Simpson Grierson has the largest public law practice of any law firm in New Zealand. The experience that has been accumulated by our public law experts has also been put to good use in other areas of our practice.

Simpson Grierson has accumulated decades of experience acting for our local authority client base and assisting them in their dealings with central government. Over time this experience has also been put to good use by various New Zealand Government Departments and agencies. This has included responsibility for legislative drafting as well as working with those responsible for shaping or reforming the policy settings in a number of areas.

In addition, our connections with prime movers in government circles and the market profile of a number of our practice groups has meant that the government of the day has taken note of our views about different policy and legislative developments. Recently this has included our published comments in areas such as employment relations, innovation and tax.

Increasingly we are also being involved in representing business clients in their dealings with central and local government. This may include representations to Ministers and officials, New Zealand Government Departments, appearances before Select Committees and inquiries and a host of other ways in which business comes into contact with the machinery of government.

We seek to provide strategic legal advice in such areas as analysis of new legislation, assessment of policy considerations, contacts with Ministerial and Government groupings, industry and sector representatives and other advisers to government.

In forging the links between Business and Government, we have been proactive in:

• Monitoring developments in policy areas and the knock-on impacts for regulatory frameworks and business.
  
  
• Advising clients of the potential impact of government policy and regulatory change.
  
  
• Making submissions and appearing before Select Committees on behalf of individual clients and industry groups.
  
  
• Liaising between clients (and sector interests) and Government agencies.
  
  
• Assisting clients to promote policy changes by reference to the political process including seeking to identify and manage any pressure points.
  
  
• Providing draft legislation in order to speed the Parliamentary process up and, where appropriate, to assist the Parliamentary draftsman.