Senior Partner Exodus At Meredith Connell
John Bowie, LawFuel publisher
New Zealand’s largest litigation firm is doing what law firms euphemistically call a “strategic review”, which in plain English usually means people are being shown the door with polite smiles and carefully worded press releases.
But at Meredith Connell, this isn’t a gentle reshuffle of office chairs rather than a deliberate culling of senior ranks that’s seen at least four partners depart in October 2025 alone according to one report, capping an 18-month talent exodus.
For a firm that’s held the coveted Office of the Crown Solicitor warrant for Auckland since 1921, the scale and speed of departures raise uncomfortable questions about culture, direction, and whether the 104-year-old institution is future-proofing or simply bleeding out.
The Meredith Connell Review
Meredith Connell has launched a strategic review that’s already triggered four partner departures and follows a string of senior exits over the past year. The move signals a major internal shift at one of New Zealand’s most prominent litigation firms, raising questions about its next strategic play.
The Departure List
The October 2025 restructure claimed four more partners, but the carnage began well before NBR’s latest report. The roll call of exits carries a lot of known names and expertise.
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December 2024:
Chris Merrick, (pictured) a prominent barrister specializing in tikanga Māori law and Pacific legal issues, departed to establish Chris Merrick Law + Consultancy. Merrick, who had been involved in major inquiries including the Abuse in Care Royal Commission, rejoined as partner in July 2023—only to exit 18 months later.
July 2024:
- Nick Malarao, a senior litigation partner since 2000 and partner since 2010, jumped to Richmond Chambers
- Erin Davies, after nearly a decade leading the firm’s employment law practice, went solo as a barrister
Recent Additional Exits:
- Danae Weston, who led the commercial property team for over 20 years, joined Juno Legal in August 2025
- Jessica Blythe, now partner at Luke Cunningham Clere’s Auckland office.
- Jacob Parry, former Crown prosecutor and regulatory adviser, moved to Mills Lane Chambers
Overlay that with the latest four-partner departure, and you’ve got a firm shedding senior talent faster than a litigation partner can draft a strike-out application.
History Repeating: The 2021-2022 Exodus
This isn’t Meredith Connell’s first rodeo. The firm suffered significant litigation talent losses in 2021-2022 that should have set off alarm bells.
- Kim Francis departed end-2021 after 10 years (six as partner);
- Leo Farmer exited to Shortland Chambers in December 2021 after six years as partner;
- Nick Williams moved to Britomart Chambers;
- James Cairney and David Johnstone (a 17-year partner specializing in organized crime) both landed at Bankside Chambers in 2022.
The pattern is unmistakable. Senior partners with deep expertise are voting with their feet, heading to independent chambers or boutique firms. A migration of that size suggests something more troubling than routine partner turnover, but hints at fundamental disagreements about the firm’s direction or culture.
LawFuel has emailed the firm for more information but to date has no reply.
Reading Between the Press Release Lines
Meredith Connell may frame these changes as “refocusing efforts on public interest litigation” and returning to “core strengths.” The translation appears to mean that the firm’s experiment with broader commercial work didn’t deliver the margins or market position it hoped for, and now it’s retreating to the safety of its century-plus Crown warrant work.
The strategic pivot may make business sense. The firm’s extensive public sector client roster, Crown Law Office, Commerce Commission, Financial Markets Authority, and various local authorities provides stable revenue (the Crown Solicitor warrant alone historically contributed $7.5 million annually).
In an increasingly competitive market where nimbler boutiques are poaching high-end work and corporate clients are bringing legal services in-house, doubling down on government litigation could be smart positioning.
But the problem is being able to execute a strategic pivot when your most experienced partners keep walking out the door. Institutional knowledge, client relationships, and practice group leadership don’t grow on trees.
Leadership’s Tightrope Walk
CEO Sophie Schwass, (pictured) who joined in February 2023 from Clifford Chance (where she was COO for the UK region), brings serious pedigree from a firm with NZ$3.9 billion in revenues. Chair Mark Harborow leads the Management Board, with Crown Solicitor Alysha McClintock serving as Deputy Board Chair. As of June 30, 2025, the firm maintained 30 partners and 113 staff.
Despite the departures, Meredith Connell announced five new partner appointments in July 2024 (Jack Cheng, David Collins, Danielle Houghton, Andy Luck, and Elizabeth Rutherford) and welcomed back Nathan Speir in November 2024 for local government work.
That’s either aggressive partnership expansion to put on a brave face in the face of a talent exodus or desperate backfilling.
What’s Really Happening Here?
What can be read into the review and the departures from the firm and indeed the slew of arrivals at the firm?
- Strategic Disagreement: A situation where senior partners don’t buy the pivot to public interest focus, preferring higher-margin commercial work.
- Culture Clash: New leadership’s corporate management style (imported from BigLaw overseas) that may grate against the traditional partnership culture.
- Economics: The partnership compensation model isn’t competitive with the freedom and earnings potential of independent practice, let alone the independent bar.
The fact that so many departing partners are heading to chambers rather than competitor firms suggests they’re choosing independence over institutional constraints. That’s a telling indictment of either the firm’s culture, its economics, or both.
The Market Implications
Meredith Connell isn’t imploding. The Crown warrant provides a stable revenue foundation, and the firm’s brand still carries weight in government circles. But losing this much senior talent in such a compressed timeframe creates real succession planning headaches and risks client relationship disruption.
The broader New Zealand legal market will be watching closely. If the restructure succeeds and MC emerges as a lean, focused public interest litigation powerhouse, it could define a new model for large NZ firms.
If the departures continue and the firm struggles to replace institutional knowledge, it becomes a cautionary tale about managing strategic transitions in professional services.
What Happens Next?
The interesting part isn’t the “strategic review” itself but rather what comes after? Will the remaining partners buy into the public interest vision? Can new leadership rebuild practice group depth? And critically, will clients stick with the firm through the turbulence?
Expect carefully worded LinkedIn announcements, strategic lateral hires to plug gaps, and intense internal discussions about partnership track, compensation, and culture.
Also expect competitors to circle, sensing opportunity to poach both clients and remaining talent.
In law firm terms, the strategic restructure (being ‘strategic’ is everything when it comes to restructures) is about as subtle as a sledgehammer wrapped in a silk tie. Meredith Connell is betting it can shed expensive partners, refocus its practice, and emerge stronger. Time and good planning will tel whether that pays off.
