in 1998.
Hon Tony Ellis was also a skilled engineer and builder. He built or restored several houses and for most of his adult life was passionate about vintage cars. He was a keen hiker and was president of the Royal Forest and Bird Society for 6 years.
He passed away in 2007 aged 72.