Kōrero – Chambers News

Bankside Chambers news

Official opening in Singapore

We are excited to have formally launched our Singapore practice. Our official opening was held at the New Zealand High Commissioner's Residence in Singapore on 24th November 2022, and with the support of our Silver Sponsor, the New Zealand Chamber. Bankside is the first and only New Zealand barristers’ chambers committed to a permanent presence in Singapore. Our Singapore practice is centrally located at Maxwell Chambers Suites.

All of our Singapore members are experienced international dispute resolution lawyers. We act on complex cross-border litigation and international arbitrations (both commercial and investment-treaty based). Several members also sit as arbitrators and mediators. Our members are: Hon Paul Heath KC, Dr Anna Kirk, Dr Simon Foote KC, Ben Prewett, Graeme Christie, Jeremy Johnson, John Walton, Lauren Lindsay, and Sam Carey. Learn more at bankside.co.nz/ singapore.

New members

Bankside is thrilled to welcome its newest members Tiaan Nelson, Julie Ding 丁嘉昱 and William Potter, and Junior Barristers Debbie Crawford, Grace Cullinane, James Clark and Josie Beverwijk.

Tiaan Nelson

Tiaan Nelson is a civil and commercial barrister, with particular expertise in disputes involving companies, contracts, fiduciaries, negligence and trusts. Tiaan previously worked for Lady Deborah Chambers KC and Kate Davenport KC during his undergraduate studies and now joins Bankside after completing an LLM at Harvard Law School. Tiaan is available for instruction, whether as sole counsel or in support of senior counsel.

Julie Ding 丁嘉昱

Julie Ding 丁嘉昱 began her career primarily defending criminal cases, appearing in the District Court, High Court, and Court of Appeal. Julie acts as counsel in a wide range of cases, having led and assisted in civil, criminal and family proceedings.

William Potter

William Potter joined Bankside in October. Will is a commercial litigator, with particular experience in property, insolvency and construction. Prior to joining the bar, Will was a partner at Meredith Connell where he enjoyed a broad civil practice as part of the commercial litigation group.

Paying Tribute to The Honourable Sir Ian Barker

Bankside is deeply saddened by the passing of the Honourable Sir Ian Barker KC on 11th November 2022. Sir Ian was a founding member of Bankside Chambers and for the last twenty years had filled the informal but important role as our senior Kaumātua. We pay tribute to Sir Ian: bankside.co.nz/post/paying-tribute-to-thehonourable-sir-ian-barker-kc.

Awards

Several Bankside members have been awarded for leadership and excellence in their practice areas. See the full list of members and learn more at: bankside. co.nz/post/awards-season-at-bankside.

Kate Cooper joins Britomart Chambers

Kate Cooper

Kate Cooper (née Venning) has joined the independent bar at Britomart Chambers following a period of parental leave. Kate has broad experience in reviews and investigations, civil and regulatory litigation, criminal law and commercial crime, and employment law. She has worked in New Zealand and the United Kingdom and appeared for individuals and companies in various courts, tribunals, and mediations.

Jane Rushton joins Riverbank Chambers

Jane Rushton

On 1 November 2022 Jane Rushton joined Riverbank Chambers as a barrister and is now also available as a mediator. The focus of her practice is civil dispute resolution. Her experience includes complex trust, estate, and relationship property cases for farming clients.

Born in Hamilton, Jane graduated LLB/BA (English) from the University of Auckland and was admitted in 1989. Since then, she has had 27 years either practising or teaching litigation, and six years working in her other area of interest: literacy. Jane gained a Master of Teaching and Learning in 2018 and returned to legal practice as a solicitor in 2019.

Employment Committee News

The Employment Law & Privacy Committee has continued to gain in numbers over the year and since our last issue of At the Bar, we have been joined by well-known Auckland Barrister, Catherine Stewart. A profile of Catherine can be found at the end of this update. Welcome on board, Catherine.

Some of our committee members very much enjoyed the opportunity to meet for dinner at the Employment Law Conference in October 2022. The dinner provided a valuable opportunity to discuss pertinent issues face to face and enjoy the connections established over the past year with the formation of the committee.

We are keen to make this dinner at the Employment Law Conference an ongoing fixture.

In November, committee member Juliet Philpott, a public law and privacy barrister, spent many hours coordinating and then hosting a successful webinar for the Bar Association with the Privacy Commissioner and his General Counsel. See the article on page 25. Thank you Juliet for your dedicated and positive assistance. We were delighted the Bar Association agreed to make the webinar available to members of ELINZ and the Employment Court clerks, as one of our aims is to encourage greater collaboration between the different employment law groups around the country.

Next year our focus will be on ways to build and encourage greater diversity and inclusion in our specialist bar. We also want to work with ELINZ, ADLS and the NZLS to streamline current systems for probono employment and privacy work. In doing so, our hope is to also create more opportunities for junior barristers and clerks to be involved in advocacy.

It is a pleasure and privilege to chair this committee. Thank you to all committee members for your attendance and support over the year. Thank you in particular to Maria Dew KC, Geoff Davenport, Steve Wragg, Kathryn Dalziel, and Karen Radich, who willingly give so much of their time to assisting the committee and its efforts.

Rachel Burt Committee Chair

Catherine Stewart

Catherine Stewart

Catherine is an employment law barrister with 30 years’ experience who provides the full range of employment law services and acts for both employers and employees. She joined the independent bar in 2012 and now leads a team of three staff barristers. She has been involved in several high profile employment law cases and is the Convenor of the Auckland District Law Society Employment Law Committee.

A band of barristers from the Employment Law & Privacy Committee - supping together during the NZLS Employment Law Conference in Christchurch.

From back left anticlockwise to back right - Maria Dew KC, Geoff Davenport, Amy Keir, Rachel Burt, Tanya Kennedy, Kathryn Dalziel, Andrew Marsh, Anna Price, Steve Wragg, Catherine Stewart, Karen Radich