New appointments

Principal, Fiona Cleary BA LLB (Hons). Fiona is a Senior Crown prosecutor with extensive trial experience in both the District and High Courts. Her areas of expertise include the prosecution of serious crime on behalf of the Crown, regulatory prosecutions, and the conduct of civil asset recovery proceedings for the Commissioner of Police. As part of a secondment to the Crown law Office she conducted numerous criminal appeals in the Court of Appeal and has also appeared in the High Court of Fiji.

Senior Associate, Ruth Harcourt BA (Hons) LLB. Ruth is experienced in criminal prosecution and regulatory enforcement. She appears in the District and High Courts prosecuting for the Crown and government organisations. Ruth’s career has covered a range of areas including reviewing standards of state care and social work practices for central government; criminal defence law and Crown prosecutions in Christchurch; and representing private clients in family law proceedings and relationship property matters.

Promotions

Principal, Andrew Britton MPhil, MSc, BA, LLB (Hons). Andrew specialises in complex civil, regulatory, environmental, disciplinary, and criminal proceedings, strategy and advice for mainly public sector clients. Alongside his advisory practice, Andrew regularly appears in the Environment, District and High Courts. Andrew is also a Senior Crown Prosecutor and he holds post-graduate degrees from Oxford and Cambridge Universities, specialising in criminal law. Andrew has been a guest speaker at Oxford University on the prosecutor’s role at sentencing and his research is published in leading law periodicals.

Senior Associate, Rushika de Silva BA LLM. Rushika is experienced in criminal prosecution and regulatory enforcement. She regularly appears in the District and High Courts prosecuting criminal trials and also acts for various regulatory bodies on health and safety prosecutions. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, Rushika completed post-graduate study at University College London.

Senior Associate, Tim Bain BA LLB (Hons). Tim regularly prosecutes criminal and regulatory trials in the District and High Courts. He has acted for the Crown, regulators, public bodies, and disciplinary agencies in those Courts, as well as in the Court of Appeal and specialist tribunals. In addition to litigation, his practice involves advising public and disciplinary bodies on their powers and obligations. Prior to joining the firm in 2018, Tim clerked for the then-Chief Justice at the Supreme Court.