Michael Molineaux, who has died aged 62 of a cardiac arrest, was an independent man of great integrity and principle. As a lawyer, he was admired and respected for his intelligent and perspicacious mind, and renowned for solving the most complex problems.
Born in Blenheim, New Zealand, he was the youngest of three children of Barbara (nee Kirby), and Paul Molineaux, a judge. As a small boy, Michael was mischievous, testing boundaries and needing to understand how everything worked. Toys and mechanical objects were frequently taken apart and sometimes reassembled.
The family moved to Western Samoa in the 1960s when Michael’s father was appointed attorney general there. Returning to New Zealand, Michael attended Medbury school and then Christ College, both in Christchurch. Outside school, Paul introduced Michael and his brother, Chris, to fly-fishing – a gift from their father that would remain with them for their entire lives.
Michael was an exceptionally gifted student and sportsman. Aged 16, he went to the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, gaining an MSc in engineering geology (1984). He gained a master’s in soil mechanics from Imperial College London (1986). Unconventionally at the time, Michael then turned his mind to law, doing a conversion course and law finals, then a master’s in law at Queen Mary and Westfield College in London.
He practised as an intellectual property lawyer at Allen & Overy (1991-99), where he and I met (I am also an IP lawyer), and we became life partners. In 2001 he became a partner of the law firm Haarmann Hemmelrath, then head of intellectual property for Marconi (later part of Ericsson) from 2005-09.
Michael loved travelling and experiencing different cultures. In the 90s he was part of an Operation Raleigh expedition engaged in an engineering project in Zimbabwe. He also travelled extensively in Sri Lanka. Spiritually, he read widely and developed an interest in Buddhism – he had taken Buddhism apart in his head, put it back together and it made sense to him. We lived in Wandsworth, south London, before relocating to Basel, Switzerland, in 2010.
Michael was a warm, generous and highly intelligent man, who thought deeply about all matters. He needed to understand how it all worked. Always with a twinkle in his eye, he had a wonderful sense of humour.
He is survived by me and by his sister, Janet. His brother, Chris, died shortly after Michael.
