While Russell McVeagh have announced the return of firm alumni in a recent press release, there has been nothing said about the departure this year of star tax partner Brendan Brown.

Tax partner Brendan Brown, a highly respected practitioner, has left the firm to join Mayne Weatherell with little-to-know fanfare from either firm.

Formerly National Chair of the firm’s tax practice Brendan Brown has handled some of the country’s largest deals and tax disputes and is highly regarded. Promoted to partnership at an early age he has been partner with the firm for 18 years.

His clients have included Westpac, Bank of New Zealand, Spark, Origin Energy and ExxonMobil as he has worked on transactional work as well as obtaining binding IRD rulings and handling tax audits, disputes and litigation.

He was named in Australian Lawyer magazine’s 2016 ‘Hot List’ as one of the top private practice lawyers working in the Australasian legal market and has also been recognised for his expertise in numerous publications.

There was not formal notification of Brown’s departure from the firm, although LawFuel was told by Russell McVeagh that he had resigned “to take up an opportunity at another law firm to establish a tax practice there.”

Interestingly, Mayne Wetherell are an Auckland-based firm with, hitherto, no Wellington office and Brendan Brown remains based in the capital.

We have not yet heard from Brown himself as to his change in firm, although we have earlier reported that former tax partner Campbell Rose, (pictured left) another highly regarded tax lawyer, had left the firm and had handled some of the complex tax planning work for former high profile businessman Eric Watson, since the subject of adverse tax decisions in New Zealand.

Whether there has been some fallout from the controversial former ‘rich lister’ businessman and his complex tax and business dealings in New Zealand is unknown, but the soft exit for another tax lawyer who was a tax star raises inevitable queries.