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Simon began his professional career as a litigation lawyer in the mid-eighties at McElroy Milne, concentrating primarily on insurance and media law. Wanderlust took him to London, where his plans to practise law were derailed by the 1987 stock market crash. A chance meeting led to a six year second career as a Tour Manager in Europe, which allowed him to share his passion for European culture and history with thousands of travellers.
Following his return to New Zealand, another chance encounter led to a third career, this time in television. In nearly sixteen years with TVNZ, he has presented programmes right across its News and Current Affairs stable, including two years as the original host of the critically-acclaimed political interview show ?Agenda?. For the past four years, he has been co-anchor of TVNZ?s flagship One News, and is the current holder of the publicly-voted ?Best Newsreader? title from both the Listener and TV Guide.
Robert Scott is the Managing Director of Wesfarmers Insurance and on the Executive Committee of Wesfarmers Limited. He is also Chairman of Lumley General New Zealand. Wesfarmers Insurance comprises the Lumley businesses in Australia and New Zealand, Wesfarmers Federation Insurance, Crombie Lockwood and OAMPS in Australia and the United Kingdom. Rob joined Wesfarmers Insurance in May 2006 in the role of Executive General Manager ? Strategic Development. Prior to this, he was involved in M&A and Business Development at Wesfarmers Limited.
Robert worked for Wesfarmers in 1993/94. Before rejoining the company in 2004 he held senior positions in the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank AG in Hong Kong and Sydney including Co-Head of the Corporate Advisory group and coverage of the transportation and infrastructure sector in Asia. These roles involved cross border mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt capital markets, financing and restructuring.
Robert holds a Master of Applied Finance degree from Macquarie University and a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the Australian National University. He is a Chartered Accountant and has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance and Investments. He is also on the board of the WA Olympic Council and Insurance Council of Australia.
John specialises in insurance law, bankruptcy and insolvency, building and construction law, family law, and commercial litigation. His particular focus is professional indemnity litigation. John is a member of INSOL New Zealand and is on the board of the Justitia Mutual Association Inc.
John first joined the firm in 1980 and was admitted to partnership in 1985. He is the senior partner in litigation.
Prior to joining Duncan Cotterill Alistair worked in Wellington for a number of years. He has been involved in a variety of insurance litigation beginning with Fire & General claims before specialising in professional indemnity claims. He has a particular interest in health and medico-legal work in addition to acting for a variety of professionals facing claims and disciplinary complaints.
He also spent 3 years overseas and was admitted to the High Court of England & Wales. He worked primarily on criminal and personal injury instructions during this time.
Alistair moved to Nelson in 2001 and was made a partner in April 2003. He works from the Duncan Cotterill Nelson and Wellington offices.
Philippa has been practicing as a broad-based commercial litigation specialist since 1980. She became a partner of the predecessor firm to Jones Fee in 1986. Over her many years of practice she has built a reputable career, and still takes much satisfaction from achieving the best outcome she can in each case.
Philippa regularly advises corporate clients in dispute resolution, litigation and commercial advice in New Zealand and overseas. Her particular areas of expertise cover insurance, corporate legal services and receiverships and insolvency.
Alex Tan is a Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers Forensic Services practice. He has over 20 years investigatory experience including 9 years with the Royal Hong Kong Police and 8 years with the NZ Serious Fraud Office. Alex specialises in the prevention, detection and response to financial crimes. Alex is a Certified Fraud Examiner, a Board member of Transparency International (New Zealand) and heads the NZ Branch of the Association of Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialists.
Aaron Lloyd is a partner at international law firm Minter Ellison (Minter Ellison Rudd Watts in NZ). He is an experienced litigator, specialising in the areas of employment law, white collar, and commercial litigation. Aaron convenes the firm's white collar practice group, and advises corporate and individual clients across a range of white collar and regulatory matters. He is currently advising clients in respect of Companies Office, SFO and IRD investigations, and recently acted as New Zealand counsel in relation to an international cartel prosecution taken by the United States Department of Justice. Aaron also advises companies on internal investigations into suspected misconduct, and in relation to matters arising, including employment action, reporting and cooperation strategies, and steps to mitigate against criminal and civil liabilities.
