One of the country's top QCs feared Supreme Court judge Bill Wilson would bring down the Chief Justice with him if he was forced to resign.
That is one of the revelations in an extraordinary 50-page email trail - obtained by the Herald - that led to Justice Wilson becoming the first judge to face a Judicial Conduct Panel.
Click here to read the email correspondence.
Acting Attorney-General Judith Collins appointed the panel to investigate Justice Wilson's disclosures about his business relationship with Queen's Counsel Alan Galbraith.
Justice Wilson is seeking a court ruling to stop the panel inquiry, arguing that his alleged misconduct did not meet the threshold of being a sackable offence.The emails are between Dr Jim Farmer, QC, and retired appellate judge Sir Edmund (Ted) Thomas, written in the six months before Sir Edmund made a complaint about Justice Wilson to the Judicial Conduct Commissioner.
In one email, Dr Farmer wrote: "That is why I say that not only is Sian [Elias, the Chief Justice] herself in a difficult position but that Bill will, if he is forced to resign, be likely to implicate Sian in the whole thing and in effect assert that he has had some sort of clearance from her."
Later, Dr Farmer says he would be loyal to friends above concerns about the integrity of the system.
"While I have no brief for Bill, I do regard Sian as a close friend and I will always put friendship and loyalty above concerns about the 'system' which has its own processes for looking after itself."
He writes in the same email: "I am not very happy ... that you have told Sian that Colin [Carruthers, QC], Alan and I all think that Bill should resign even though that is the fact."
Mr Carruthers - who is now representing Justice Wilson in this matter - appeared to indicate in an interview with Radio New Zealand in early June that he was never of that view.
In July last year, Sir Edmund told Dame Sian about what he knew. Although Sir Edmund said the Chief Justice was "sick to her stomach", she felt she could not act unless she had a formal complaint from Sir Edmund's source (Dr Farmer).
As time passed and Sir Edmund pressed Dr Farmer to come forward, the emails between the two good friends became strained. We can have a look at mens timberland chukka boots