Christopher Francis Finlayson KC (born 1956) is a New Zealand lawyer and former Member of Parliament, representing the National Party.

[5] Finlayson joined the National Party in 1974 while still at St Patrick's College, after having had a long conversation with Keith Holyoake at Parliament the previous year.

At Bell Gully he spent years fighting for Ngāi Tahu against the government, pursuing its treaty claims through a series of high-profile court battles.

"Ngāi Tahu mastered the art of aggressive litigation, whether it was suing the Waitangi Tribunal and [National Treaty negotiations minister] Doug Graham or the Director-General of Conservation.

[5] Since his admission, Finlayson has appeared in all courts of New Zealand, including seven appearances before the Privy Council, including as counsel for the New Zealand Bar Association in Harley v McDonald [2001] 2 WLR 1749 and counsel for the British Government in R v Attorney General for England and Wales (a decision of the Privy Council delivered on 17 March 2003).

[13] On 13 December 2012, Finlayson was recommended by Prime Minister John Key for appointment by the Governor-General as Queen's Counsel,[14] based on his role as Attorney-General,[15] before representing New Zealand in the International Court of Justice in a case against Japan's whaling programme.

Finlayson transferred to the safe Labour seat of Rongotai for the 2008 election, where he was routinely defeated by Annette King.

[19][20][21] When offered the prospect of a safer seat, like Ōhāriu, Finlayson responded by convincing the incumbent Peter Dunne not to resign.

He was National's shadow attorney-general and, under John Key, spokesperson for Treaty of Waitangi negotiations and arts, culture and heritage.

"[26] As Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage, Finlayson progressed legislation enabling the development of Pukeahu National War Memorial Park ahead of the 100th anniversary of Anzac Day.

[28][29] He briefly acted as Minister of Labour (2012–2013) when Kate Wilkinson resigned after the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine Tragedy reported back.

[35][36] In opposition for the second time, Finlayson was again appointed as the shadow-attorney general and additionally as National's spokesperson for commerce, the NZSIS and the GCSB (2017–2018) and Crown-Māori relations and Pike River mine re-entry (2018–2019).

[4] He criticised the National Party leadership after he left Parliament in 2019 and repeated this criticism in his 2022 memoir, Yes, Minister.

[44] He was the only openly gay member of Parliament to vote against the bill and cited his opposition came from his belief that "the state should not be involved in marriage at all.

The National Party and ACT New Zealand opposed Labour's co-governance reforms and campaigned in the 2023 general election on rolling them back.