Gib Beattie is the Assistant Director of the Serious Fraud Office, a position he has held since 1996. He joined the SFO at its inception and has been investigating serious and complex white collar crime for nearly 20 years, with involvement in hundreds of cases across all types of serious and complex fraud. He was a member of the team that investigated the multi-million dollar Equiticorp frauds and he managed the SFO?s participation at the commission of inquiry into the Wine Box transactions.
His primary role is to provide the operational leadership within the SFO. This includes determining which cases are appropriately investigated by the Office, ensuring investigations are completed to the requisite professional standards, implementing operating procedures that are in line with international best practice, and working with other government agencies (both domestically and abroad) to maximise the effectiveness of New Zealand?s capability in financial crime investigation and prosecution.
Gib is a member of the SFO?s senior management team reporting (through Parliamentary select committees) on the financial and general performance of the Office. He deputises for the Director in a variety of circumstances and has presented regularly on fraud topics, both overseas and in New Zealand
Margaret Robins has over 20 years experience in employment law. In the late 1980?s, Margaret joined Haigh Lyon Solicitors, a central city Auckland law firm with a sound and well-established reputation in employment law. She became the Litigation Partner and managed a large team of commercial, criminal and employment law solicitors and support staff.
In 1996 Margaret went out on her own as a Barrister practising exclusively in the field of employment law. In September 2007, Margaret left the Independent Bar to start Workplace Law ? a move intended to reflect the modern employment law trend in New Zealand away from courtroom battles and towards negotiated and mediated outcomes. She is still an enrolled Barrister and Solicitor so, if a case ultimately ends up in court, she is fully qualified and experienced to represent employers and employees at the highest level.
Margaret is a longstanding member and Convenor of the Auckland District Law Society Employment Law Committee. She is also a member of the Employment Law Institute and a frequent speaker at Law Society Employment Law Conferences.
Grant is a highly regarded commercial litigator, and has worked for leading law firms in Auckland and London since 1994. He has experience in a broad range of health and safety matters and helps clients by giving expert advice on:
- Designing responsible health and safety policies
- Liaising with the Department of Labour and other regulators during incident investigations in order to influence the outcome of those investigations
- Defending prosecutions under the Health & Safety in Employment Act.
Greg Milner-White is a Senior Associate in Kensington Swan?s Environment and Resources group based in Auckland.
Greg acts for local authority and developer clients on a variety of RMA and Public Works Act matters including Environment Court / High Court appeals and claims in the Land Valuation Tribunal.
Greg's experience includes plan changes and consent appeals for territorial authorities and developers. He has also acted for both councils and contractor clients in relation to regulatory/statutory liability matters under the RMA, Building Act and other legislation. Greg has been involved in numerous environmental due diligence projects on behalf of corporate clients.
Greg has advised requiring authorities on designation issues and undertaken negotiations with Transit / NZTA and on a variety of land acquisition matters. He has been involved in environmental due diligence projects on behalf of corporate clients.
Glen Riddell is a member of the treaty client management team of Gen Re based in Sydney. He has worked with Gen Re for the past 13 years working in a variety of countries including New Zealand, Australia and his previous role was as Casualty Facultative Manager for Greater China & Korea based in Hong Kong. Although currently involved in all classes of reinsurance business, Glen specialises in long tail casualty classes ranging from US products liability to workers compensation
Crossley Gates joined DLA Phillips Fox 6 years ago as Special Counsel, specialising in policy drafting, insurance regulation and claims advice. Prior to this, he worked for 18 years as the head legal advisor and company secretary of NZI. He acts for many of the underwriters in the Australasian marketplace, as well as for insurance brokers and insurance industry bodies.
Guy is a lawyer specialising in Information Technology (IT) law. He advises on intellectual property, software development, licensing, e-commerce and corporate/commercial matters and has acted on complex multi-national IT disputes. He is the co-founder of an international IT consultancy and software house, providing advice and services on complex software development and hosted services projects.
