MinterEllisonRuddWatts

Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Partner

Stacey has more than 25 years of experience successfully representing financial institutions, other corporate clients, public sector entities, and directors and officers in significant litigation and regulatory matters.

Alongside a broad regulatory and litigation practice, including substantial trial and appellate experience, Stacey also provides legal and strategic advice on a wide variety of matters to directors, executive management, and in-house counsel. She is frequently instructed to conduct internal reviews and self-assessments for clients and their boards.

Stacey is renowned for her expertise in handling the challenging interplay between regulatory investigations, criminal prosecutions, and civil lawsuits. She is adept at dealing with the media on high-profile matters.

Stacey has advised on disputes and investigations involving contractual breaches, the exercise of statutory powers, misleading statements and omissions, insurance cover, fraud, accounting improprieties, bid-rigging, money laundering, tax abnormalities, health & safety violations, fair trading concerns, construction issues, environmental matters, food safety, medical matters, and Te Tiriti issues.

Co-author of the Thomson Reuters book titled Health and Safety at Work in New Zealand: Know the Law, Stacey is particularly experienced with health and safety matters. She regularly assists clients with coronial inquiries, internal and WorkSafe investigations following incidents, prosecutions, and crisis management.

Before returning to MinterEllisonRuddWatts in 2010, Stacey worked for over a decade as a litigator at Paul, Weiss in New York on complex financial, commercial, and environmental matters. As a result of that work, she has considerable experience defending class action lawsuits, complex financial litigation, and dealing with third party litigation funders.

Stacey has received other awards for her community-based work in New York and New Zealand. She is the founding trustee of the Who Did You Help Today charitable trust which has developed a number of projects designed to create social change including homework clubs in low decile primary schools, a programme connecting imprisoned mothers with their children, and an online digital platform enabling community causes to access skilled volunteers. She is also the founder of Our Words Matter which is an online forum for sharing ideas to solve the issues that affect New Zealand. In 2019 and 2020, Stacey was named as a semi-finalist for the Kiwibank New Zealander of the Year Award. In 2021, she received a Distinguished Alumni Award from Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington.

Stacey is the deputy chair of the Capital and Coast District Health Board. She also is frequently invited to publicly speak and write on issues including leadership, diversity and inclusions, and social mobility.

English

Deputy Chair, Capital & Coast District Health Board

Founder, Who Did You Help Today

Trustee, Whodidyouhelptoday Charitable Trust

Ambassador, Te Tātai Hauora o Hine (the Centre for Women’s Health Research), Victoria University of Wellington – Te Herenga Waka

Patron, Hutt City Women’s Refuge

Public International Law Certificate, Hague Academy of International Law (2000)

LLM, University of Alberta (1996)

LLB, Victoria University of Wellington (1995)

BCA (Accounting), Victoria University of Wellington (1994)