Russell McVeagh Grows Senior Ranks With 9 New Senior Associates

Following the announcement of three new partner promotions last week, Russell McVeagh has promoted seven of its emerging leaders to Senior Associate. With a further two alumni senior lawyers having recently returned to the firm from overseas, they round out a total of nine new senior associates for the firm across Russell McVeagh's Corporate Advisory, Litigation and Real Estate and Construction teams.

Corporate Advisory

Hannah Brown has recently returned to Russell McVeagh after three years working in London for Allen & Overy where she advised on a number of high-profile, multi-national public and private transactions. During her time in London, Hannah also spent nine months on secondment in the investment banking team at J.P. Morgan, where she was involved in several prominent capital markets transactions. Hannah advises on a variety of corporate transactions, including initial public offerings, secondary capital raisings, mergers and acquisitions and a broad range of general corporate and securities law advisory work.

Frida Klippel joined the firm in 2017, where she has since established herself as a trusted adviser for a number of banks, insurers and other large listed and private corporates. Frida specialises in mergers and acquisitions, overseas investment, complex joint venture arrangements, and a broad range of commercial contracts and general corporate matters. She is known for the commercial nature of her advice and her ability to cut through complexity with pragmatic solutions.

Emily Murray-Joubert joined Russell McVeagh in September 2019, following experience working at another large New Zealand law firm and in Johannesburg for ENSafrica (the largest tier one firm in Africa) where she advised on several high profile transactions. She has extensive experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, private equity transactions, joint ventures and commercial contracts for listed and unlisted clients in the insurance, banking, telecommunications, FMCG, pharmaceuticals and oil and gas sectors.

Rachael O'Malley is a corporate lawyer who advises on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters with clients across a variety of industries. She has substantial experience advising on mergers and acquisitions, takeovers, overseas investment, corporate governance matters and commercial contracts, including unique expertise in the energy and insurance sectors. This often involves working on complex transactions with regulators, financial advisers and overseas lawyers. Rachael focuses on her clients’ business needs, advising on commercial solutions to meet their desired outcomes.

Litigation

Camille Butters is a commercial litigation specialist focusing on financial services, regulatory enforcement, and complex disputes. She has contentious and advisory expertise across a range of matters, including regulatory affairs and investigations, contractual disputes, and insolvency. Camille has a particular interest in anti-money laundering and countering financing of terrorism.

Gordon Lamb specialises in commercial litigation, with a particular focus on complex contractual disputes, and insurance, construction, and property disputes. He assists clients with a range of contentious and non-contentious matters, including advice on contractual issues and statutory and regulatory compliance, and represents clients in arbitrations and in the courts.

Alex MacDuff is a general commercial litigator who specialises in restructuring, insolvency and special situations. His experience includes advising corporates, financial institutions and other stakeholders on restructurings, stressed and distressed refinancings and insolvencies. He also acts for insolvency practitioners in formal appointments such as receiverships, voluntary administrations and liquidations. He has recently returned to Russell McVeagh, and prior to this, Alex spent a number of years working in London for Allen & Overy's Global Restructuring Group advising on high-profile cross-border and domestic matters.

Real Estate & Construction

Rachael Chappell is a commercial real estate lawyer, specialising in high-value acquisitions and disposals, leasing, development projects, subdivisions, property financing, forestry transactions and green energy. She has a reputation for sound market knowledge and an ability to resolve issues and deliver outcomes for clients in a commercially pragmatic way, along with having a core strength in large-scale transaction management. Prior to joining Russell McVeagh in mid-2020, Rachael most recently spent two years working in the real estate team at Clifford Chance in London and previously worked in the property team at another New Zealand top tier law firm.

Rory Pryce has a breadth of experience advising institutional, government and developer clients in all aspects of real estate and construction matters. He has a particular focus on acquisitions and disposals, development projects and industrial and commercial office leasing. He left the firm in 2017 to move to London, where he worked at Clifford Chance and in-house at Marks and Spencer, before returning to Russell McVeagh last year.

Russell McVeagh Board Chair Allison Arthur-Young said, "We are delighted to announce these promotions. These talented senior lawyers consistently demonstrate excellence in their work for our clients and in their contributions to their teams and the wider firm. I also want to acknowledge their leadership qualities, and their skills in a range of areas in which we are supporting our clients, including infrastructure, climate change, health, sustainable financing and te ao Māori."

Last week, Russell McVeagh announced that Banking and Finance expert Jesse Fairley, Real Estate and Construction lawyer Sarah Blackmore, and Corporate lawyer Tom Gillespie are to join the firm's partnership* effective 1 December 2021, which add to the partnership appointments of Tax expert Greg Neill and Employment specialist Emma Peterson earlier in the year. The firm has also attracted a number of senior alumni back throughout the course of the year.

Russell McVeagh has also recently promoted 16 of its lawyers to Senior Solicitor. The firm congratulates all of our senior lawyers on these career milestones.

*Subject to Law Society requirements.

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