Rob is a very experienced partner in Simpson Grierson's Litigation Department.  His areas of expertise include litigation, arbitration, mediation and appearances before parliamentary select committees considering proposed legislation.

He has acted for multinational and New Zealand clients in a wide variety of commercial and civil disputes, including for example, Companies Act, product liability, personal injury, contract and consumer law cases.

In the product liability and personal injury spheres, Rob has acted on matters involving a very diverse range of products including for example asbestos, building products, chemicals, electronics, food and beverage products, medical equipment and pharmaceuticals.

Since 2005, The International Who's Who of Product Liability Defence Lawyers has named Rob as the number one practitioner in New Zealand for product liability expertise.

• On behalf of The Coca-Cola Company (USA), successfully obtaining High Court orders and appearing at the examination of a New Zealand witness in relation to a putative class action (February and March 2007)
• Successfully representing one of the successful claimants in Lai v Chamberlains, the recent landmark case in which the New Zealand Supreme Court (New Zealand's highest court) in September 2006 abolished the rule of law which gave barristers immunity from negligence claims in New Zealand.  This was the Supreme Court's "first major decision in the area of torts" (Todd, [2006] NZ Law Review 793)
• Successfully obtaining High Court directions to the liquidators of Albany Power Centre Limited in June 2006 which resulted in the liquidators abandoning their long standing refusal to issue proceedings against the company's former directors for breach of directors duties (Hedley v Albany Power Centre)
• Successfully obtaining orders for examination and conducting the examination of New Zealand witnesses for the purpose of Hong Kong proceedings, on behalf of the estate of an assassinated businessman (Lam v NZITC, February and May 2006)
• Representing listed company Vertex in the Vertex v Stewart High Court litigation, relating to validity of appointment of directors, that resulted in the appointment by the Court of an independent Chairman on Christmas Eve 2004 and the subsequent takeover bid in 2005
• Successfully prosecuting protester Mike Smith for the attack on the lone pine at the summit of One Tree Hill (trial and appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal)
• Successfully defending Sir Graham Latimer against prosecution on various tax charges

• International Product Liability Law - Co-author
• The International Comparative Legal Guide to Product Liability 2003 - Co-author
• International Insurance Law and Regulation - Co-author
• International Association of Defence Counsel - Member
• New Zealand Law Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal - Former Chairman
• Auckland Law Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal - Former Chairman
• Auckland District Law Society Council - Former Member
• Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) - Associate

Click here to read "Product liability for Australian exports - the place of a tort, the Australian Choice of Law Rule, and NZ accident compensation", an article by Robert Gapes published in March 2007 in Australian Product Liability Reporter, Volume 18, Number 1.

Click here to read the September 2006 decision of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in Chamberlains v Lai, abolishing barristers immunity.  Rob was lead counsel for one of the successful claimants in the Court of Appeal and in the Supreme Court.

Click here to read Robert Gapes is New Zealand's leading lawyer for product liability expertise, an announcement by  Who's Who Legal - published July 2005.

Click here to read Criminal Nuisance in New Zealand - product defects causing personal injury, an article by Robert Gapes, published in November 2004 in Australian Product Liability Reporter, Volume 15, Number 9.

Click here to read HIH - Is New Zealand the Lucky Country?, a paper presented by Robert Gapes at the Insurance Insolvency session of the 2004 Conference of the International Bar Association in October 2004.  The paper was also published in the New Zealand Law Journal in 2005.

Click here to read Manufacturers' and Suppliers' Liability for Defective Products, a paper presented by Robert Gapes at the Product Liability and Risk Management conference held in Auckland in September 2004.

Click here to read the paper by Robert Gapes and Denis McNamara for the 2003 Conference of the International Bar Association – Section on Business Law, San Francisco, United States, titled Statutory Earthquake Cover in New Zealand – A Unique Balancing of Interests.  This was presented on 15 September 2003 at the session titled Should we expect more from insurers?

Click here to read Exemplary damages in NZ - the controversy deepens, an article by Robert Gapes, published in December 2002 in the Australian Product Liability Reporter, Volume 13, Number 9, pages 85-88.

Click here to read an example of a New Zealand Law Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal decision written principally by Robert Gapes (then Chairman) - reported in the New Zealand Administrative Reports as Waikato Bay of Plenty District Law Society v Baledrokadroka [2002] NZAR 197.