After four decades of keeping New Zealand’s roads safe, Sergeant Gilbert Williams has achieved a new goal - being admitted to the High Court as a barrister and solicitor.
In a ceremony conducted by Justice Andrew Becroft at the Hamilton High Court, Gilbert was formally admitted into the legal profession having earlier completed a law degree.
Alongside him his solicitor wife Dawn, who acted as moving counsel to formally apply for his admission to the bar, welcomed him to the legal environment.
“To me it was a real sense of achievement,” says Gilbert - who remains a Section Leader in the Waikato Commercial Vehicle Safety Team - as he reflects on his recent admission. “To achieve that degree for my family and follow the steps through to become a lawyer is a real achievement."
Having policed since the 1980s, the 61-year-old father of five had always sought to expand his legal horizons. When COVID-19 lockdowns struck, Gilbert decided to follow his dream and spend his downtime studying law remotely.
“To be there in court was really surreal, to be standing there on that side of the courtroom dressed alongside other lawyers.”
Gilbert Williams and his wife Dawn at Hamilton High Court.
Gilbert's policing journey began in 1985 when he joined as a Ministry of Transport (MoT) traffic officer, after being recruited by retired Waikato Road Policing Manager Leo Tooman.
“I was playing a lot of rugby in those days but it wasn’t professional, so I walked in as a 20-year-old to join the Ministry of Transport.”
After training, Gilbert was stationed in the capital where he learnt the craft of policing the roads – riding motorcycles in the Wellington weather and collecting a 'rain money' allowance.
“I learnt a lot in Wellington and that’s where my interest in heavy motor vehicles started – you always got dirty and there were a lot of opportunities to drive the heavy vehicles and get off the bike. Getting to drive a car was like a promotion.”
In the early 1990s, Gilbert transferred home to his roots in the Gisborne/Tairāwhiti area as the MoT merged with Police.
Embracing the change, he soon worked on section and in general duties alongside his brother.
Then came a move to the valleys edging the Raukumara Ranges and back to his whakapapa in Ruatoria on the East Coast as the local community cop. He and Dawn spent a lot of time working in the community with youth and supporting local sports.
Gilbert coaching sports in Ruatoria while working as a community cop in the 1990s.
“Policing was difficult there," says Gilbert. "We did long hours and any decision you made you saw the outcome of those decisions. if you made a mistake, you saw it. But there were some really satisfying achievements there.”
With a growing family, they made the move to Hamilton where Gilbert spent 20 years working in road policing, in Strategic Traffic Unit and Highway Patrol, before joining CVST.
In 2020 COVID-19 gave Gilbert the opportunity to pursue his love of the law further. Studying online at Waikato University and adding in summer school papers, he graduated with an LLB in 2025.
Then another feat, being admitted to the Bar in November 2025. It was a memorable moment, flanked by his wife and Justice Andrew Becroft.
“Police really supported me through it,” says Gilbert.
As a police officer, you sometimes view things from a certain Police view, he says, but having a law degree has given him a bigger appreciation of a defence case.
“I think I can see it from both sides of the fence. It’s one thing to know the legislation but it’s also about how it’s interpreted – what evidence you need to collect, the importance of the quality of the evidence and why it has to be of a high standard.”
And for the grandfather of five, he’s still got dreams to realise.
“I’m certainly not stopping there, and it’s certainly a skill that will benefit Police.”