KING’S COUNSEL

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22767, 20 July 1939, Page 10

KING’S COUNSEL

CITY BARRISTER APPOINTED DISTINCTION FOR MR W. J- SIM PROMINENT CAREER AT THE BAR Letters patent entitling Mr W. J. Sim, of Christchurch, to practise as a King’s Counsel have been signed by the Rt. Hon. Sir Michael Myers, as Administrator of New Zealand, in the absence of the GovernorGeneral (Lord Galway). Mr Sim, who has been a partner in the wellr known firm of Messrs Duncan, Cotterill, and Company for 19 years, has severed his connexion with the firm and will take up practice at Wellington. The distinction of being a Kings Counsel is shared by only a few barristers in New Zealand. It is the highest rank among barristers. King’s Counsel lead in cases in Court, and give opinions on cases submitted to them, but they do not undertake solicitors’ work. In Christchurch there is only one other King’s Counsel. That is Mr Frederick Wilding, who was granted letters patent in 1913, before the present regulations requiring a King’s Counsel to practise apart from the solicitors’ branch of the profession came into force. Son of Sir William Sim A son of the Hon. Sir William Sim, a Judge of the Arbitration Court and of the Supreme Court of New Zealand from 1907 to 1914, and of the Supreme Court exclusively until his death in 1928,-Mr Sim was born at Dunedin in 1890. His secondary education was at the Otago Boys’ High School, from 1902 until 1905, and at Wanganui Collegiate School from 1906 to 1909. He graduated as a student of Victoria University College in 1913. Shortly after commencing practice at Wellington he became a member of the firm of Messrs Findlay, Dalziell, and Sim, but his legal career was interrupted by the outbreak of the Great War. He enlisted in August, 1914, and was a member of the Expeditionary Force which occupied Samoa. Immediately after the occupation he was appointed Commissioner of Police and Crown Prosecutor at Samoa. He held these offices, until 1915, when he took commissioned rank with a regular Scottish regiment. He served with this regiment until 1919. seeing service in Salonika and_ winning the Military Cross in action. Extensive Practice at Bar On his return to New Zealand he entered practice at Christchurch and became a partner in the firm of Messrs Duncan, Cotterill, and Company. Since entering this firm he has had an extensive practice at the Bar and has been connected with many important cases in the city. He has also appeared regularly in the Court of Appeal and in the Full Court. Mr Sim has been interested in civic politics and served on the Christchurch City' Council from 1925 to 1927. In that term he was chairman of the council’s town planning committee. He has taken a prominent part in legal reform, and has been a member of the Law Revision Committee and the Rules Committee of the Supreme Court since their inception. He is also editor of two standard legal works —The Practice of the Supreme Court and Court of Appear of New Zealand, better known as “Stout and Sim.” and Sim on Divorce the latter written by Sir William Sim, who collaborated with the Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Stout, a former Chief Justice, in writing “Stout and Sim.”