Company: Simpson Grierson
Job title: Senior associate
Rachael Judge, a senior associate in Simpson Grierson’s employment law group, has been lauded for her ‘consistently excellent work’ for many of the firm’s high-profile clients including HSBC, L’Oréal, Geneva Healthcare, Auckland Catholic Diocese, Fisher and Paykel Healthcare and the University of Auckland. Judge advises on complex and important employment matters and represents clients in collective bargaining; she advises them on all stages of the bargaining process (including industrial action). For example, she recently assisted Geneva Healthcare in negotiating its first Multi-Union Collective Employment Agreement. As a lead member of Geneva’s bargaining team, she was actively involved in drafting and negotiating this agreement. Given the recent growth in independent investigations concerning employment, Judge has undertaken a number of confidential external reviews in relation to allegations of bullying for high-profile clients. Further, she is a dedicated mentor and role model to junior lawyers. She mentors a junior lawyer from the employment group and acts as a supervisor for the team’s summer clerks. She has taken the initiative in setting up regular training sessions to upskill the junior solicitors within the group. She also organises a monthly networking breakfast for the firm’s senior solicitors.