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Spouse(s) Hon. Justice Simon France | ||
Dame Ellen Dolour France, DNZM (born 1956) is the former president of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand.
Ellen Dolour's parents were both teachers. A legal career was suggested to her by her career counsellor and her response was "alright, I'll try that." She graduated LLB from the University of Auckland in 1981, and obtained her masters from Queen's University in Ontario, Canada in 1983. From 1982, she worked as a solicitor for the Auckland practice of Subritzky, Tetley Jones & Way.
From 1984, she was a legal adviser in the Department of Justice Law Reform Division, followed by work for the Crown Law Office.
In 2002, she was appointed to the High Court in Auckland. She received her appointment as a judge to the Court of Appeal in June 2006. She was appointed president of the Court of Appeal of New Zealand with effect from 1 September 2014, succeeding Sir Mark O'Regan. She made history in August 2015 when the Appeal Court bench was made up by three women when she sat with Justice Christine French and Justice Helen Winkelmann.
In the 2016 Queen's Birthday Honours, France was appointed an Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the judiciary.
France met her husband at the Auckland University halls in the late 1970s. Justice Simon France is a judge at the High Court.