Anne Gambrill
Anne Gertrude Gambrill (née Shorland) CNZM is a retired New Zealand lawyer and judge. Born in Wellington, she attended Nga Tawa Diocesan School and Samuel Marsden Collegiate School, then studied law at Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Auckland.
While a student she became the first woman law clerk at Russell McVeagh. She was admitted as a solicitor in 1958 and as a barrister in 1960, and in 1977 she became the first woman member of the Legal Aid Appeal Authority.
Gambrill was the seventh woman to join New Zealand’s judiciary and the first woman to sit on the High Court bench. In 1987 she was appointed a master of the High Court, a role she held for 15 years. She was appointed to the Insolvency Court in 1999 and retired in 2002.
Her public work included founding Auckland Zonta and serving as its president for many years, chairing the Auckland Decorative and Fine Arts Society, and serving on the International Education Appeal Authority. She received the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2003 for services to the High Court.
She married Christopher Gambrill in 1960, and they have three children.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 23:33 (CET).