Source: Radio New Zealand
Jack Oliver-Hood, 37, was pulled from the water at Hahei Beach shortly after 3pm on Monday but could not be resuscitated and died at the scene. Supplied
Former colleagues are mourning the loss of a “bright” Auckland lawyer who died while swimming at a Coromandel beach.
Jack Oliver-Hood, who was 37, was pulled from the water at Hahei Beach shortly after 3pm on Monday.
Despite rescuers performing CPR, he could not be resuscitated and died at the scene.
Barrister Kevin Glover KC said he first met Oliver-Hood while he was a junior barrister at Shortland Chambers in Auckland from 2015 to 2016.
After completing his Master’s at Columbia University in the US, Glover said Oliver-Hood returned to Auckland and had been working as an independent barrister since 2020.
“Jack was a bright and very able lawyer. He did fantastic work, and he was very good on his feet.
“People had a huge and genuine affection for Jack.”
Glover said they had worked on several cases together, including representing LEGO in a trademark dispute with toy company Zuru.
“I have been talking to people overseas who we worked with on the LEGO case, and they’re absolutely gutted. Jack did a really good job connecting with people.
“He was a very good lawyer across quite different areas of practice that people don’t normally combine, with this strength in IP [Intellectual Property], which is where I worked with him, and also criminal cases, where he worked with very senior practitioners on very high-profile cases.”
“The IP community all knows each other and has been pretty hard hit by this.”
Oliver-Hood also worked on the high-profile murder appeals of Mark Lundy and Gail Maney.
He was the only son of well-known music producer and engineer Doug Hood, who died in 2024.
Glover said they had a shared interest in music.
“I used to see Jack at gigs. He was very intertwined in the alternative music scene.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand