High Court - criminal trials - waiting time for scheduled hearings as at 31 December 2025
| Registry | Cases with Scheduled Hearing | Average Days | Median Days | |
| Auckland | Tāmaki Makaurau | 32 | 521 | 492 |
| Whangarei | Whangārei-terenga-parāoa | 11 | 616 | 619 |
| Rotorua | Te Rotorua-nui-a-Kahumatamomoe | 24 | 875 | 880 |
| Hamilton | Kirikiriroa | 13 | 879 | 937 |
| Wellington | Te Whanganui-a-Tara | 10 | 499 | 499 |
| Napier | Ahuriri | 6 | 450 | 479 |
| Palmerston North | Te Papaioea | 2 | 502 | 502 |
| Whanganui | Whanganui | 0 | - | - |
| Gisborne | Tūranganui-a-Kiwa | 1 | 474 | 474 |
| New Plymouth | Ngāmotu | 2 | 588 | 588 |
| Christchurch | Ōtautahi | 4 | 591 | 560 |
| Timaru | Te Tihi-o-Maru | 1 | 832 | 832 |
| Dunedin | Ōtepoti | 3 | 777 | 802 |
| Invercargill | Waihōpai | 2 | 601 | 601 |
| Greymouth | Māwhera | 1 | 563 | 563 |
| Nelson | Whakatū | 1 | 488 | 488 |
| Blenheim | Te Waiharakeke | 1 | 567 | 567 |
| National Total | 114 | 654 | 579 |
Definitions
Waiting time - in days (including weekends) is only calculated for a registry when at least one trial was scheduled for a future substantive hearing.
HC criminal trials
For jury or judge-alone trial cases, the waiting time is defined as the time from the first appearance in the High Court to the first scheduled trial date. This data excludes three very large cases of alleged drug offending, where time to trial has extended due to factors outside the Court’s control, and which are not representative of time to trial in the High Court.
Waiting time figures exclude retrial cases.