“Justice is doing for others what we would want done for ourselves”

– Gary Haugen, International justice mission.

 

I am a specialist criminal lawyer. I accept instructions on the following matters:

  • PAL 4 preferred provider on criminal legal aid nationwide.

  • All private criminal defence matters including serious violence, murder, sex and drug crimes throughout New Zealand.

  • Section 106 discharge without conviction applications and alternative disposition (pre-charge and diversion)

  • Parole hearings, including s 26 applications, recalls and ESO applications.

  • Lead, junior and intervening counsel in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court.

  • Regularly appointed Amicus Curiae to Court of Appeal level and by the Parole Board.

My career

I have a BA (psychology) /LLB and an LLM (1st) from Auckland University.

I spent 18 months in general practice before joining the Crown. I was at Meredith Connell for 12 years, becoming a senior prosecutor in 2007 and an Associate of the firm in 2009. I joined the Public Defence Service in 2014, leaving in 2016 to commence practice as a barrister sole.

I have appeared well over 100 jury trials from 1 day to 5 months in length across the full spectrum of crime. I have appeared in hundreds of appeals and pre-trial applications, and have prepared over 1000 files. For a full precis of my experience and expertise please see my LinkedIn profile.

My strengths are:

  • Technical analysis of the law - I love the black letter law, evidential sufficiency and the challenge of large drug intercept and homicide files.

  • Court advocacy - I am tenacious and persistent in Court. I will undertake agency work when you are unavailable. I will perform to the highest standard on your behalf.

  • Legal Strategy - I have strong strategic skills. I understand the court system, the way people behave and the need to utilise this insight to get the best outcome.

  • Written submissions - I draft concise and economical legal submissions or opinions for you and your clients.

I am authorised to take direct instructions from clients if you would like to pass on work outside of your area of expertise, but prefer to work with an instructing solicitor. I commonly reverse brief.

Extra-curricular

  • I have been the Convener of the Parole Law Committee for TLANZ since 1999. I was a member of the Criminal Law Committee from 1999-2023 and 2026- present.

  • I am a member of the NZBA Criminal Law Committee.

  • I was been an non-executive Director of Variety New Zealand, the Childrens’ Charity, from 1997-2025.

  • I am on the NZLS Litigation Skills faculty, as ran national “How to run a jury trial” workshops.

  • I have facilitated CPD with speak at events for CBA, NZLS, TLANZ, Legalwise and College of Law .

  • In 2016, I collaborated with Actionstep, a practice management system, to develop a criminal defence barrister app. This is a bespoke, cloud based, document, client, time and accounting system for criminal defence barristers in New Zealand. https://www.actionstep.com/add-ons/criminal-barrister/