Charles Chauvel (politician)
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Charles Chauvel (born Gisborne, 16 April 1969) is a New Zealand commercial lawyer, described since 2000 as 'leading' or 'recommended' in the labour law and public law listings of a number of international legal directories. He is a partner in the Wellington office of Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, which is part of the Minter Ellison Legal Group, one of the world's 25 largest law firms. Chauvel is admitted to practise law in both New Zealand and New South Wales, and was based in the Group's Sydney Office during most of 2003. He entered parliament as a member of the Labour Party on 1 August 2006 after the retirement of Hon Jim Sutton.
He has appeared in significant cases at all levels of the New Zealand Court system, including in the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London (prior to the abolition in 2002 of appeals from New Zealand to that body) and in the Supreme Court of New Zealand. Previously, he was Crown Counsel in the New Zealand Crown Law Office in Wellington. He has also served on the Board of the New Zealand Public Health Commission (1995); as Chair of the New Zealand Aids Foundation (1996, having been a member of its board 1990-1994); as Deputy Chair of the entity that governs the New Zealand State Lottery (2000-2004); as Deputy Chair of Meridian Energy Ltd, New Zealand's largest energy generation company (2005, having been a director of that company from 2002); and on the board of Minter Ellison Rudd Watts (2003-2005).
Chauvel stood as electoral candidate for Ohariu-Belmont for the New Zealand Labour Party at the New Zealand general election 2005, finishing second to Peter Dunne, and was ranked 44th on the Labour Party list. As such, on election night returns, he failed by one seat to enter New Zealand's Parliament. Under the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral Representation system operated in New Zealand, when a Labour list Member of Parliament retired during the term of Parliament, Chauvel was next in line to become an MP. When former Labour Cabinet Minister Jim Sutton did so, this was announced on 10 July, effective 1 August 2006.
While studying at the University of Auckland from which he graduated Master of Jurisprudence (with Distinction) in 1994, Chauvel was in 1987 Captain of the University's winning University Challenge team. He graduated Bachelor of Laws (with Honours) from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, in 1989, and was awarded the Diploma in International Legal Standards by the International Training Centre of the ILO in Turin, Italy, in 2001. He also holds the Diploma in Health Economics (with Merit) from Victoria University of Wellington (awarded 1993).
Chauvel wrote the Public Safety Title in the Laws of New Zealand Compilation, and has been a member of the editorial board of Mazengarb's Employment Law, Butterworth's Employment Law Bulletin and other employment-related publications. He has co-authored two books, "New Zealand Employment Law Guide" (LexisNexis, 2002) and "Employment Mediation" (Thompson Brookers, 2005). He has written and spoken extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand on employment law, public law and human rights-related topics, generally espousing a liberal, centre-left perspective.
He lives with his male partner in Wellington, and has a son, born in 2005.
