Holmes Group

General Counsel

Upper Hutt City Council

Head of the legal team of three at UHCC providing an end-to-end legal function for Council, supported by a panel of external providers. 

Key advice areas include: 

- governance advice (especially Local Government Act 2002 decision-making and management of subsidiary Council-Controlled Organisations);
- general local government sector advice including input to Council's approach to and understanding of Three Waters Reform, RMA reform, Local Government Sector reform, rates setting and compliance, and myriad other issues confronting local government;
- local government property advice (including Reserves Act leasing, acquisition and disposal of land under the Public Works Act, and occupation licensing); 
- policy review and drafting; 
- advice on rating under the Local Government (Rating) Act; 
- contract drafting and advice; 
- litigation management; and
- enforcement and prosecution advice, particularly under the RMA and Building Act.

Some significant bits and pieces I managed to achieve in my time included taking over the official information processing function and putting in place new systems and templates to aid compliance, and enhancing compliance reporting to the Council's risk and assurance committee.

Duncan Cotterill

Working in the commercial team, under Scott Moran and Dan Winfield, my practice was founded on my technology and intellectual property background, with clients including Optimation Group, Callaghan Innovation, Timely, Trade Me, Xerra, Haunt Digital and Cassini.

That practice grew to include a range of commercial clients in the public and private sector, with significant clients in the construction (Aoraki Construction) and maritime sectors (Maritime New Zealand).

I advised on a range of commercial and corporate matters from start up establishment, negotiation and drafting of key contracts, especially technology related transactional agreements, development of governance policies and processes, licensing of IP, sale and purchase of assets (largely IP-related), and compliance with legislation.

I also built on my previous specialist privacy expertise to advise a variety of clients on compliance with privacy laws. I was Duncan Cotterill's Wellington privacy officer.

Senior Associate

Callaghan Innovation

Head of legal for New Zealand's innovation agency.

Chief Legal Adviser (acting, on secondment)

Optimation Group

Sole-charge lawyer and commercial manager at leading Kiwi dev shop, IT consultancy and outsourcing house handling all legal matters.

Corporate Counsel & Commercial Manager

Meridian Energy

Legal counsel in a team of four, advising on a wide range of issues for one of New Zealand's largest listed companies.

Key work including: Engineering and construction contracts, including nationwide plant and property maintenance and specific bespoke engineering works. Settlement of two multi-million dollar disputes with a large multi-national counter party, and general commercial work in an energy sector context.

Legal Counsel

Trade Me

(Elevated to senior legal counsel in 2014.)

During my time at Trade Me I was fortunate to have the opportunity to lead the legal work (supported at various times by John Horner at Quigg Partners and Rodney Craig at Minter Ellison) to acquire peer-to-peer lender Harmoney, motor vehicle data company MotorWeb, and a local start up rental viewing booking company.

I also became a key privacy advocate, influencing company strategy on transparency reporting, targeted advertising, and the interface with the Police. I did substantial work on Trade Me's privacy policy and practices during this time. 

I developed a suite of template agreements for services to enable a more consistent approach to low-risk procurement.

I was lucky to get the chance to support negotiations with the Australian Government for access to motor vehicle data.

Senior Legal Counsel

General legal counsel for iconic New Zealand company, covering legal issues across the business, both b2b and b2c. 

Consumer law, privacy and associated issues, contract tech, intellectual property, M&A and more...

AJ Park

General commercial solicitor in leading New Zealand firm. I was very fortunate to work for commercial partner Mark Hargreaves. Mark's practice included a range of clients from local IP-based start ups to multi-nationals like Whittaker's and Air New Zealand and I was lucky to cut my teeth on some work across that range.

Commercial Solicitor

DLA Phillips Fox

Ministry of Justice

Project Manager (Contract)

I am General Counsel at Upper Hutt City Council, a city of about fifty thousand people and part of the wider Wellington metropolitan area. 

I have held senior legal roles both in private practice and in a range of private and public sector organisations.

Taplio

Guy Smith's Linkedin Analytics

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Taplio

.css-1jgreyo{background-image:linear-gradient(284deg, rgba(39,43,72,1) 0%, rgba(33,47,183,1) 100%);color:transparent;-webkit-background-clip:text;background-clip:text;}Guy Smith's Linkedin Analytics

Want to drive more opportunities from LinkedIn?

Guy Smith's Linkedin Analytics