If you're working in the public sector or dealing with the public sector, you'll know it's not without its challenges. There's a lot to get your head around. You might need help with interpreting and applying legislation, understanding and complying with administrative law obligations or considering whether they've been breached, getting your head across constitutional conventions, ensuring you or an agency consults properly, advising on proposed legislation, or all manner of other things. When issues like these crop up, having a lawyer with the requisite public law knowledge on your side can be vital to charting the right course.
Background
Before shifting to a more public sector commercial role, I was a litigation lawyer for a decade, in New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Germany. In New Zealand, the bulk of my work at Bell Gully involved defending public sector entities in judicial review proceedings. I was involved in further commercially-oriented judicial review when working in London, I have written numerous articles on the subject, and I worked on judicial review proceedings when at the Commerce Commission. Upon moving to a more public sector commercial role, I came to advise on numerous public law, procurement process and probity issues, at the State Services Commission (as it then was) and then the Department of Internal Affairs. Since shifting to private practice, that experience has enabled me to advise on numerous public law matters and take the 'public law overlay' into account when advising on transactional matters.
Experience
Over the years my public law work has involved:
- contributing research, advice, pleadings and submissions and, in some cases, appearing as junior counsel in, judicial review proceedings, e.g., Roussel Uclaf v PHARMAC, Electoral Commission v Cameron, R v Independent Television Commission ex parte TVDanmark, and Powerco Ltd and anor v Commerce Commission
- advising on Official Information Act and Privacy Act requests
- advising on and contributing to the drafting of whole of government directions under the Crown Entities Act
- advising on statutory interpretation and on consultation and Cabinet processes
- advising on information provisions in proposed legislation
- major advisory and drafting contributions to NZGOAL, the NZGOAL Software Extension, and the Data Protection and Use Policy
- drafting two sets of rules (legislative instruments) under primary legislation
- assisting with drafting instructions to Parliamentary Counsel
- advising on whether a proposed technical solution could proceed without legislative amendment.
Get in touch
If you'd like to get in touch to ask a quick question or talk through a potential matter, then please do. I'd be happy to help and we can jump on Zoom or Teams if that makes things easier.