The firm was also considered the leading litigation firm in the country for the year
Bell Gully’s litigation head David Friar has been recognised as New Zealand’s top litigator for 2020 in this year’s Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific Awards.
The awards highlight “excellence in disputes and litigation practice throughout the Asia-Pacific market across a wide range of dispute resolution practice areas” for the last 12 months, Benchmark Litigation said.
Friar specialises in complex commercial disputes, class actions, insurance litigation, and corporate and insolvency disputes. His clients include banks and other financial institutions, insurers, corporations and insolvency practitioners.
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He has appeared at all levels of court in New Zealand. He is also knowledgeable in financial regulatory issues, including conduct requirements, and contract law; he contributed to the chapter on directors’ duties in Morison's Company Law.
Friar obtained his LLM from Columbia University on a Fulbright scholarship. From 2004-2010, he worked with New York firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison.
Benchmark Litigation also recognised Bell Gully as the New Zealand Litigation Firm of the Year at the awards. The accolades, Friar said, testified to the litigation team’s efforts.
“Our team works closely with our clients, applying a strategic and commercial focus to every aspect of the dispute resolution process. Receiving the award for Firm of the Year showcases the significant experience and depth of expertise that we have across the entire team,” he said.
Friar said that the recent expansion of the team through the hire of five new senior associates has brought “outstanding additional international and local expertise to our litigation practice.”
In June, two Bell Gully lawyers were named in Benchmark Litigation’s Benchmark Asia-Pacific Top 100 Women in Litigation 2020 list.