Litigation and Dispute Resolution

Richard is a highly experienced civil and commercial litigator. He has a broad background in the resolution of commercial disputes, with specialist expertise in banking and securities law and insolvency.

Richard is a trusted adviser to New Zealand’s main trading banks, including ANZ, BNZ, Kiwibank, Rabobank, and The Co-operative Bank. He is also regularly instructed by top-tier insolvency practitioners PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Grant Thornton, and BDO. His clients include major New Zealand corporates and businesses.

An experienced in-Court advocate, Richard has appeared as counsel in numerous defended hearings at all levels of the New Zealand Court system up to the Supreme Court. He also regularly acts as counsel for parties engaged in arbitrations and mediations.

Richard has acted on some of New Zealand’s most significant corporate insolvency cases. He represented the Crown in various disputes arising out of the collapse of South Canterbury Finance and the wider Crown Deposit Guarantee Scheme (including pursuit of recovery of transferred assets from the Hubbard family). He also acted for the receivers appointed to Capital + Merchant Finance.

Banks and finance companies regularly seek Richard’s advice on the practical implications of key legislation such as the Property Law Act, the Personal Property Securities Act, and the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act. He is also a leading authority on voidable transaction claims in insolvencies and was successful counsel in three of the most important precedent-setting cases in the area: Timberworld v Levin, Ebert Construction v Sanson, and Shephard v Wakefield Plant.

Beyond insolvency, Richard acts on commercial litigation matters encompassing breach of contract, professional negligence, Fair Trading Act and Companies Act actions, and general property and insurance disputes. Often at the forefront of legal developments, he was successful counsel in the Supreme Court recent defining contract law case, Bathurst Resources v L&M Coal Holdings. He also acted as counsel opposing the first ever private ‘climate change’ proceedings brought in New Zealand.

Partner and Co-head of Litigation and Dispute Resolution

LLM (Hons), University of Auckland (2000)

LLB, University of Waikato (1995)