Meet our team

During her career, Michaela gained valuable overseas experience, initially as legal counsel for a leading European investment bank, and then with one of the world’s largest offshore law firms, specialising in commercial litigation and multi-jurisdictional disputes. This commercial experience enables Michaela to bring a strategic approach to any dispute.

Michaela regularly represents clients in civil and commercial litigation, in a range of Courts and specialist tribunals. Her practice includes property disputes, contract claims, negligence claims, construction disputes, and family protection/estate litigation. Michaela is also a relationship property and trust litigation specialist, representing and advising clients on asset protection, relationship property and trust issues. She has acted on complex relationship property cases including those involving business, trust and farming structures as well as cross border issues involving overseas assets.

A strong negotiator Michaela has extensive experience representing clients and achieving favourable outcomes in mediations and other alternative dispute resolution forums.

Michaela is an employment law specialist. She represents both employer and employee clients on a full range of contentious and non-contentious matters, and has appeared in the Employment Court, Employment Relations Authority and MBIE mediations. Michaela also advises on restructuring, redundancies, and health and safety/workplace investigations. She works closely with the firm’s commercial team to provide employment and specialist litigation advice on commercial transactions.

With a special interest in professional negligence and disciplinary matters, Michaela acts for individuals across a number of professions. She was previously a member of the Law Society Otago Standards Committee. She also advises on insurance matters.

• Acting as New Zealand counsel for a Cayman Islands’ investment fund as a creditor of New Zealand company providing liquidity services, in respect of applications before the High Court in respect of cross applications for appointment of interim liquidators,  a stay, and appointment of replacement interim liquidator proceedings. This was in the context of enforcement and insolvency proceedings in numerous overseas jurisdictions for recovery of funds.
• Acting for an insurance broker as defendant in High Court proceedings involving numerous defendants and third parties. Complex issues relating to losses arising from the Christchurch earthquake and failure of an insurer. Satellite litigation involved proceedings before the Employment Relations Authority and then Employment Court relating to an issue of whether a third party was an employee or contractor. Successful in the ERA and appeal to Employment Court settled. The main High Court proceedings were settled on favourable terms.
• Acting for a trust as plaintiff in High Court proceedings seeking specific performance under an agreement for sale and purchase where the vendor failed to settle on the basis of competing claims as to the equitable interests in the property. Settled on favourable terms.
• Acting in respect of complex relationship property and trust proceeding, defending applications to set aside a contracting out agreement and seeking recourse against trust assets. Complex issues involving high value assets.
• Successful application in the High Court to set aside a statutory demand in the context of a complex construction dispute involving issues under the Construction Contracts Act 2002.

• Acted for two former trustees who were defendants in a £7m trust dispute brought by the current trustees of a Guernsey trust. Allegations of breach of trust by gross negligence and dishonest assistance.
• Cross border litigation with proceedings in Guernsey, Russia and the British Virgin Islands. Acted for Guernsey company and its beneficial owner in respect of cross unfair prejudice applications between the shareholders of a Guernsey holding company which owned stocks in an eighty million dollar oil refinery in the Russian Federation.
• Acted for Guernsey company and its beneficial owner in respect of both public (judicial review) and private law actions before the courts of Guernsey. Claim in respect of the release of approximately €40million held in client’s bank accounts in Guernsey. The central issue was the purpose of the Guernsey money laundering/consent regime and whether the FIS’ application of it was compatible with the customer’s rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
• Multi-jurisdictional dispute resulting in the claimants obtaining ex parte worldwide freezing orders up to $US75m in the High Court of England and Wales against 11 additional defendants. Applied for and obtained orders for the discharge of the worldwide freezing orders (in the courts of England and Wales, and Guernsey) and indemnity costs against the claimants.
• Complex trust litigation acting for the professional trustee of a trust with net assets of approximately £20m, set up by the designer of a prominent international production to receive worldwide royalty income.