Judge Colin Doherty was appointed Chair of the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) by the New Zealand Parliament in August 2017. He is a Judge of the District Court of New Zealand in 1997, an Alternate Judge of the Environment Court and a Justice of the High Court of the Cook Islands. He has been an Associate Judge of the High Court of New Zealand and a temporary Justice of the Supreme Court of Samoa.

Judge Doherty has held a wide range of senior administrative positions in the District Court judiciary culminating in his being the National Executive Judge from 2012 until his appointment to the IPCA. In 2014, he was a joint winner of the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administrators Award for Judicial Excellence for his work in the post-earthquake recovery of the courts in Christchurch.