His Honour Justice Jeffery Shepherd holds degrees in law and anthropology from the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is admitted to practice in the High Court of New Zealand, the Supreme Court of New South Wales, and the Superior Courts of Papua New Guinea. Formerly a senior partner with the litigation and intellectual property teams at the Port Moresby office of Ashurst Lawyers, Justice Shepherd was appointed a judge of the Supreme and National Courts of Justice of Papua New Guinea on 31 October 2016. He commenced judicial duties on 27 January 2017.

Michael Whitten QC is the current Lord Chief Justice of the Kingdom of Tonga. Prior to his Honour’s appointment in mid-2019, he was a member of the Victorian Bar and Chancery Chambers in Melbourne, Victoria. There, he practised for more than 20 years in commercial litigation, specialising in building, construction, infrastructure and energy disputes. Prior to that, his Honour’s legal career started in Brisbane in the Public Defender’s Office, then associate to the late Judge J.P. Kimmins, then as a law clerk at Blake Dawson Waldron, before being called to the Bar there in 1990.