Duncan Cotterill promotes 18 lawyers

Duncan Cotterill has promoted 18 lawyers across its offices in New Zealand. The promotions came into effect on 1 April.

Four lawyers in the Auckland, Wellington and Nelson branches ascended to the role of senior associate. They are Alysha Hinton, Edwin Boshier, Guy Smith, and Jessie Stone.

The firm has also promoted Billie Zagni, Emma Currie and Jonny Sanders to associate. Meanwhile, Anita Jones, Annabel Crawford, Caitlin Sampson, Charlotte Foster, Dion Morley, George Lello, Janelle Wilson, Jessica Wei, Kiri Petrie, Rebecca Royal and Sarah Britz were promoted to senior solicitors.

Hinton is part of the Wellington office’s commercial team, and she specialises in residential and commercial property. She has experience working with property, trust, estate planning, and immigration matters.

Hinton generally advises clients on the sale and acquisition of commercial and residential property, including due diligence issues and the drafting of agreements for sale and purchase; the acquisition of commercial leases for both landlords and tenants; and issues associated with property development, such as unit titles and other subdivisions. She assists clients in preparing wills and relationship property agreements, as well with forming trusts in order to protect their assets. She has also helped incoming migrants in obtaining work and residency visas in the country.

Boshier is a seasoned dispute resolution and litigation lawyer in Duncan Cotterill’s Auckland office. He has a background working in financial services law and public law, and has expertise in matters involving insurance law, regulatory defence work and investigations and commercial litigation. He also specialises in health and safety and resource management defence work, focusing in particular on the logistics, primary and maritime sectors in relation to ports and the waterfront.

Boshier advises insurers on issues of indemnity related to general and statutory liability, and he has represented insurers in the civil jurisdiction. He has also acted on behalf of both individuals and companies in the criminal, regulatory and civil jurisdictions. Boshier has appeared before the District Court, the High Court and a number of specialist tribunals. Recently, he represented insurers in the aftermath of the earthquakes in Christchurch.

Smith is a commercial lawyer in the Wellington office who specialises in consumer law, technology and data protection and privacy. His areas of expertise in technology include software development, IT service outsourcing, strategic partnership or “teaming” arrangements, reseller and other distribution structures, and public-facing terms and conditions. He also has experience in data protection and exploitation, including licensing and transfer and the impact of international privacy regimes; privacy, including conducting privacy impact assessments and responding to breaches and investigations; intellectual property commercialisation and the supply or delivery of services with a heavy intellectual property focus; and consumer law, including marketing and fair trading and advertising standards.

Smith has also worked with the non-profit sector and aided start-up businesses. He advises both small owner-operated businesses and large corporate and government organisations on commercial transactions and contracting as well as on corporate governance and compliance. Prior to his tenure with Duncan Cotterill, he worked with Trade Me, Meridian Energy and the Optimation Group.

Stone works from the Nelson office as a corporate/commercial lawyer with a specialisation in the food and beverage industry. She has advised various domestic and overseas clients, including both artisan food producers and major brands, on issues involving business sales and acquisitions, corporate structures and governance and capital raising. She has worked on a wide range of commercial agreements, including those associated with distribution, supply, manufacturing, franchising, licensing and terms of trade.

Prior to her work in New Zealand, Stone was part of the real estate and franchising team at a large Canadian fast food company.