About

‘A dynamic, customer-focused and people-focused manager’, Brigid McDonald impresses not only with her leadership and mentoring skills, but also with her technical understanding. Auckland Transport is responsible for all of the region’s transport, excluding state highways. Working within a growing legal team, McDonald has played a pivotal role in some of New Zealand’s most significant sector developments. ‘I particularly enjoy being part of a team that is creating solutions for the wider community and economic benefit’, McDonald says. ‘I really enjoy working alongside our engineers and project managers and attaining a good understanding of the projects and communities in which they operate and deliver’. Sources praise her commitment to adding value and building the legal brand within the organisation. ‘I am now involved in almost all of the organisation’s capital and infrastructure projects and many operational matters as well’, she says. ‘With increased resource in our legal department, we now have greater visibility in the organisation, and employees feel more inclined to contact us earlier in a project or dispute’. A veteran local authorities’ lawyer, McDonald found her current working environment a change of pace. ‘Adjusting to the culture of a heavily delivery-focused, engineer-dominated organisation has been challenging’. She previously practised at Russell McVeagh and Kensington Swan.