Brian Henry (lawyer)

Brian Phillip Henry (born 4 September 1950) is a well-known New Zealand barrister and an industrialist heir of the Henry family.

He was born in the New Zealand milling town of Tokoroa, where his father Jack Henry was the Resident Director at New Zealand Forest Products Kinleith Mill.

In 1973, he graduated with an LLB from the University of Canterbury and was admitted to the bar of the High Court of Auckland in 1975. He joined the law firm of Wilson Henry (now Hesketh Henry) that had been established by his uncle, the Hon. Sir Trevor Henry and was the last member of the family to be a senior partner.

In 1986, he left the firm and commenced practice as a Barrister Sole based in Auckland and has been involved in a number of very high profile and controversial cases including the Equiticorp trials where he represented a Director of the failed 1980s conglomerate and the Winebox Inquiry and subsequent judicial review. He was also involved in well-publicised controversy regarding the New Zealand First political party donations saga during the 2008 National Elections in New Zealand.

A substantial part of his practice revolves around political work and he has represented a number of prominent New Zealand politicians from all sides of the political spectrum including Winston Peters (the former Treasurer and Foreign Minister), Wyatt Creech (Former Deputy Prime Minister) and Tuariki Delamere (former Minister).

In keeping with the Henry family’s wide philanthropic interests, his practice undertakes a substantial amount of pro bono litigation work – he recently sued the New Zealand Department of Corrections on behalf of victims of the RSA murders and has also represented Pacific Island immigrant families who were the victims of unscrupulous financial buy-back schemes.

He has two children by his first marriage, David Henry Jr. and Jaime Henry, and has since remarried.

In addition to his legal practice, he is also chairman of the Henry family’s capital management vehicle, Goldman Henry Capital.