There was a special sitting in our Manukau court this afternoon. The gathering included two former governor generals, a chief justice, heads of bench, All Blacks, authors, active and retired judicial officers from all courts and more KC’s than you could fit at a round table, alongside lawyers, friends, and family. In the 320 strong crowd were many he had helped along in life.
The man, the legend, that they came to honour wanted no fuss and true to his humble nature (well, except on the rugby field or golf course) hated being the centre of attention. He stubbornly (now there’s another characteristic) wanted no valedictory but was persuaded into this sitting as an opportunity for his colleagues and friends to publicly recognise all that he has done and all he means to us – and to do this in his beloved Manukau Court surrounded by so many and his family, Genevieve and Madeleine and Jules and Jeanne and Seb, to whom he means so very, very, much.
The Executive Judge South Auckland, Jonny Moses, recalled his dealing with Phil Recordon in his first year as a lawyer. It was 1985 and only a couple of months after Recordon and others were involved in taking out an injunction against the New Zealand Rugby Union to stop the All Black tour to South Africa when the young Jonny had to speak with his hero. That lead to a lifelong friendship in South Auckland. Piripi was very supportive of Andrew Beecroft and Jonny setting up the Mangere Community Law Centre.
In his speech, Jonny reflected that:
“there is no judge more loved by the staff, the bar and his colleagues than you are. You are a passionate supporter, mentor and promoter of young Maori and Pacifica lawyers …Many of you may also be aware that Phil has been a very good athlete and sportsman … What I can say is that if the Olympic pentathlon event was made up, not of sporting activities but rather awarded points for the qualities of love, kindness, compassion, generosity, and faithfulness then you would certainty take gold. Many of us here are beneficiaries of your extraordinary kindness and generosity– you never cease to amaze me and humble me with the practical support you give to others.”
The EJ continued:
“But to be quite frank, I can also say that if there was an Olympic triathlon where the traits being judged were stubbornness, competitiveness and straight talking you would also be right up there amongst the medalists too. I imagine everyone seated on this bench have received texts and/or emails from you (some cryptic, some not) but all clearly telling us what we have done right, what we have done wrong – and what we need to do to make things right. You have achieved so much both in Court and outside court because of your single-minded approach to things that are dear to you. And there are a lot of those things.”
And about his judicial career he wryly remarked:
“As a judge, you have never wanted to burden the higher courts with additional work by imposing sentences which might be considered manifestly excessive. You take at times, a rather unorthodox approach to some aspects of judging. Some of those, less orthodox approaches, I won’t comment on here, as it might not be seemly to have the Chief Justice faint on the bench. …
…But most importantly, you have listened to people, people in your court know they are listened to, and you are passionate about upholding the judicial oath, doing right to all manner of people.”
The lilt of Pasifika chant and Waiata relished all the addresses and echoed about the vast Manukau courtrooms as befits a true champion of our people. This was indeed a very special sitting for a very special person. Well done, you, Piripi, take a bow!