LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 41 Perennial power lister Chen continues exerting influence as chair of the Superdiversity Institute and president of NZ Asian Lawyers, recently establishing the Mai Chen Legal Innovation Award at Otago University to encourage innovative thinking. Having established her eponymous firm before ‘sacking herself’ and becoming a barrister, she serves as […]
LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 44 Priest has established herself as one of NZ’s leading criminal lawyers, joining the Power List in 2024, with 20+ years’ experience handling serious violence, sexual offenses, complex drug crimes, actively contributing to legal education and speaking at events. Her co-founding of “The Good Lawyer”—a non-profit providing resources to prisoners—demonstrates
LawFuel Power List 2025 No 46 Ian Beaumont debuted on the Power List last year and is a Russell McVeagh Board member and Corporate Advisory Group partner specializing in M&A, equity capital markets, joint ventures, corporate advisory, with experience in NZ and the US contributing to award-winning transactions. As one of the younger dealmakers inheriting
LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 50 Low profile but a LawFuel List regular, Ann Brennan leads MBIE’s 70+ legal team including 64 lawyers organized into four specialized teams, having played crucial roles in significant projects such as developing legislation for Outer Space and High-Altitude Activities, supporting earthquake response, handling major government initiatives. She transformed MBIE’s
LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 45 Doyen, mentor, legend – they all apply to Jim Farmer KC who remains on the List even if there is some deserved slowing of case histories. Chambers Asia-Pacific 2025 ranks Farmer as “Senior Statesperson,” describing him as “widely regarded as one of NZ’s pre-eminent commercial litigators, vastly experienced in
LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 49 A legend at the bar with a career spanning 55+ years including 100+ murder trials, Hampton recently resigned from the Criminal Cases Review Commission citing concerns about independence and expertise. He retains his reputation as one of NZ’s best defence lawyers with expertise extending to major inquiries including Pike
LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 32 Flanagan is NZ’s premier plaintiff-side commercial litigator, like Fionnghuala Cuncannon and yet another Meredith Connell alumni, likely having argued more leading Fair Trading Act and Financial Markets Conduct Act cases than any other lawyer. Most recently he acted for the Ministry of Education in successful claims against James Hardie and
LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 30 England became Chief Executive Partner in February 2021, succeeding Nick Wells after 28 years with the firm (partner since 2001, Auckland corporate practice leader for a decade). Chapman Tripp was named NZ Law Firm of the Year at 2024 KangaNews Awards (ninth consecutive win) and won the 2024 IDC
LawFuel Power List No. 4 Over 600 cases resulting in High Court judgments. That’s not a typo, Hodder’s been appearing in New Zealand’s senior courts since 1980, racking up victories and precedents with the relentlessness of a metronome. His Three Waters work (representing Timaru, Waimakariri, and Whangarei councils) put him at the intersection of local
LawFuel Power List 2025 No. 3 Our highest-ranking independent lawyer on the List and now something of a staple is former Solicitor-General (2012-2016) who has become New Zealand’s go-to independent investigator for scandals too sensitive for the usual suspects. His 2025 workload included the Public Service Commission’s personal information protection probe (finalized May 2025) and
