Royden is an experienced commercial arbitrator and construction adjudicator.
He was a litigation partner at Simpson Grierson before moving to the independent bar in 1996. He became an AMINZ Fellow in 2001 and was awarded the Sir Ronald Davison Award for excellence in Award Writing in that year. Royden was awarded Honorary Life Membership of AMINZ In 2021 in recognition of his services to the Institution.
Between 2002 and 2011 Royden chaired the Human Rights Review Tribunal. Since returning to private practice he has been engaged as arbitrator in a wide variety of commercial matters. He also regularly acts as an adjudicator under the Construction Contracts Act 2002, and as Chair or member of a number of ad hoc and institutional Tribunals. Royden taught Dispute Resolution at AUT University at both undergraduate and graduate level from 2014 to 2024. He is a member of both the Arbitration and Adjudication Panels of AMINZ and is a Principal Arbitrator with the New Zealand Disputes Resolution Centre.
Along with Dr Anna Kirk and Diana Qiu, Royden is a co-author of the Aotearoa New Zealand Arbitration Surveys.