Jon has over 27 years? experience conducting civil litigation in all levels of the Courts in New Zealand.
Jon has a particular interest in insurance law, and extensive experience in professional indemnity insurance. He has dealt with claims against a wide range of professionals including lawyers, accountants, engineers, valuers, property managers and real estate agents.
Jon was a specialist legal services provider to State Insurance / NRMA NZ/ IAG NZ from 1990 until early 2004 and was responsible for opinion and advisory work in respect of coverage issues, policy wording, advice, claims assessment and recovery actions.
Jon is regularly instructed by insurance brokers, in relation to regulatory and compliance matters and dispute resolution . He is the principal insurance legal adviser for Atradius, the New Zealand branch of one of the world?s largest export insurers.
Jon also has extensive experience in property litigation, including interpretation cases, rectification and building disputes. Jon has been a partner in Morrison Kent since 1996. He is a member of the New Zealand Insurance Law Association and the Wellington Medico-Legal Association, and is an approved substitute lecturer of the Faculty of Law, Victoria University.
Heinrich Eder graduated in Economics from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität in Munich, Germany in 1979 and started his career with Munich Reinsurance in 1980. After various postings with Munich Re Group, including a period of eight years as President of Munich Re Japan, he joined Munich Re Australasia as General Manager Non-Life Division in 2003.
On 1 November 2005, he was appointed to the position of Managing Director of Munich Holdings of Australasia. In that role he is responsible for the life and non-life reinsurance operations of the Group in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Heinrich Eder is currently a Director of the Insurance Council of Australia and the Australian and New Zealand Institute of Insurance and Finance.
Jeremy Corbett is a middle aged 6?2? Leo who likes potatoes. He has been the Corbett part of Kim & Corbett in the morning on MORE FM in Auckland for over 15 years.
He is one of the Godfathers of New Zealand stand up comedy, which he?s been doing for over 20 years and has been involved in numerous debates as both speaker and adjudicator. He recently hosted Deal or No Deal on TV3. Jeremy is consistently one of the most popular headliners/MC?s in the country.
He resides with his lovely fiancée, Megan, and their dog, Nugget, in the leafy yet controversial suburb of Mt Eden. Many people arguing that it?s not really a Mount, but more of a hill. Either way it?s a volcano, so the shadow of death stalks his every breathing moment. Luckily, like Jeremy, Mt Eden is dormant.
Oliver Driver was the host of the country's premiere arts show Frontseat for four years, and he is a director, actor, broadcaster and part owner of the independent television station ALT TV.
He has recently taken the anchor role for TV 3?s Sunrise programme. Oliver has a very good grasp of the news agenda. He also has a wide knowledge of other areas of New Zealand life and has a wicked sense of humour. Oliver is an experienced interviewer, a news junkie and an opinionist, which may not be a real word but it is the only way he can politely describe the way he often speaks his mind. He has been involved in many successful debates, proving to be witty, topical and very engaging. He won?t go down without a fight!
You'll know Miriama as the award-winning actress from local TV dramas Shortland St and Mercy Peak, and more recently from her role in weeding out the winners on the judging panel of New Zealand's Got Talent. She's also hosted, among other events, the Maori Sports Awards for TVNZ and the Axis Awards for the Communications Agencies Association of New Zealand (CAANZ). And last year she more than held her own against tough competition in Dancing With the Stars. She reckons she could hack it on the stand-up comedy circuit, her subject matter would be drawn from "the ironies of everyday life". And she's not afraid to share opinions either, as shown by her performance at several public debates. Miriama is also keen to get behind the camera as well, aiming to one day write and direct her own projects.
John was appointed CEO of Lumley in May 2008 and is responsible for strategic direction and operational performance of the company. He reports regularly to the Lumley Board and to Wesfarmers.
John has had 30 years general insurance experience in New Zealand, Ireland and the United Kingdom. His significant experience across all aspects of insurance and expertise in acquisitions makes him a key contributor to Lumley's divisional executive team. John is a member of the ANZIIF NZ Branch Executive Committee.
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