ABOUT ME
I grew up in a variety of places: Ruatahuna, Otorohanga, Taranaki, and Hamilton; don't hold Hamilton against me it was just for High Schooling.
I was a mother, wife, and then widow, all before I entered law school. My twenties were spent in Auckland as a stay-at-home Mother and as the much younger wife of John Matheson. John was a senior sports journalist, author, and sports producer who was well known in the sports and media community in the late 90s and 2000s. Shortly before John's death in 2014, I began to work with John on public relations projects for professional NZ athletes (rugby, boxing, and league) and major sporting events companies in Australia and New Zealand. John's teachings to me about media content, interview technique, and public relations has undoubtedly been a decisive factor in my ability to develop my own practice and private clientele so early in my legal career.
My Father's family come from Samoa. My Father was a school principal for most of my childhood and later was a lecturer in education at Auckland University of Technology. He is now retired but still acts as a relief teacher for certain High Schools in Auckland.
My Mother's family come from Taranaki and they have farmed in the region for over a century (Patea, Waverley, Huirangi near Waitara). My Mother was a stay at home mum for the first part of my childhood, then she worked in a cafe for a few years and then she owned cafes while I was at High School in Hamilton. At one point I think she owned 6 cafes in the Hamilton region. Nowadays she is retired and a lady of leisure travelling between New Zealand and Melbourne.
I have an older brother who lives in the Waikato - he works in education and has built 'a little bit of tuscany' into a lifestyle block in Waipa. I have a younger sister who lives in Melbourne and she heads the sales division of an American chemical company. And I'm a barrister in Auckland.
After spending the early part of my practice conducting general civil, trust, and insolvency litigation with the odd dalliance into criminal defence and family law, I decided in late 2022 that I will focus on specific practice areas: civil claims against Police and public bodies, criminal proceeds and financial crime, regulatory defences, firearms, trust litigation, 'gangs', high profile and controversial family litigation, and test/public interest litigation. While this is still a varied and challenging practice for me, it does allow me to drill down on the areas of law I have really enjoyed.
I have been exceptionally privileged to have acquired my own private client base in New Zealand early as a barrister. As a result of this, I have been able to support my own practice, but also refer nearly $2M worth of work to senior barristers in New Zealand in 2021 and 2022.
In my down time (which I have not had alot of in the past 3 years) I like to go walking, boating, fishing, golfing, eating and alot of sleeping. As a result of a more specialised practice focus in 2023, I am looking forward to going hard on areas of law where I feel reform is required.
I enjoy litigation and I love a good challenge. I love getting my clients good results and achieving things that have not been done before in New Zealand courts (why not?). As a testament, I think, to my practice results and practice style, the majority of my clients remain in contact with me long after their litigation has finished, no longer as clients, but as friends.
I was a mother, wife, and then widow, all before I entered law school. My twenties were spent in Auckland as a stay-at-home Mother and as the much younger wife of John Matheson. John was a senior sports journalist, author, and sports producer who was well known in the sports and media community in the late 90s and 2000s. Shortly before John's death in 2014, I began to work with John on public relations projects for professional NZ athletes (rugby, boxing, and league) and major sporting events companies in Australia and New Zealand. John's teachings to me about media content, interview technique, and public relations has undoubtedly been a decisive factor in my ability to develop my own practice and private clientele so early in my legal career.
My Father's family come from Samoa. My Father was a school principal for most of my childhood and later was a lecturer in education at Auckland University of Technology. He is now retired but still acts as a relief teacher for certain High Schools in Auckland.
My Mother's family come from Taranaki and they have farmed in the region for over a century (Patea, Waverley, Huirangi near Waitara). My Mother was a stay at home mum for the first part of my childhood, then she worked in a cafe for a few years and then she owned cafes while I was at High School in Hamilton. At one point I think she owned 6 cafes in the Hamilton region. Nowadays she is retired and a lady of leisure travelling between New Zealand and Melbourne.
I have an older brother who lives in the Waikato - he works in education and has built 'a little bit of tuscany' into a lifestyle block in Waipa. I have a younger sister who lives in Melbourne and she heads the sales division of an American chemical company. And I'm a barrister in Auckland.
After spending the early part of my practice conducting general civil, trust, and insolvency litigation with the odd dalliance into criminal defence and family law, I decided in late 2022 that I will focus on specific practice areas: civil claims against Police and public bodies, criminal proceeds and financial crime, regulatory defences, firearms, trust litigation, 'gangs', high profile and controversial family litigation, and test/public interest litigation. While this is still a varied and challenging practice for me, it does allow me to drill down on the areas of law I have really enjoyed.
I have been exceptionally privileged to have acquired my own private client base in New Zealand early as a barrister. As a result of this, I have been able to support my own practice, but also refer nearly $2M worth of work to senior barristers in New Zealand in 2021 and 2022.
In my down time (which I have not had alot of in the past 3 years) I like to go walking, boating, fishing, golfing, eating and alot of sleeping. As a result of a more specialised practice focus in 2023, I am looking forward to going hard on areas of law where I feel reform is required.
I enjoy litigation and I love a good challenge. I love getting my clients good results and achieving things that have not been done before in New Zealand courts (why not?). As a testament, I think, to my practice results and practice style, the majority of my clients remain in contact with me long after their litigation has finished, no longer as clients, but as friends.