The Legal 500

Bell Gully’s team is ‘very professional’ and ‘very engaging’; the ‘service is excellent’. It continues to attract instructions in the most significant commercial cases. Ralph Simpson (‘very clinical and precise’) is advising subsidiaries of Australian and New Zealand companies in a dispute over the use of optional convertible notes, while David Cooper is acting in the groundbreaking Feltex litigation.

Chapman Tripp’s team is recognised for its depth and breadth, with experts in all aspects of dispute resolution, including litigation and international arbitration. It recently acted for the New Zealand Post Limited in cyber-squatting and brand-jacking litigation. Jack Hodder and Adam Ross are recommended.

National firm Buddle Findlay has experience before the higher courts, specialist tribunals and commissions, with particular strengths in public law and electricity regulatory matters. It is acting for the Zespri Group and the Electricity Authority in proceedings worth NZ$2m. Tony Dellow is recommended.

Commercially focused firm Gilbert Walker conducts much of its own court advocacy. It has recently acted for directors and other parties in regulatory investigations, criminal prosecutions and high-value civil proceedings. Campbell Walker ‘disposes of matters in a ruthlessly clinical fashion’, and Murray Gilbert is ‘renowned for winning cases that other lawyers view as hopeless’.

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts is ‘up with the best for day-to-day matters’. Mark Sandelin is ‘proactive and easy to deal with’, and Sean Gollin is ‘extremely thorough’. Gollin acted for KordaMentha in the biggest case to date under the Personal Property Securites Act, involving assets of up to NZ$15m. The firm gained new clients AUT University and Specsavers, and was appointed to panels of HSBC, Chartis Insurance and Siemens.

The team at Russell McVeagh demonstrates ‘clarity of mind and professional expertise’. The ‘exceptional’ Sarah Katz ‘responds promptly and with clear, unambiguous advice that is appropriately tailored’. In the first insider trading case to proceed to trial in New Zealand, Katz successfully defended Shell against claims exceeding NZ$100m. Other active clients include Auckland International Airport, Vector Limited and Credit Suisse First Boston.

Simpson Grierson’s William Akel stands out as one of New Zealand’s foremost media lawyers, while Tim Stephens successfully defended Austrian oil and gas multinational OMV against a $900m claim by Todd Energy. The firm is representing an international airline in the air cargo litigation, and defended PwC as receiver in one of New Zealand’s largest farming collapses.

Iain Thain and Craig Stephens head up the dispute resolution practice at DLA Phillips Fox, which encompasses a strong insurance team recently bolstered by the arrival of three new partners. Clients include Foodstuffs (Aukland) Limited, Cathay Pacific Airways and Tyco International.

Kensington Swan is acting for one of the world’s largest international airline operators in the air cargo litigation. Saxmere Company Limited instructed the firm in a case likely to set an important new precedent on costs awards in the Supreme Court. Key clients include AMP Capital, Johnson & Johnson, and Bankwest.

LeeSalmonLong is ‘excellent to deal with’, ‘efficient and economic’. Clients include AstraZeneca, BMW and Visa. Davey Salmon, acting for the receivers of TGR Helicorp Limited, recently obtained an order committing a company director (and former Member of Parliament) to prison for continuing contempt of court.

Wilson Harle is highly sought after for its expertise in telecoms, competition, media and shipping. The firm recently acted against the New Zealand Commerce Commission in a regulatory matter for Vodafone New Zealand Limited, and in the air cargo litigation for present and former Air New Zealand executives.