TMT
Simon Martin
Simon has been immersed in the Tech Media and IP sector since 1990. His expertise lies in guiding companies within these industries as they navigate the challenges of business operation growth and advancing their purpose. His deep involvement in the sector allows him to understand the current issues but also allows him to comprehend the core functions of these businesses, the challenges they encounter, and the expectations of their stakeholders. This knowledge enables him to support his clients and work with them to build deals that meet their specific needs most effectively.
Simon adopts a holistic approach to his work, appreciating both the broader perspective and finer details. His portfolio includes facilitating joint ventures based around new IP and/or technology, commercialising technology, media, and data, managing technology and media business acquisitions, and overseeing telecommunications transactions. Being a founding partner of Hudson Gavin Martin, has given Simon a unique perspective. Setting up and running his own business means that he has in-depth understanding of the obstacles business owners and executives face. He understands only too well the need to transform challenges into opportunities.
Edwin Lim
The real point of difference that Ed brings to his clients and their businesses is his ability to really understand the nature of their technology environment, their purpose, and their ideal outcome. In recent Chambers editions, it is quoted “Edwin Lim attracts praise for a variety of enviable qualities, interviewees variously identifying him as “strong on technology”, “warm and approachable, with an easy confidence and commercial wisdom” and “a fabulous and talented lawyer who negotiates on pragmatic business principles, not ego or emotion”.
Ed is one of the rare lawyers who is in the unique position of having a tertiary under and post-graduate degree in the design and development of Information Systems. Highly experienced both legally and technically to advise on business technology issues, he offers experience in advising any organisation dealing with technology matters, whether large enterprises developing major systems or start-ups establishing themselves in the market. With over 25 years’ experience in the TMT field, Ed is constantly in demand to assist current and new clients in deals of all sizes for commercial and corporate matters. He is involved in various transactions, including large scale technology implementation, IP commercialisation, cyber-risk (including ISO27001 and ISMS), corporate structuring, shareholder arrangements, capital raising and M&A.
Other legal directories have placed Ed in top bands. For example, Ed is ranked in: Who’s Who Legal – Data-IT 2023; Global Leader (Recommended) & Data 2022 Australia/NZ Leader (Recommended); Doyles Guide – TMT (NZ) 2020 – Pre-eminent lawyer; Legal 500 – TMT (2023) – Leading Individual.
Anchali Anandanayagam
Anchali is an expert in all legal aspects of tech, media and telecommunications (TMT). Over the last 20+ years Anchali has advised both public and private sector customers and their suppliers alike on corporate and commercial transactions where TMT assets and infrastructure are at the core. Notably, Anchali has significant expertise and experience in privacy and data protection, biometrics and emerging technology procurement and implementation, and content development and commercialisation.
Anchali has received global recognition for her work and expertise from internationally renowned legal directories, Chambers & Partners, Legal 500 and Media Law International. Her open and measured approach means that she is often sought out by clients to work on complex transactions and to represent them in difficult negotiations. She is noted as being not only “an experienced lawyer with amazing technical skills,” but also “a relationship builder who can deal with people at all levels both within and between organisations”. They go on to say: “There’s a real benefit having her on our side”.
Tuned into this industry with her proactive external interests and board memberships, Anchali has a comprehensive understanding of the market and can therefore respond to her clients’ needs from an informed position.
Tim Mahood
Tim is a prominent commercial litigator with more than two decades of experience advising clients on Tech, Media, and IP disputes. He navigates issues crucial to their business strategies, operations, and transformative projects with expertise and insight.
In addition to being a highly sought-after litigator, Tim's clients frequently turn to him for counsel on a range of Tech, Media, and IP matters. These include privacy and confidentiality issues, data advisory, media law (covering defamation and broadcasting standards complaints), passing off, and consumer law (especially under the Fair Trading Act and Australian Commercial Law).
Tim has significant experience in trans-Tasman commercial litigation and Tech, Media, and IP sectors, mainly within senior courts and arbitral bodies. He is a qualified practitioner in both New Zealand and Australia. Tim previously attained a ranking in Chambers during his tenure as a partner at Griffith Hack in Sydney, achieving a Band 3 status in IP within two years of relocating from New Zealand to Australia.
