Russell McVeagh Promotes Six To Senior Associate

Six talented lawyers have been promoted to senior associate at Russell McVeagh, spanning the Banking & Finance, Corporate Advisory, Litigation, and Real Estate & Construction practice groups.

"It's fantastic to see these lawyers recognised for their diligence and commitment to the firm and their clients," Board Chair Allison Arthur-Young said. "I want to thank each of them for the role they play in making Russell McVeagh a fantastic place to work and for living our firm's values of Curiosity, Excellence, Respect and Tenacity."

The promotions are effective from 1 December 2022:

Banking and Finance

Simon Mackley specialises in Banking and Finance law, advising clients on a range of corporate, acquisition and project finance transactions; debt capital markets and listing and participant rules; and the regulation of financial service providers in New Zealand. Simon is a 'home-grown' talent, having started his career at the firm in 2016 and is based in the Wellington office, alongside partners Guy Lethbridge and Tom Hunt.

Corporate Advisory

Peter Callus joined Russell McVeagh's Corporate Advisory team in Wellington in 2021. He provides solution focused commercial and corporate law advice to his clients across multiple sectors, including on M&A transactions, joint ventures, business structuring (and re-structuring) and general corporate advisory. This includes drafting and negotiating complex service agreements, supply agreements and strategic/framework agreements. He is also a key contributor to Russell McVeagh's Energy Blog.

Ruth Egermayer is a commercial lawyer based in the Wellington office. She specialises in commercial contracting and procurement, with a particular focus on technology and infrastructure. Her experience includes advising public sector agencies on complex technology procurement and outsourcing. Prior to joining Russell McVeagh in 2019, Ruth worked in-house as a commercial lawyer at the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment for several years.

Litigation

Charlotte Fleetwood-Smith has been part of the Auckland Litigation team since 2019 and has an extensive background in consumer law, privacy, and intellectual property matters. She has built up significant expertise in the fair trading arena, including all kinds of Fair Trading Act instructions and on regulatory engagements. Charlotte also handles disputes based and commercially focused privacy and intellectual property matters, including advising on privacy compliance, complaints and breaches, as well as complex data use cases. She frequently works with clients on intellectual property infringement, passing off, brand strategy and commercialisation of intellectual property.

Joanna Trezise is an Auckland-based litigator who acts and advises on a broad range of complex commercial disputes, with a focus on construction disputes, regulatory investigations and enforcement, and trust disputes. With a previous career in the arts, Joanna also has a particular interest in matters relating to the arts and cultural sector. Joanna is the editor of Russell McVeagh's quarterly construction disputes publication, Breaking Ground, and serves on the Auckland District Law Society's CPD (Continuing Professional Development) Committee. She was elected to the council of New Zealand's Society for Construction Law in 2022. Prior to joining Russell McVeagh, Joanna worked as a prosecutor, undertaking criminal prosecutions on behalf of regulatory agencies and the Crown.

Real Estate & Construction

Jeremy Whyte is a commercial real estate lawyer who advises New Zealand's most experienced property investors and developers, including large domestic and overseas managed funds and property institutions and corporate property owner/occupiers on their most important projects. Jeremy has particular expertise working on commercial and residential land development projects. He joined Russell McVeagh in 2018 from a boutique New Zealand firm.

Russell McVeagh has also recently announced the promotion of Real Estate lawyer Natalie Steur to partner (subject to Law Society requirements), as well as three new Special Counsel – Hannah Bain, Jeremy Upson, and Kristen Gunnell (more here).

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