‘The in-house collaboration at Bell Gully is a real strength, both within tax and across different areas. Another strength is the quality of the people in the Bell Gully tax team. Mathew McKay, Graham Murray and Campbell Pentney are all very capable and super-easy to deal with.’

‘Graham Murray is an absolute pleasure to work with. He is clever, calm at all times, very client-centric and a good communicator.’

‘Advice provided is always technically accurate and also commercial. Delivery time exceeds expectations and always have excellent communication from the team. All team members are very responsive.’

‘Mathew McKay leads a great team, and by example, always provides timely, accurate and practical advice. Clients prefer to have Mathew in their corner when dealing with difficult issues and negotiations.’

‘Hayden Roberts provides excellent advice and is always available.’

‘Campbell Pentney provides excellent GST advice and is very responsive.’

‘The MERW tax team is very experienced. First-rate technical knowledge, advice is always clear and concise, they are very responsive and are able to meet deadlines.’

‘Andrew Ryan understands private equity structures, is very competent technically. Phillip Chrisp is an outstanding understudy to Andrew Ryan and can work to tight deadlines.’

‘We worked with Simon Akozu, who is very personable, friendly and ensured that he was prepared with answers to any questions the IRD may ask.’

‘Quick to respond. Knowledgable and provide clear and easy to understand advice.’

‘Tori Sullivan is an outstanding professional advisor.’

‘The practice has built good relationships with various sections of the IRD, which provides valuable insight into how they are likely to responds to our applications and submissions.’

‘Tori Sullivan is very knowledgeable about how IR sees issues and their interaction between sections. Her letters and emails are very clear and relevant to the pertinent issues. Jonathan Choie is easy to talk to on the phone and presents the issues clearly.’

‘I think that the EY Law team has one of the leading tax controversy practices in New Zealand. They specialise in tax disputes and litigation, tax certainty and governance. They assist large in-bound and outbound multinational clients, as well as high net wealth individuals, providing advice that is technically sound and pragmatic.’

‘Tori Sullivan leads the team and has successfully represented clients against regulators in contentious cases, involving novel and complex issues. Tori brings insights broader than just tax, into her advice and resolving disputes with regulators. She has strong relationships with clients, understanding their objectives, whilst maintaining good connections with Inland Revenue.’

‘The MW team has a proven track record of advising on and informing practical and pragmatic policy development, achieving great outcomes for tax law in NZ. The MW team has a very high standard of service, which reflects a thorough and commercial understanding of the client’s business combined with expert knowledge of the law and how it applies in the client context.’

‘The partners are strong leaders, very practical and pragmatic in approach. Really well connected and respected in the NZ tax profession. Always very balanced and well considered, articulate positions strongly, clearly and with respect. Brendan Brown and Chris Harker are stand out partners and Mitchell Fraser is a very strong emerging talent.’

‘Brendan Brown, who leads Mayne Wetherell’s tax practice, is an experienced tax professional. He distinguishes himself from other practitioner’s in NZ due to his deep technical knowledge combined with a calm and considered approach to providing advice. He is well respected across the New Zealand tax community.’

‘A tight knit team of experienced and skilled tax lawyers with a highly responsive and collaborative approach to client engagement.’

‘Brendan Brown and Chris Harker are simply a formidable team.’

‘Brendan Brown is a leading tax lawyer in NZ, clear logical analysis and communication, exceptional accessibility and turnaround under tight deadlines, expertise in range of complex areas, ability to propose workable commercial solutions to client issues.’

‘Tim Stewart has strong technical analysis of issues and identification of solutions, is thoroughly reliable and responsive.’

‘First rate partner-level expertise.’

‘Fred Ward grasps difficult concepts quickly and provides intelligent solutions.’

‘Pragmatic, timely and accurate advice.’

‘Nice people and very responsive.’

‘Pragmatic, knowledgeable and personable. Experienced in anticipating what Inland Revenue’s attitude will be to a particular tax treatment, in the “real world”.’

‘David Johnston and Krishant Sen work well as a team and are both grounded.’