A reforming Christopher Harder, now a former lawyer after a 23 year roller coaster ride in the criminal law is newly available as a ‘colourful and motivational’ public speaker.
Christopher will entertain you with tales of incredible forensic investigations involving some of the most exciting high profile criminal trials over the last quarter of a century including the Plumley-Walker bondage and discipline murder trials saga and unbelievable overseas adventures.
As well he has a motivational story to tell you about how he crashed and burned when his life and legal practice became unmanageable due to alcohol and substance abuse resulting in his name being removed from the High Court Roll as a lawyer for professional misconduct in 2006. Then to top it all off he suffered a heart attack. Listen to how he is rising from the ashes like a Phoenix having quit drinking , smoking and drugging as well as lost 29 kilo then got going again. A man who now claims to enjoy life more than he ever has before.
Christopher was first admitted as a lawyer in 1983 after he quit drinking alcohol 2 years before winning his first case involving a drug import allegation. He then went on to act for the Parnell Panther rapist.
In 1987 he was jailed briefly in Suva while representing 6 Indians accused of smuggling guns into Fiji in an attempt to overthrow military dictator Sitiveni Rabuka before he was deported back to NZ.
In July 1989 while in Washington, D.C. on an unrelated case he accidentally ran into 4 of the Rainbow Warrior Bombers who then fled US jurisdiction before they could be arrested and extradited to New Zealand.
From late 1989 till June 1991 Christopher as well as barristers Geoff Wells and Jim Boyack defended Neville Walker, one of the two Plumley-Walker murder accused. Stuart Grieve represented Renee Chignall. Both accused were acquitted after three trials, a Commonwealth record.
In 1992 he faced his first NZ Tribunal for a number of matters including referring to the Plumley-Walker prosecutor as an SOB.
In 1993 he successfully represented a man named Michael Donnelly who was charged with murder for shooting an intruder 9 times, 7 of them in his back.
In 1994 Christopher tried unsuccessfully to convince the FBI to let him attempt to negotiate the freedom of a NZ client’s brother and sister-in law from the Waco, Texas compound of David Koresh.
The same year he also faced a second NZ Tribunal for six prosecutor or police initiated complaints including yelling at a judge. He was aquitted on 3 counts missing suspension by one vote.
Also in 1994 Christopher represented Warwick Bennett for the murder of his wife whose body Bennett had buried in the Woodhill forest. The same year he faced a 3rd NZ Tribunal involving complaints from two clients.
He was jailed in Peru in 1997 as a suspected terrorist for holding up a prohibited picture of Che Guevara and uttering his one line quote "When they say it is impossible that means there are a 1000 solutions" outside the Japanese Embassy in Lima during a hostage drama by 'Che Guevara inspired' rebels.
In 1999 Christopher flew to the Balkans in an attempt to help free an American POW simply because they both had the same first name. At the same time he reverted to drinking alcohol and continued to substance abuse.
2000 saw him face a fourth tribunal over complaints made by Bennett in 1995. He was discharged without penalty after the parents of Yvonne Bennett pleaded for mercy on his behalf because he forced the police to keep looking for her body until it was found.
In 2001 Christopher flew to Islamabad on behalf of an Afghani client in relation to Osama Bin Laden’s alleged involvement in the 9/11 attack.
2002 saw him assault a legal colleague as well as yell at another judge. He faced 2 further tribunals surviving both.
In October 2005 Christopher was voted second in the NZ Law Awards for Working Style Barrister of the year. Four months later on 10 February 2006 he was forced to consent to his name being removed from the Law Roll admitting one representative count of professional misconduct involving 3 clients, a female police officer and a female prosecutor.
In July 2006 as a result of a small heart attack he had a stent placed in an artery. After being released from hospital he enrolled in an 8 week intensive Community Alcohol and Drugs Services program (CADS), quit drinking alcohol, drugging and smoking cigarettes. He also joined both an alcoholic and a drug addiction fellowship involving the 12 steps program.
On May 1, 2007 the Chief Justice 0f Tonga granted him a temporary licence in Tonga to practice law to enable him to represent two pro democracy MPs charged with sedition in relation to the 16/11/06 riots in Nuku' alofa, Tonga.
Between June 2007 and June 2008 Christopher lost 29 kilo with a diet given to him in Tonga.
On 26 June 2008 after losing a High Court challenge to limit what material could be used in cross examination of him before the NZ Tribunal Christopher chose to withdraw his earlier application to be re-admitted to the bar, he accepting it to be premature in light of his significant fall from grace.
He is now 2 years clean of alcohol and drugs, including cigarettes and is presently working on an outline for a script involving the Peter Plumley-Walker murder trials saga, completing his fourth book to be called 'A Roller Coaster Ride in the Criminal Law' as well as seeking a new career as a public speaker and a problem solver for members of the public who have a concern with their lawyer and visa versa, and redemption.