General Background
Jenny is an experienced litigator specialising in company and securities law, fair trading and consumer finance law, competition law, and insolvency. She has acted for both corporate clients and individuals involved in investigations and proceedings by the Commerce Commission and Financial Markets Authority, as well as advising and acting in a wide range of civil matters. Jenny is the inaugural President of Lawyers for Climate Action NZ which advocates for legislation and policies to ensure New Zealand meets it commitment under the Paris Agreement to join in global efforts to limit global warming to 1.5ºC.
Prior to joining Shortland Chambers in 2011, Jenny was a litigation partner at Bell Gully, which she joined after spending five years working for the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London and The Hague. She is a graduate of the University of Otago and holds post-graduate degrees in Law and International Relations from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar.
Selected Recent Cases
Examples of current and previous work
General commercial litigation/arbitration:
- Instructed as counsel for the plaintiff building owners in a large group action seeking damages in relation to alleged defects in James Hardie’s cladding products.
- Acted as lead counsel in successful proceedings by investors against their advisers/accountants fordamages for misleading/negligent advice.
- Acted as lead counsel for the successful party in an arbitration relating to the interpretation and termination of a joint venture agreement.
Financial markets/securities law:
- Appeared as lead counsel for the FMA on an appeal against a decision to deregister a company from the Register of Financial Service Providers.
- Acted as lead counsel for the FMA on a successful application for urgent interim asset protection orders.
- Appeared as junior counsel to Daniel McLellan QC for a defendant in its successful defence of the civil proceedings arising from the Feltex IPO (High Court and Court of Appeal).
- Acting for individuals in relation to insider trading/market manipulation investigations by the FMA.
- Providing expert opinions on interpretation of securities legislation to issuers and insurers.
Competition/fair trading/consumer credit:
- Acted for a European bank in a Commerce Commission investigation into whether the sale of a complex debt security to the public breached the Fair Trading Act.
- Acted for a mortgage lender in proceedings by the Commerce Commission under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act.
- Acted as junior counsel on an appeal to the Supreme Court on limitation issues under the Fair Trading Act.
- Acted as junior counsel to David Goddard QC on appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal against the Commerce Commission’s decision to decline clearance for the acquisition of The Warehouse.
Debt recovery/insolvency issues:
- Acted as lead counsel for receivers in a High Court trial seeking to enforce property sale and purchase agreements.
- Acting on various applications to set aside statutory demands/voidable transactions.
- Advising debtors, creditors, liquidators and receivers on insolvency related issues.
- Acting in relation to payment disputes under the Construction Contracts Act 2002.
Other matters
- Appeared as junior counsel to Colin Carruthers QC in an appeal to the Supreme Court relating to claims against a property manager appointed under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988.
- Advising in relation to family trust disputes.
Professional Activities
- President, Lawyers for Climate Action NZ Inc.;
- Member of NZLS Culture Change Task Force;
- Council Member, New Zealand Bar Association.
Publications and Seminars
Legal Texts
- Recent Developments in Directors' Liability, in S. Watson (ed.): The Changing Landscape of Corporate Law, 2017
- Author of Laws of New Zealand Securities Law Reissue 2
Articles
- Making the Penalty fit the Crime: the pros and cons of civil pecuniary penalties as a means of enforcing commercial law, Otago Law Review, 2016
- Opinion: Insiders trade at their peril, The National Business Review, 28 February 2017
- Bank Fees and the Rule Against Penalties: An Ancient Rule meets a Modern Issue, NZ Lawyer, 5 April 2013
- Supreme Court Rules on Blue Chip, NZ Lawyer, 21 September 2012
- Counterfactual Test Confirmed by Supreme Court, (with Farzana Nizam) NZ Lawyer, 17 September 2010
- Supreme Court confirms Commerce Commission subject to limitation period, (with Nick Christiansen) NZ Lawyer, 11 December 2009
- Time to Counter the Counterfactual?, (with Farzana Nizam) NZ Lawyer, 18 September 2009
- Warehouse Decision sets high threshold for clearance, NZ Lawyer, 12 December 2008
- Useful guidance for lenders on consumer credit fees, (with Nick Christiansen) NZ Business Law Guide, 4 September 2008
- Court of Appeal finds vendors in NZ Bus not liable, NZ Lawyer, 30 June 2008
Seminar presentations
- New Developments in Private International Law in New Zealand (with Campbell McLachlan QC and Jack Wass), LRF Seminar, 18 October 2017
- Civil Penalties for Commercial Conduct (with Adam Ross), NZLS Seminar, 8 September 2016
- Commercial Law: Practice and Procedure, (Chair) Legalwise Seminar, 11 September 2015
- Class Action Proceedings - strategy, logistics and funding, (with Sophie East), NZLS Seminar, 7 May 2015
- Mastering Evidence, Legalwise Seminar, 4 March 2015
- Recent Developments in Directors' Liability, Legal Research Foundation Conference: The Changing Landscape of Corporate Law, 7 August 2014
- Financial Markets Conduct Act - Liabilities and Penalties, ADLS Seminar, 17 September 2013
- Personal Liability for Commercial Dealings, (with Adam Ross), NZLS Commercial Law Intensive, June 2013
- Investigating Insolvency, Conferenz 12th Annual Corporate Insolvency Conference, August 2012
- Bringing Claims against Directors, Conferenz 11th Annual Corporate Insolvency Conference, August 2011
- Managing Litigation, CLANZ Seminar presentation, February 2011
- Successful Strategies for Resolving Disputes, CLANZ Annual Conference presentation, 2009
- Privilege for In-house Counsel, CLANZ Seminar, September 2009
- Calculating Economic Loss, Lexis Nexis Civil Litigation Lexicon, June 2009
- Insider Trading Laws, NZLS Commercial Law Intensive, September 2008
- Insider Trading Laws, Conferenz Securities Law Update, 2008
- Insider Trading Laws, Conferenz Securities Law Update, 2007
- Insider Trading Laws, Lexis Nexis Securities Law and Capital Markets Update, 2007