Chambers recognises Tim as a Band 3 lawyer for Intellectual Property. Legal 500 recognises Tim as a ‘Leading Partner’ in IP, and Tim’s clients say “Tim Mahood is an outstanding litigator. Pragmatic, solution-focused and highly skilled. Top of his field.” and “He strikes an excellent balance between commercial viability and legal robustness. He thinks through all the angles, but isn't afraid to land on an opinion or think outside the square to get to the outcome we're seeking”. Tim is ranked as Silver in WTR 1000 for litigation and enforcement. Doyle’s Guide recommends Tim as a TMT lawyer, and ranks Tim as a leading lawyer for Intellectual Property, he is also recognised in Best Lawyers.
Atypically for a litigator, Tim brings substantial practical commercial expertise, having served as General Counsel of NIWA for six years, a prominent environmental research organisation in Australasia. This background underscores his focus on aligning clients' commercial strategies, considering dispute resolution tactics merely as one means to achieve favourable commercial results. Tim is one of the rare lawyers in the field who has technical qualifications, holding an undergraduate science degree and being a registered patent attorney.
Andrew Dentice
Specialising in technology, data and commercial law, Andrew works with all sizes of clients (challengers and incumbents, customers and providers) at the cutting-edge of innovation. He is an expert in technology transactions, data protection and commercialisation, and regulatory issues applying to technology products and services. With technology developing faster than traditional legal frameworks, clients turn to Andrew for his specialist expertise in areas like fintech, AI crypto assets, SaaS and platform business models. Andrew relishes situations where complex regulation meets new technology and working with clients to navigate a way through those challenges.
Andrew regularly on data protection matters – including data breach responses, data privacy advisory projects and data protection and commercialisation issues in the context of technology transactions.
Andrew is recognised as a Next Generation Partner in TMT by Legal500, where he has been praised as “a standout commercial lawyer with exceptional market knowledge”. Since his return to New Zealand in 2017, he has solidified his position as a leading authority in fintech, collaborating with banks and fintech firms on diverse initiatives ranging from open banking agreements to the rollout of crypto and payment products. Andrew also advises on regulatory challenges faced by fintech providers in New Zealand.
Beyond fintech, his practice extends to advising clients across various sectors on technology transactions, IP, data privacy, data breach/cyber security matters, commercialisation, and regulatory compliance.
Before joining HGM in 2017, Andrew spent 6 years practising in the UK, including 4 with Barclays Bank. Before that, he spent 6 years in the Government team at Bell Gully in Wellington, focused on public sector procurement and public law matters.
Caitlin Hadlee
Caitlin is a litigator specialising in entertainment law and intellectual property law, together with technology disputes. She has particular expertise in disputes relating to copyright infringement, trade mark infringement, defamation, consumer protection law, negligence, competition and contractual disputes. She prides herself on making litigation as smooth, efficient and stress free as possible for her clients and she is frequently praised for her careful yet commercially workable advice and clear communication style.
Caitlin represents significant rights holders, as well as individual authors, artists and start-ups, across the music, art, fashion, gaming, software and film industries. She also frequently advises technology, telecommunications and television /film industry clients, who need to use the rights of content creators as part of their products or projects. She regularly appears for clients in Courts ranging from the District Court to the Court of Appeal and she also appears as counsel at hearings before specialist trade mark tribunals such as IPONZ and IP Australia.
Rachel Moylan
Rachel is a senior technology and commercial lawyer with a focus on procurement matters. Prior to joining in 2022, Rachel spent over 10 years in the United Arab Emirates working in house, including for telecommunications and technology companies and for international law firms.
Rachel was the primary technology lawyer at the UAE’s first challenger telecoms provider and was responsible for providing legal support to facilitate the roll out of telecoms networks and the purchase of mobile infrastructure from several key multinational network vendors. She also held a senior role with an Abu Dhabi based technology supplier (at that time a joint venture between an Abu Dhabi state owned investment fund and a multinational information technology company) which was operating the region’s first tier 4 data centre and providing cloud based and other technology services to regional clients. In her roles at international law firms in the UAE, Rachel assisted international and regional clients by providing legal support for all their technology requirements, including software development, licensing and implementation and support services projects across multiple jurisdictions.
Since returning to New Zealand and starting at HGM in 2022, Rachel has continued to support customers and suppliers by helping to resolve complex legal issues to successfully complete the purchase and delivery of technology products and services for businesses operating within and outside of the technology sector.
Kyra Vince
Kyra is an experienced regulatory lawyer, who advises clients at the intersection of innovation and legal compliance.
