What a Lawyer

In this episode of Season Four, Sam caught up with Alasdair Christie - a former Partner of 27 years at Sharp Tudhope in Tauranga. Alasdair has recently retired having spent a whopping 39 years with the same firm. Alasdair reflects on his journey, the lessons he has learned, his intentions for post-practicing life outside of law and leaves our listeners with some solid advice for a long and fruitfu...

Cam Madgwick is the CEO of Gibson Sheat, a medium sized law firm that has serviced the Wellington, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa regions for the last 100 years.‍Cam began his career as a practising lawyer and has built an impressive career spanning private practice, in-house legal roles, governance, and executive leadership. Over the years he has worked across a diverse range of organisations and indu...

Fiona McMillan from Lane Neave joined Sam again on the podcast. New Zealand recently introduced some changes to the Employment Relations Act with the Employment Relations Amendment Act. There were four key changes that are already in effect and they are: 1. Contractor vs Employees (Gateway test), 2. High income earners cannot raise a Personal Grievance in the event of unjustified dismissal, 3. Str...

In the first episode of Season Four, Sam is joined by Jason Welsh - a specialist Environmental lawyer who spent time in large national firms and boutiques.‍ Jason's story is a fascinating one - from his less-than-standard start, his early specialisation, staying in NZ instead of going overseas and a decision to leave the comfort of 'big law' to found a boutique law firm, all during the GFC would y...

For our final episode of the season, Sarah sits down with Joey James, Partner at Anthony Harper, to talk about finding opportunity in law. With over a decade of experience in commercial litigation spanning insolvency, restructuring, company law and complex contractual disputes, Joey shares how opportunity has shaped every stage of his career. From his early years in Auckland and time in London wit...

In the fifth episode of Season three, Sam is joined by Susan Rowe - a former lawyer of 27 years who has recently retired, opening up about her battle with depression.‍ On the surface level it would appear that Susan had all her ducks in a row, but that is what is so misguiding about mental illness - its not necessarily visible from the outside. She was a 'successful,' accomplished lawyer who poure...

From Mexico to Aotearoa New Zealand, María has built a career that bridges continents, cultures and legal systems. Now part of the Corporate Advisory and Transactions team at Wynn Williams, she brings deep international experience to her work in M&A, capital raising, commercial structuring and more. But her impact doesn’t stop there. Through her initiative, Pink Fern Consulting, María supports for...

In the third episode of Season 3 of the What a Lawyer podcast, Sam speaks with Katharine Hockly from Data Story. The conversation is based on her legal career and the skills acquired from various legal environments, and ultimately how they transfer into her new career slightly outside of the law. Katharine's journey through private practice and in-house Government roles describes opportunity, trai...

In the second episode of Season 3 of the What a Lawyer podcast, Sarah sits down with Keegan Jones from WRMK Lawyers in Whangārei. Keegan’s journey into law reflects a deep sense of purpose, combining strong commercial experience with a commitment to community and kaupapa Māori values. After clerking at a commercial firm in Christchurch and completing his Law and Commerce degrees at the University...

In the first episode of Season 3 of the What a Lawyer podcast, Sam sits down with Gemma Wragg from Tavendale & Partners in Christchurch. ‍Gemma started her career as a practicing lawyer in commercial law, property, private client and agribusiness, but also had a passion for human rights and education as a whole. She made a great start with Duncan Cotterill after clerking in Timaru, and felt she le...

Join Sarah and Sam as they discuss the legal job market of 2024 and bring the year to a close with this bonus track. ‍ In the final episode of Season 2, Sam is joined by his business partner, Sarah Wilson, Co-Director of Chisholm Clarke. While Sam typically interviews legal professionals, Sarah brings a fresh perspective from her experience in legal search. Although early in her career, Sarah has...

In the final episode of Season 2, we are joined by a new Partner at White Fox & Jones named Sam Thorp. Sam started his career in the same firm and has demonstrated a keen desire to understand the bigger picture of practicing law, leading him towards a major milestone within a short time frame. We ask Sam to spill the beans and let us in on what he does, how he empowers his people and where the roa...

