DLA Piper appoints new litigation partner, Alicia Murray

01 August 2019

DLA Piper New Zealand is pleased to announce the appointment of Alicia Murray to Partner. By any measure, DLA Piper is one of the most ‘female friendly’ big law firms in New Zealand. With Alicia’s promotion, 41% of partners are women.

Alicia is President of the Auckland Women Lawyers' Association and a strong advocate for gender equality. “We do have the best numbers in the profession at DLA Piper,” she says; “it was one of the reasons I came on board. There is a lot of lip service paid to gender equality, but in this firm gender is simply not an issue. It is so female-friendly.” It is significant, too, that it is 100 years since Lyra Taylor became the first female partner of a law firm in New Zealand in DLA Piper's Wellington office.

As a global law firm, every new partner goes through a rigorous partnership process. Alicia is the latest New Zealand partner to have successfully completed each global path to partnership course and interview with the firm's global leaders. Next year, Alicia will attend DLA Piper's annual global new partners' conference in the United States.

Alicia cites the recent liquidation of CBL Insurance as one of her big recent matters. DLA Piper acts for the liquidators in the largest insolvency that New Zealand has seen for some time. “We are increasingly the go-to firm for insolvency matters,” she says; “we are really in a growth phase here – it’s an exciting time.” Alicia has also been advising clients on a number of Commerce Commission investigations across both competition law and consumer credit issues.

Alicia is a commercial litigator with more than 15 years’ experience in large-scale commercial disputes: regulatory, investigations, restructuring, insolvency and general commercial (including construction disputes). She co-leads DLA Piper’s New Zealand Insolvency and Restructuring Team.

DLA Piper New Zealand Country Managing Partner Martin Wiseman says, “Alicia brings a combination of intellect and experience in each of her specialty areas.”

DLA Piper is also pleased to announce the promotion of Julia MacGibbon, Kate Rogers and Sophie Hudson to Senior Associate rank in the firm. In Sook Scorgie and Natalie Manning become Senior Solicitors.

ENDS

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