Philip Hamlin
BA, LLB (Hons), M.Jur (Dist.)
Admitted to the Bar: 1982
Philip has worked at Meredith Connell as a prosecutor since 1988 and has been a Partner of the firm since 1992.
Philip’s primary area of work involves prosecuting serious criminal cases in the High Court and District Court. These are, in many instances, long and complex trials, usually involving the jury as the fact finder.
His key areas of litigation include:
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Sex crimes cases
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Child abuse – sex crimes, serious assaults, homicides and sexual offending overseas
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Computer crime including trafficking of child pornography
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Organised crime and drug cases
Philip appears regularly in the trial courts on pre-trial applications and trials. He also represents the Crown in cases on appeal.
This work requires Philip to consult regularly with other professionals, particularly specialist medical and psychological witnesses. He has been involved in research, training, advisory and educational roles for a number of professional organisations and regularly leads seminars and presentations on a range of legal topics, particularly around issues involving the impact (and improvement) of the legal process on child victims of sexual or physical offending.
Within the firm, Philip is the organiser of the continuing legal education programme for Meredith Connell prosecutors. This involves the organisation, writing, running and assessing a variety of educational projects.
Philip’s interest in law reform has led to the firm’s involvement in a number of research projects, most recently ‘Child Witnesses in the New Zealand Criminal Courts: A Review of Practice and Implications for Policy’, published by AUT’s Institute of Public Policy.
Other Credentials
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Active member and supporter of ECPAT (including conference attendance and presentation to ECPAT meetings on the ground in NZ)
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Co-convenor (with Dr Patrick Kelly) of a review committee relating to the diagnosis of non-accidental injury in children
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Part of the instigation and implementation of the country’s first multi-agency centre for the investigation of child abuse (Puawaitahi); key contributor to the South Auckland Multi-Agency Centre which deals with crimes of domestic violence (including adult victims)
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Training, policy and advice for DSAC – Doctors for Sexual Abuse Care – including trial support
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Contributor to SAFE (community-based professional treatment programme for both adult and adolescent sex offenders) as conference presenter and in policy development assistance