Kyra specialises in advising on the complex regulatory issues that arise with emerging technologies, such as privacy, information security, professional standards, consumer protection and AML. She has particular expertise in advising on the evolving regulation of AI, consumer data, payments, and biometric processing, and the tech and IP issues that arise in insolvency. Kyra is an expert at advising and training in-house legal and business teams on practical compliance with emerging law and regularly assists clients to submit on regulatory change.
Lisa Paz
Lisa is a seasoned TMT expert with a focus on telecommunications, media, advertising, data protection and the procurement, licensing, IP commercialisation and development of technology solutions.
Her extensive experience spans New Zealand and the UK, including broad in-house roles and secondments. Lisa's deep industry knowledge, pragmatic commercial approach and passion for problem-solving make her an invaluable asset for navigating the complex TMT landscape and associated IP challenges. Whether working with a pioneering start-up, national player or established global brand, she delivers tailored solutions to help clients thrive in the rapidly evolving digital world.
Samuel Choi
Sam brings a practical, solutions-focused approach to helping clients navigate technology, data, and commercial challenges. Known for his ability to quickly understand complex technology environments and deliver clear, commercially practical advice, he works with a broad range of clients, from early-stage start-ups to global corporates, across sectors including financial services, insurance, telecommunications, and manufacturing.
He has particular expertise in software licensing and implementation, IT procurement, regulatory compliance, data protection, and IP commercialisation. Sam often operates as an extension of in-house legal and procurement teams, helping clients manage legal and commercial risk and support effective, commercially aligned contracting on both the customer and supplier side.
Samuel started his career at HGM and rejoined in 2022 after several years in the UK, where he served as Technology and Innovation Counsel at Tesco PLC. There, he provided legal support for a number of the retailer’s most high-profile and innovative technology projects.
Sarah Pearce
Sarah is a senior commercial and intellectual property lawyer with over 10 years’ experience advising clients on brand protection, commercial transactions, and regulatory compliance. She specialises in trade mark strategy, portfolio management and enforcement, and has acted for leading domestic and international clients in the FMCG, fashion, pharmaceuticals, entertainment, technology, and payment processing industries.
Sarah’s expertise extends to all aspects of trade mark filing and prosecution before IPONZ and IP Australia. Her background in consumer law includes guiding clients through New Zealand’s regulatory landscape, with practical advice on data protection and privacy, product safety and labelling, advertising standards, and gambling and promotional regulations.
Her broader commercial practice includes advising on general commercial agreements, including intellectual property licensing and commercialisation. Sarah is recognised for her pragmatic, solutions-focused approach and her commitment to helping clients protect and maximise the value of their IP in competitive markets.
Calvin Luo
Calvin specialises in corporate law and advises on transactions such as business sales and acquisitions, corporate restructures, capital raisings, joint ventures, shareholder agreements and employee share schemes.
He has extensive experience in private equity and venture capital mergers and acquisitions and has acted on sale and purchase transactions of businesses ranging from SMEs to large multinational corporates. Recent transactions he has been involved in include the sale of the OnSend courier business to Freightways and the acquisition of FitSW, a fitness SaaS platform based in the US, by MacroActive.
Calvin has worked with start-ups of all stages, from advising founders on how to structure a proposed venture to assisting with external capital raises with institutional investors. His experience in having acted company-side and investor-side on capital raises of all sizes give him insight into what parties look for and common pitfalls, which enables him to help his clients achieve better outcomes and complete the transaction more efficiently.
Calvin is passionate about gaming and emerging technologies such as blockchain and AI. He has advised both in relation to traditional games media through his work for Legend Story Studios and Geo AR Games, and in relation to more nascent sectors of the industry such as web3 gaming. Calvin is a presenter at the New Zealand Game Developers Conference.
Deals
- Advised the Government Superannuation Fund Authority on a significant support and maintenance outsourcing of its PAMS system, the platform that administers the superannuation scheme for the Authority’s members.
- We have advised clients purchasing technology companies on the use of AI within the target companies as part of due diligence, through to ensuring appropriate warranties are in place in the Sale and Purchase agreements. As AI technology is increasingly being used in the creation of, and use of, software it is important to understand what risks exists for those businesses that use AI to develop their own technology products (e.g. IP ownership, use of customer data to train AI large language models).
- Advised on joint ventures with telecommunications and technology companies to enable converged technology offerings, including the establishment of a new pay TV network.
