Dr David V Williams FRSNZ is a Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Law at The University of Auckland Waipapa Taumata Rau. He served a three-year term as a Member of the Waitangi Tribunal (appointed by the Governor-General, from 31 March 2023) and is a continuing Member for five ongoing Tribunal inquiries. He is a Member of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tāmaki Paenga Hira Trust Board (appointed by Auckland Council, from 1 November 2023).

After undergraduate study at Victoria University of Wellington, he was a Rhodes Scholar at Balliol College, University of Oxford. He has tertiary qualifications in history, law and theology including a PhD from the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He taught and researched from 1972 to 2018 at the University of Dar es Salaam (4 years), and at the University of Auckland (42 years). He was an activist in the Citizens Association for Racial Equality (CARE) in the 1970s and 1980s. He worked with many iwi, but especially with Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei from the days of the Bastion Point/Takaparawhau occupation through to the enactment of the Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei Treaty Settlement Act 2012. He was an independent researcher from 1991 specialising in legal history research and advisory work relevant to Treaty of Waitangi claims. He continued work as an expert witness and litigation adviser to various iwi (especially Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei and Ngāi Tahu) after his retirement from teaching in 2018 until his appointment to the Waitangi Tribunal in 2023.

His book publications include the Māori Land Legislation Manual (& database)(CFRT, 1994/1995); 'Te Kooti tango whenua': The Native Land Court 1864-1909 (Huia, 1999); Crown Policy Affecting Māori Knowledge Systems and Cultural Practices (Waitangi Tribunal, 2001); Matauranga Māori and Taonga (Waitangi Tribunal, 2001); editor (with Michael Belgrave and Merata Kāwharu) and contributor to Waitangi Revisited: Perspectives on the Treaty of Waitangi (OUP, 2005); A simple nullity?: The Wi Parata case in New Zealand Law and History (AUP, 2011); editor (with Cris Shore) and contributor to Shapeshifting Crown: Locating the State in Post-Colonial New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the UK (CUP, 2019) – the major output of a Royal Society of New Zealand Marsden Fund grant; and editor (with Jayden Houghton) Ko Aotearoa Ināianei: New Perspectives on Protecting Māori Knowledge and Cultural Expressions (AUP, 2026). Additional publications include 25 book chapters, 49 refereed journal articles and 14 major technical reports submitted to the Waitangi Tribunal or the Office of Treaty Settlements.

Distinctions/Honours:
Visiting Fellow, Exeter College, Oxford (2009)
Visiting Professor, University of Dar es Salaam (2010)
Visiting Research Associate, St John's College Research Centre, Oxford (2014)
Visiting Research Scholar, Corpus Christi College, Oxford (2017)

Honorary Fellow, American Society for Legal History (2017)

Honours Tie, Whanganui Collegiate School (2017)
Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand Te Apārangi (2018)


Committee/Professional groups/Services:
Chairperson, St Isaac's Retreat House Trust, Pakanae, Hokianga.

Qualifications:
Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand

Ordained Priest, Anglican Church of Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia

Areas of Expertise:
Treaty of Waitangi issues, colonial legal history, constitutional law, tikanga in state law.

Media Keywords:
Legal history, Law and society, Te Tiriti o Waitangi