Russell McVeagh welcomes back seniors to corporate advisory and litigation team

Russell McVeagh welcomes back three senior alumni and announced the arrival of one new senior lawyer to the firm – Wellington-based special counsels Michael Loan and Steven Sutton, and Auckland-based senior associates Varoon Kumar and Whitney Robinson (pictured right to left). They will join Russell McVeagh’s corporate advisory and litigation practice areas.

Michael Loan (pictured, rightmost) is the firm’s new head of infrastructure. Fresh from a panel discussion on ‘tackling the funding gap’ at Infrastructure New Zealand’s ‘building nations’ conference in Wellington, he re-joins Russell McVeagh’s corporate advisory team after 13 years in London, eight of which were spent at Macquarie’s Green Investment Group (GIG). As the senior vice president at GIG, he led numerous transactions across renewable energy subsectors in Europe. He started out at Russell McVeagh in 2006.

Steven Sutton (pictured, second from right) returns to Russel McVeagh’s public law team in Wellington, bringing with him ten years of experience advising on public law and policy issues. He was a deputy chief executive at Te Puni Kōkiri – a China-based trade representative – for five years and a lawyer for Beehive. His experience spans public-sector senior leadership, negotiating with China’s government agencies, cabinet decision-making processes, Māori policy issues, and government inquiries. Steven started out at Russell McVeagh in 2008 and 2014 in the public law and policy team.

Senior associate Varoon Kumar (pictured, second from left) returns to the firm after five years at Linklaters in London, where he worked in generalist dispute resolution advising companies and financial institutions on commercial disputes and regulatory and strategic matters. His litigation experience includes advising on large-scale investigations and class actions.

Senior associate Whitney Robinson (pictured, leftmost) joins Russell McVeagh’s corporate advisory practice in Auckland from Toronto-based firm Blake, Cassels & Graydon. She packs a master’s degree in the biochemistry field and expertise in M&A transactions, business structuring, procurement processes, internal reorganisations, franchising, and corporate governance.

"We're thrilled to welcome these very talented lawyers to our team, who each bring a breadth of experience gained overseas back to our firm," said Russell McVeagh board chair Allison Arthur-Young. "It is special to welcome back three returnees amongst them and for them to have chosen us to continue building their careers here."