John Bowie – Page 3

From Small Town to Queenstown Chic – The Law-Firm Rebrand With Altitude

Todd Walker Branding Makeover John Bowie, LawFuel publisher Central Otago’s Todd Walker has decided it no longer wants to look like the firm you hurriedly Google the night before signing a sale-and-purchase agreement. The newly refreshed brand, announced in a media release, unveiled after a period of rapid expansion for the firm, signals a firm

From Small Town to Queenstown Chic – The Law-Firm Rebrand With Altitude Read More »

The Incredible Shrinking Covid Inquiry

Lawyers, New Zealand Law News, Press Releases / November 25, 2025

New Zealand’s Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons Learned is racing toward its February 2026 deadline with all the grace of a three-legged horse. Chair Grant Illingworth KC insists everything is “perfectly natural” as senior staff exit stage left with increasing regularity.

The rest of us are entitled to wonder whether this inquiry will deliver the accountability New Zealanders deserve, or simply a very expensive exercise in looking busy.
The turnover at the top reads like a particularly ruthless season of The Apprentice.
Login to read more . .

The Incredible Shrinking Covid Inquiry Read More »

When Murder Trials Become Entertainment

Featured, Lawyers, New Zealand Law News / November 18, 2025

When Does Justice Become ‘True Crime’ Spectacle? John Bowie, LawFuel publisher Scandalous criiminal trials have long been the stuff of entertainment and intrigue, but the question of who holds the moral compass when it comes to making popcorn from popular crime is something that is an increasing issue, most recently highlighted with an Auckland Law

When Murder Trials Become Entertainment Read More »

Can the Magic Circle’s Most Profitable Firm Survive Its Own Success?

Big Law, Headlining, UK Law / November 11, 2025

Slaughter and May’s Billion-Dollar Dilemma – Expand or Perish John Bowie, LawFuel publisher Slaughter and May, a member of the UK’s elite Magic Circle, has proudly charted a different course to its contemporaries. Rebuffing endless international expansion and a bigger partnership, it has maintained a tightly-knit operation. But is it sustainable? Where Slaughters’ rivals have

Can the Magic Circle’s Most Profitable Firm Survive Its Own Success? Read More »

From Croissants to Chaos – A Love Letter to Defiant Paris

Featured, Press Releases, Travel / November 5, 2025

Best Paris travel article - John Bowie on LawFuel

Paris Travel Beyond the Postcards John Bowie, LawFuel publisher There’s something magnificently perverse about Paris that means every time I arrive, the city is busy tearing itself apart. In 2018 it was the yellow vests blocking roundabouts and setting fire to things. In 2023, Marseilles was ablaze with riots after a police shooting days earlier

From Croissants to Chaos – A Love Letter to Defiant Paris Read More »

The New Zealand Legal Profession’s Disgraceful Silence Over The Death of Bill Wilson

Featured, New Zealand Law News / October 28, 2025

John Bowie, LawFuel Publisher The death of former Supreme Court judge Bill Wilson KC in September has been marked by a striking silence within New Zealand’s legal and media circles, a fact that itself seems more noteworthy than any tribute or obituary could be. The Press pubished a respectful piece from Martin Van Beynen, (who

The New Zealand Legal Profession’s Disgraceful Silence Over The Death of Bill Wilson Read More »

Equal Before The Law – But Not If You’re ANZ

New Zealand Law News, Press Releases / October 23, 2025

NZ law - ANZ bank class action retrospective legislation + LawFuel. Image: ChatGPT

ANZ’s Fairness Fantasy John Bowie, LawFuel publisher Few corporate moments are more revealing than watching a major bank discover that equality before the law cuts both ways, especially when the cutting edge is pointed at them. ANZ’s reaction to this week’s Finance and Expenditure Committee report offers a masterclass in selective principle. The bank appears

Equal Before The Law – But Not If You’re ANZ Read More »

What Does The Meredith Connell ‘Strategic Review’ Really Signal?

Law Firms, New Zealand Law News, NZ Featured Posts, Press Releases / October 14, 2025

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

What Does The Meredith Connell ‘Strategic Review’ Really Signal? Read More »

The Greens Have Gone From Bees to Brickbats at Night

New Zealand Law News, Press Releases / October 7, 2025

The Greens’ Unvarnished, Eye-Swivelling Lunacy John Bowie, LawFuel publisher There was a time the Greens were about rivers, birds and the occasional knitted hat. Now it’s performative rage with a compostable sticker slapped on. The weekend stunt at Winston Peters’ place wasn’t protest but the political equivalent of keying a car and then lecturing the

The Greens Have Gone From Bees to Brickbats at Night Read More »

Northern Club Judicial Fracas Hearing Set For February

New Zealand Law News, Press Releases / October 5, 2025

Will She Stay, Or Will She Go? John Bowie, LawFuel publisher A Judicial Conduct Panel has graciously cleared its diary for a fortnight in February to deliberate whether District Court Judge Ema Aitken’s spirited intervention at the Northern Club – the ‘Clubgate Drama’ – merits her departure from the judiciary a fate which, one notes

Northern Club Judicial Fracas Hearing Set For February Read More »