A man in a black suit with a light blue shirt and a striped tie, posing against a dark background.

Hunter de Groot

+64 22 120 4385
hunter@hunterbarrister.com

Hunter is an experienced criminal barrister with particular expertise at the appellate level.

He has appeared on a wide range of civil and criminal appeals, the majority as lead counsel in the Court of Appeal.

In the criminal jurisdiction, Hunter has led appeals where the offences charged have included murder, sexual crimes and Class-A drug dealing. He is regularly appointed as counsel to assist the Court of Appeal in complex cases. Hunter has appeared as lead and junior counsel at trials at all levels.

Before joining the independent bar in 2018, Hunter spent five years at John Miller Law specialising in medico-legal litigation.

Hunter accepts private instructions for criminal and civil cases. He is approved to provide legal aid for criminal trials at PAL4 level and for all matters in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

Areas of expertise

  • Examples of Hunter’s recent criminal law experience include:

    • Representing three clients on appeals to the Supreme Court in 2026: Webster v R; Churchward v R; Scott v R.

    • Regularly being appointed as counsel to assist the Court of Appeal in appeals against conviction and sentence on charges of manslaughter, sexual offending and perverting the course of justice.

    • Successfully representing clients on appeals against life sentences for murder imposed on teenagers: Webster v R [2026] NZCA 67; Lo v R [2024] NZCA 359.

    • Representing a client on an ongoing appeal against conviction for sexual offending involving jury misconduct: R v R [2025] NZCA 632.

    • Representing a client on a successful appeal against conviction for murder: M v R [2025] NZCA 645.

    • Representing a client on a successful appeal of a sentence of preventive detention 21 years out of time: Hoggart v R [2025] NZCA 573.

    • Representing clients on successful appeals against conviction for sexual offending, serious violence and Class-A drug offending: R v R [2024] NZCA 83; W v R [2024] NZCA 455; P v R [2023] NZCA 273; N v R [2021] NZCA 2010.

    • Lead counsel for the appellant on an appeal to the Supreme Court regarding the admission of defence hearsay evidence at a trial for sexual offending: L v R [2024] NZSC 153; 1 NZLR 640.

    • Representing three appellants seeking lengthy extensions to appeal life sentences on conviction for murder: Kriel v R [2024] NZCA 45.

    • Representing an appellant in the review of sentencing for young people convicted of murder: Dickey v R [2023] NZCA 2; 2 NZLR 405.

    • Representing three appellants convicted following Operation Easter, which targeted New Zealand’s largest ever manufacturing operation: Lang & Hura v R [2023] NZCA 7; Rogers v R [2022] NZCA 39.

  • Examples of Hunter’s recent experience in medico-legal law include:

    • Lead counsel in ACC treatment injury guideline decisions: ACC v Adlam [2016] 3 NZLR 497; Adlam v ACC [2018] 2 NZLR 102 (CA).

    • Lead counsel on the first decision in a common law jurisdiction establishing a link between traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia: EO v ACC [2015] NZACC 333.

    • Lead counsel on the first decision in a common law jurisdiction establishing a link between traumatic brain injury and schizophrenia: EO v ACC [2015] NZACC 333.