Lawtalk 840

Page 16

Top lawyers for client service Russell McVeagh is one of 12 New Zealand winners in the 2014 Client Choice International. One firm and 11 individual lawyers from this country were named. The awards were established in 2005 and aim to recognise law firms and partners around the world for the excellent client service they provide. This year there are 450 individual winners across 73 jurisdictions. The winners are chosen with a readership survey of International Law Office and Lexology in-house counsel subscribers. Clients are asked to rate individual lawyers and law firms on the following client service criteria: quality of legal advice, value for money, commercial awareness, effective communications, billing transparency, tailored fee structures, response time, sharing of expertise, and use of technology. The survey results are used to draw up shortlists for each work area and shortlisted candidates are then invited to submit up to five referees. Follow-up interviews are conducted. The individual winners are chosen from relevant work sectors and the New Zealand winners are: Craig Shrive · Russell McVeagh, aviation Gerald Fitzgerald · Kensington Swan, banking Roger Wallis · Chapman Tripp, capital markets Sarah Keene · Russell McVeagh, competition Sarah Sinclair · Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, energy and natural resources Graeme Quigley · Russell McVeagh, general corporate Charlotte Henley · Kensington Swan, intellectual property: copyright Kate Wilson · James & Wells Intellectual Property, intellectual property: patents Sarah Armstrong · Russell McVeagh, litigation Tim Clarke · Russell McVeagh, public law Daniel Meikle · Mayne Wetherell, securities and structured finance.

14

· LawTalk 840 · 28 April 2014

CLANZ Awards Nominations are open for the 2014 CLANZ Awards, which will be presented at the CLANZ Conference Dinner and Awards Evening at the Dunedin Town Hall on 16 May. The awards will be made in four categories: Chapman Tripp Public Sector In-House Lawyer of the Year, Greenwood Roche Chisnall Private Sector In-House Lawyer of the Year, MAS Young In-House Lawyer of the Year and the CLANZ Community Contribution Award. A $5,000 award, paid to a cause of the winner’s choice, is available in each category. More information and nomination forms are at www.clanzconference.org.nz/?page_id=15.

John Collinge and his wife at the recent collegiality event that took in Auckland Summer Shakespeare.

Lawyers take in Shakespeare Auckland lawyers got a taste of Shakespeare at a branch collegiality event on 19 March. After pre-show canapés for an hour in the Logan Campbell Room at the Northern Club, those attending walked to the outdoor theatre in the university garden for the Auckland Summer Shakespeare event. This featured Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Although one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works, it is one of his most successful – a fantastic tale of voyages, piracy, deathdefying escapes, captivity and family lost and found.

L AW F I R M N E W S

Auckland law firm, Brookfields has reached agreement with its Manukau-based partners that the Manukau office will separate from the firm in the middle of this year. Board Chairman Howard Johnston says that the separation has been under discussion for some time and will enable both offices to focus on their differing markets. For the Manukau office this includes a substantial private client practice including family law, civil litigation, trusts, property and commercial law. The central city office will continue to focus on public law, institutions, banking, trusts and private clients. The Manukau Office will practise under the name Denham Bramwell from the existing offices at 3 Osterley Way, Manukau, and Brookfields will continue to practise from its new premises at Level 9, 205 Queen Street, Auckland Central.

World’s biggest arbitration event coming The International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA) has accepted a joint bid by Australia and New Zealand for its 2018 conference to be held in New Zealand and Australia. The bid has been cast with the support of the New Zealand Bar Association, the New Zealand Law Foundation, Attorney-General Chris Finlayson QC and Justice Minister Judith Collins. The bid won against Hong Kong, Moscow and Kuala Lumpur. “This is at least in part a reflection of New Zealand’s growing reputation as a centre for international commercial arbitration,” AMINZ Executive Director Deborah Hart said. “Increasingly New Zealand is being seen – and appreciated – as independent, neutral and not corrupt, a country with a developed infrasructure yet relatively inexpensive to do business in. All of this is great news for our arbitrators and good news for the local economy, too, since each of these arbitrations usually brings in more than $1 million to the host country.”


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.