Carrie Wainwright was appointed to the Māori Land Court bench on 17 November 2000.
She presided in the Wairarapa ki Tararua and Whanganui district inquiries and undertook many urgent inquiries, particularly concerning Crown Treaty settlement policy. These culminated in the Tāmaki Makaurau Settlement Process Report 2007. She also led the Foreshore and Seabed Tribunal in 2004.
Judge Wainwright sat in other jurisdictions for a number of years (District Court, Immigration Protection Tribunal) but returned to the Waitangi Tribunal and Māori Land Court in 2017. In recent years, she has led inquiries concerning remedies. The remedies phase of the Wairarapa ki Tararua inquiry ended in early 2023, but the Renewed Muriwhenua Land Inquiry has some way to go.
Judge Wainwright’s latest Waitangi Tribunal inquiry is Te Rau o Te Tika: the Justice system inquiry. The first phase of this kaupapa inquiry was on Crown funding of claimants in the Waitangi Tribunal. The Tribunal released its Whakatika ki Runga report on this in February 2023.
Judge Wainwright frequently mediates disputes in the Māori Land Court and the Waitangi Tribunal.