Williams was born in 1934 and educated at
Feilding High School. He graduated from the
University of New Zealand at Auckland in 1960. A noted defence lawyer, Williams represented high-profile clients including
Terry Clark,
Ronald Jorgensen,
Arapeta Awatere and
Winston Peters, and was involved in having the conviction of
Arthur Allan Thomas for the murders of
Harvey and Jeannette Crewe overturned. During his 60-year career, he appeared in over 100 murder trials. Williams was a long-time advocate for the humane treatment of prisoners in New Zealand, and served as the head of the New Zealand
Howard League for Penal Reform. He was the foundation president of the NZ Criminal Bar Association. A private investiture was held at his home on 11 April 2015, as it was feared he might not live until the scheduled investiture on 6 May 2015 at
Government House in
Auckland. He died from
prostate cancer at his home in the Auckland suburb of
Ponsonby on 9 June 2015, survived by his wife, Lady Heeni Phillips-Williams. ==Published works==