Stephen Kós


Stephen Kós, QC is a New Zealand justice who has been President of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand since 22 July 2016.

Early life and career

The son of a Hungarian refugee, Kós was born in Mosgiel, Otago, in 1959 and raised in Wainuiomata. He matriculated at the Victoria University of Wellington to study law in 1976 where he later graduated LLB in 1981.
After graduating from University of Cambridge in 1985 with an LLM, Kós began a career in commercial litigation. In 1985, he became a partner in Perry Wylie & Page, and later a partner in Russell McVeagh in 1988. He went to the independent bar in 2005 and was appointed as a Queen's Counsel in 2007. He founded Stout Street Chambers, a leading set of barristers, in 2007 with three other QCs.
He is an Honorary Fellow at the Victoria University Law School. He was formerly Pro-Chancellor of Massey University.

Judicial career

In April 2011, Kós was appointed to the High Court of New Zealand. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal in September 2015, and succeeding Ellen France as President of the court in July 2016.

Notable cases

Justice Kós wrote the judgments in a number of notable cases:
;Scotch Whisky Association v Mill Liquor Save Ltd NZHC 3205
; Discovery Geo Corporation v STP Energy Pte Ltd NZHC 3549, 2 NZLR 122
; Woodward v Smith NZHC 1260
;Shailer v R NZCA 38, 2 NZLR 629
;Wilaci PTY Ltd v Torchlight Fund No 1 LP NZCA 152, 3 NZLR 293
;Hagaman v Little NZCA 24, 2 NZLR 140
;Attorney-General v Smith NZCA 24

Extra-judicial writing

Justice Kós has written in three particular areas:

Civil remedies

As co-author of Butler's Equity and Trusts in New Zealand and Blanchard's Civil Remedies in New Zealand.

Civil and criminal justice reform

In 2016 he advocated a civil law inquisitorial approach for unrepresented litigants, to improve access to justice. In 2018 he gave a speech to Victim Support advocating new approaches to sentencing and corrections, in particular changes to home detention and prison sentencing.

Legal history

Kós has written extensively on connections between legal and political history – on New Zealand's nuclear treaty cases in the International Court of Justice, constitutional law and on appellate history.