In this episode, we are joined by a career complex commercial and civil litigator from Buddle Findlay, Cora Morrison. Cora has gained a huge amount of experience across smaller and boutique to large national and highly-ranked Firms, gaining interesting perspective on the workplace.‍It may have been really easy to discuss Cora's background and work, but she chose to do something a little different...

In this episode, we talk all things Tax with Julia Johnston, Director of Johnston Law, who comes from a world of tax experience across both disciplines.‍The world of tax is a complex beast. It comes in the form of multiple practicing disciplines across numbers and advisory, for big international corporates all the way down to recent migrants.‍Julia brings us up to speed on what options exist for a...

In this episode we delve into the deep area of Human Rights Law, primarily across humanitarian, immigration and family, with a Senior Associate from Cavell Leitch named Rabiah Khawaja.‍Sam and Rabiah begin with touching on live, real world issues and what sort of humanitarian responses New Zealand provides and how effective that is. Responses are allocated, but proportions of relief are not always...

In this episode, we welcome Sarah Scott from Simpson Grierson back to the podcast. The new Fast-track Approvals Bill has been a hot topic in the Environmental/Projects space for some time and Scottie gives us the inside scoop. From what this Bill actually means to why is has been introduced to what potential outcomes may arise as a result, Scottie covers it all in her usual in-depth manner. Likeni...

In this episode, we are joined by Christian Pinkney, an intermediate civil litigator from Corcoran French in Christchurch. Christian's journey in law didn't start the usual way. He shares his journey through University, through his first role being somewhere he hadn't envisioned and working hard to get to where he needs to be now. ‍Christian's experience at University was like most of ours, having...

In this episode, we are joined by Willie Hamilton, a senior generalist litigator who made his way up by throwing himself into it. From his self-proclaimed casual performance at University to a top tier national law firm in Chapman Tripp, Willie shares how he managed to absorb experience from a range of places, situations and people and borrow their best for himself. Willie's purpose of coming on t...

This episode was a really fun one to put together. Sunny and Sam have known each other for years so it was a bit like old times. This conversation with Sunny is focussed on Criminal Law and the competing elements of Prosecution and Defence. During the early parts of Sunny's career he was immersed in Defence with the Public Defence Service before his more recent few years doing Prosecution on behal...

In the first episode of Season 2, we sat down with Derek Roth-Biester, a Corporate (TMT) Partner from Anderson Lloyd's Queenstown office. Derek has been around computers and technology since he was young fella, always finding interest in them and their potential. Derek's professional career as a Lawyer has taken him all around the globe and landing in the adventure capital of the world recently. D...

In this episode, we discuss the world of Digital Assets with James Cochrane, a Partner in Lane Neave's national dispute resolution team. James has had a broad career spanning large top tier Firms with challenging and intricate work to specialist practice building and really honing in on his now-refined speciality. In this discussion, we visit James' passion for Cryptocrurrency and how his interest...

In this episode we sit down with Fiona McMillan, an elite Employment and Health & Safety Partner in Lane Neave's Auckland office. Fi's career has seen her faced with many opportunities, from starting out in Christchurch to opening an office in Auckland. Hear from Fi around what different opportunities you could be presented with and those you might need to search or fight for. Fi has consistently...

In this episode we explore Emma's backgrounds in Private Practice (8 years) and her In-house Government experience (8 years), and discuss the differences she has experienced first hand between the two of them, in the field of Corporate Commercial Law.‍ Emma began her career as a Russell McVeagh Scholar and moved to the capital for the biggest opportunity of her young career. She spent 4 years lear...

In this episode we are joined by Ana Coculescu - an internationally-qualified, Senior Associate at Dentons Kensington Swan in the field of European Union Law, Resource Management and ESG. ‍ We track Ana's career from Romania, France, Australia and ultimately to New Zealand where she now specialises in ESG, or Environmental, Social and Governance. This ESG concept is not as widely talked about as e...

In this episode, we are fortunate to have one of New Zealand's leading environmental law specialists, Sarah Scott from Simpson Grierson. Sarah has amassed a whopping 17 years at SG that have seen her gain immense exposure to various areas in the law and the opportunity to specialise and grow where she now practices. We delve into her expertise and knowledge of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA...