Our team
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Jeffrey Lai

Partner

Jeffrey is a founding partner and the Managing Director of Anderson Creagh Lai. He provides sound,...

Jeffrey is a founding partner and the Managing Director of Anderson Creagh Lai. He provides sound, pragmatic legal and general commercial advice to a wide range of clients, particularly in mid-market and high growth New Zealand companies in various industry sectors. Jeffrey specialises in corporate structuring and restructuring, mergers and acquisitions, investment funding, domestic and international business expansion, and contractual arrangements. Jeffrey also has a technology sector focus, particularly in major technology project development, implementation and integration, IT services outsourcing, and commercialisation of science and technology. Jeffrey holds an LLB (Hons) and BCom from the University of Auckland.

M. +64 21 625 318 E. Jeffrey.Lai@hamiltonlocke.co.nz
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Phil Creagh

Partner

Phil is a founding partner of Anderson Creagh Lai, and senior partner and chairman of the firm. Phi...

Phil is a founding partner of Anderson Creagh Lai, and senior partner and chairman of the firm. Phil’s practice areas are wide ranging and include dispute resolution and civil litigation, corporate and commercial advice, and specialist commercial property work. Phil’s main focus is on providing the strategic focus and oversight of significant commercial and contract related disputes, frequently working with the separate bar. Phil has had significant recent experience as instructing solicitor in large commercial property disputes, the local authority powers and regulatory area, a significant minority shareholder oppression action, the leading NZ property relationship/trust case and in many other corporate and commercial causes. In addition to his litigation practice, Phil continues to advise corporate and commercial, and occasionally property, clients on their needs. Outside the law Phil has a number of private family business interests, and has had governance experience, serving on the managing board of a leading Australasian law firm for six years before co-establishing Anderson Creagh Lai, serving as a director for a number of valued personal clients, and serving as an officer and trustee of a number of voluntary organisations. Phil also provides pro-bono assistance and advice to a number of organisations.

M. +64 21 905 866 E. Phil.Creagh@hamiltonlocke.co.nz
Read more Significant Cases

Significant Cases

Hudson Bay Holdings Limited v Waitakere Properties (High Court). A successful action compelling performance of a put option exercised by Sovereign Yachts operating company on Auckland Council. Council appealed, but then settled on more favourable terms than the original judgement as a result of other litigation strategies that were deployed.

The Clayton v Clayton cases culminating with Clayton v Clayton [2016] NZSC 29. This the well-known, defining trust law case which I took over in the Court of Appeal and for the final Supreme Court appeal on a reverse brief from Lady Deborah Chambers QC. Clayton was settled prior to the issue of the Supreme Court judgment.

Sturgess and Ors. v Dunphy and Ors [2014] NZCA 266 and Jet Trustees v Dunphy and Ors [2014] NZSC 140. This is the series of Greymouth Petroleum cases up to the Court of Appeal. This is the most recent leading minority shareholder oppression case in the higher courts, and I was reverse briefed by Philip Skelton QC and (now) Mark Corlett QC.

Zespri lntemational Limited v Yu, an Employment Court case but one with significant ramifications for my client Mr Yu, a former Zespri employee who was imprisoned in China (reverse briefed by Philip Skelton QC).

The series of Kim Dotcom cases, which are too numerous to individually list. I have been instructing solicitor and closely involved since 2014 on all Dotcom litigation matters up to the recent Supreme Court extradition hearing.

Gulf Harbour Marina Limited & Ors v Auckland Council & Minister of Conservation CIV-2010-404-003283. This was the marina seabed licence fees case where I acted for a group of RMA consented marinas in challenging Council's entitlement to charge seabed licence fees, engaging Stephen Mills QC. The case successfully settled at Council's request.

Kawerau Village Holdings Limited and Anr v Ho Kok Sun and Ors [2017] NZSC 150. This is the long running Kawerau Falls Station case which I initiated and ran to the Supreme Court for a large group of offshore investors initially with Philip Skelton QC, and then on appeal with Stephen Mills QC and (now) Andrew Barker QC.

Trends Publishing International Limited v Advicewise People Limited & Ors [2018] NZSC 62. An unsuccessful Supreme Court appeal against the striking down of a creditor compromise arrangement, but a decision which has clarified an important aspect of creditor law relating to the recognition of classes of creditors.

Trends Publishing International Limited v Callaghan Innovation [2019] NZHC 907, a recent and unsuccessful High Court action lead by Mark Corlett QC centring on the terms of Callaghan's funding grant to Trends, and Trends' compliance or otherwise with those terms.

My Articles

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Gregory Shanahan

Counsel

In practice since 1970 Gregory founded Shanahan Partners and has been a partner in Russell McVeagh a...

In practice since 1970 Gregory founded Shanahan Partners and has been a partner in Russell McVeagh and Minter Ellison Rudd Watts. Throughout his career in the law Gregory has specialised in commercial property law. Gregory has provided specialist commercial property-real estate advice to a wide range of New Zealand and Australian corporations, institutions and private companies and overseas clients investing in New Zealand. Structuring of tenure, risk, and governance and finance issues has been at the core of this work. While acting for Ports of Auckland Limited, Gregory advised on the strategy and structuring for and the implementation of the separation of the port operating businesses of the Port company from its non-port operating businesses, which were varied and substantial, long term value-adding businesses. Gregory has done work for the Catholic Church throughout New Zealand, advises a large number of public and private charities including some established by the New Zealand Government.

M. +64 21 943 979 E. Gregory.Shanahan@hamiltonlocke.co.nz
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Mihai Pascariu

Partner

Mihai has over 14 years of experience in commercial law and has developed specific expertise in disp...

Mihai has over 14 years of experience in commercial law and has developed specific expertise in dispute resolution, corporate governance, banking law, security enforcement, restructuring and insolvency and Commerce Commission investigations. Mihai has been involved in some of New Zealand’s most complex corporate governance and cross-border matters, including the Mainzeal Group’s claim against its former directors, the receivership of Reef Shipping (involving disputes and litigation in multiple jurisdictions across Pacific, including Hong Kong, Fiji and Tahiti) and Torchlight Fund LP (involving Trans-Tasman security enforcement and litigation in New Zealand and Cayman Islands). More recently, Mihai has acted in relation to investigations by the Commerce Commission of financial services providers and global pharmaceutical companies for misleading advertising. He has been recognised as a ‘Next Generation Lawyer’ in Legal 500 Asia Pacific rankings for 2019.

M. +64 27 558 5864 E. Mihai.Pascariu@hamiltonlocke.co.nz
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Paul Chambers

Partner

Paul Chambers has been in practice since 2007 with a varied career beginning with a tax specialisati...

Paul Chambers has been in practice since 2007 with a varied career beginning with a tax specialisation and including a stint in the UK advising the Home Office on immigration law. Since 2014 he has been settled back in New Zealand at Anderson Creagh Lai with a property focused practice covering acquisition, disposal and leasing of commercial property, residential property development of all scales, and construction contracts from both principal and contractor perspectives. His clients range from the individual entrepreneurs to large-scale developers and listed and institutional portfolio holders. Paul has complemented his property practice with extensive experience advising on a wide range of investment and asset holding structures, including corporate and trust entities and limited partnerships. He also regularly provides advice to his property developer and investor clients regarding the acquisition of secured finance and refinancing arrangements. Paul has also developed a substantial private client base comprising both New Zealand and non-New Zealand domiciled clients to whom he provides trust and estate planning advice.

M. +64 21 996 455 E. Paul.Chambers@hamiltonlocke.co.nz
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Grant Sidnam

Partner

Grant joined Anderson Creagh Lai in 2019. He specialises in litigation, tax and charities law and i...

Grant joined Anderson Creagh Lai in 2019. He specialises in litigation, tax and charities law and is in the process of finalising a book on charities law. He has also lectured in the Master of Taxation Studies degree at the University of Auckland and in the Bachelor of Laws programme at AUT.

M. +64 21 224 8048 E. grant.sidnam@hamiltonlocke.co.nz
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