- Completed due diligence (both partial and full) of various businesses, including telecommunications businesses, software businesses and technology consulting businesses.
- Advised one of NZ’s largest utility providers on the communications contract to enable one of the largest fleets of IoT devices to be connected in NZ.
- Advised a significant semiconductor manufacturer launched an AI platform in the Asia Pacific region. The platform provides and offers various enhanced AI functions, applications and tools which can be utilised in many industries. We advised the client on telecommunications, IP, privacy and other consumer protection related laws and regulations in New Zealand in relation to its launch of the platform. Our understanding of the technology and our knowledge of NZ laws within which it must operate meant that we were well placed to guide the client on how to approach the offer of services in NZ so that they were compliant without having to materially change the approach for the NZ market compared to the rest of APAC.
- Advised an international air carrier on various technology and telecommunications projects, including the outsourcing of the management of its telecommunications services; the integration of its systems with another airline; the outsourcing of the management of its mainframe and mid-range computer systems; the outsourcing of the management of its desk top systems; the implementation of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) System; and the outsourcing of its passenger reservation and passenger name record systems.
Team Services
Our expertise
We are a leading corporate and commercial law firm specialising in technology, media, and IP. With one of the largest specialist teams in New Zealand, we work across innovative and disruptive sectors including telecommunications, fintech, digital health, e-commerce, and gaming. We act for both providers and users of technology and data solutions, valued for our market knowledge and practical experience in the New Zealand environment.
Point of difference
In today’s digital economy, technology and media sit at the core of almost every business. Our work spans suppliers, consumers, and consultants, giving us a complete view of market standards and industry practice. This perspective, combined with our deep expertise, allows us to provide advice that is pragmatic, strategic, and often innovative. We don’t sit on the fence - our counsel is clear and commercially focused.
With the largest legal team in the country dedicated to technology, media, and IP, clients benefit from our depth of experience in corporate, commercial, and dispute resolution matters. We also bring a rounded approach to advisory work, ensuring structures, agreements, and strategies are tailored to unlock value while keeping pace with evolving industry standards.
Clients and community
We advise clients at every stage of growth - from start-ups and SMEs to global businesses and public sector agencies. Much of our work involves shaping the way industries evolve as technology and data become central to operations.
We are also committed to giving back through pro bono work, mentoring, board roles, and sponsorships. Our involvement across charitable and industry organisations reflects our belief in supporting communities alongside commercial success.
Industry sector expertise
Our work covers a wide range of areas, including:
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- As-a-Service models (SaaS, IaaS, NaaS, PaaS)
- API integration and broadcast technology
- Capital raising and investments
- Cloud computing and commercial transactions
- Data privacy, security, and dispute resolution
- Employee share schemes and joint ventures
- Emerging tech (IoT, AR/VR, AI, blockchain, autonomous vehicles)
- Licensing, procurement, sales, and acquisitions
- Network infrastructure and telecommunications regulation
We are deeply embedded in the TMT ecosystem. Our lawyers serve on boards and advisory groups including NZTech, Screen Music and Sound Guild of NZ, NZ Game Developers Association, NZ EdTech Council, Women in Film and Television NZ, FinTechNZ, Digital Health Association, Telecommunication Carriers Forum, Health Navigator, TUANZ, InternetNZ, the Numbering Administrator, and the Law Association’s Technology Law Committee. We are frequently invited to contribute at industry events, conferences, and forums.
Client testimonials
Chambers and Partners
They add excellent strategic value to complex matters and their nuanced thinking on matters is excellent. We have been able to gain the upper hand numerous times thanks to HGM's positioning.
Chambers and Partners
Hudson Gavin Martin is great to deal with, the team lay out the risks and try to take as commercial an approach as possible, which is always challenging for a law firm.
Chambers and Partners
The team bring sound commercial expertise to all engagements with a wealth of knowledge in local and the broader technology industry.
Chambers and Partners
Hudson Gavin Martin have been nothing but exceptional in their handling of our legal matters.
Nightsong
Arguably without peer in New Zealand in terms of the depth of their technical and current ICT experience.
Awards and Recognition
Chambers and Partners
TMT Tier 1
Lawyer Network Annual Awards
Boutique Technology Law Firm of the Year 2025
Lawyer Network Annual Awards
Media Law Firm of the Year 2025
Lawyer Network Annual Awards
Technology Law Firm of the Year 2025
Media Law International (MLI)
Tier 1