Phillipa is a partner and heads the employment law group. She acts for many of New Zealand's major corporations, tertiary institutions, and local government bodies.
Phillipa has successfully argued several leading cases in new areas of employment law. These include the first major damages claim brought by an employer against a union, the first successful stress damages case to go to the Court of Appeal, and the first employment law case to go to New Zealand's Supreme Court.
- Chambers Global Employment 2013 - Leading Lawyer
- PLC Which Lawyer? Labour & Employee Benefits 2013 - Leading Lawyer
- Asia Pacific Legal 500 Employment 2013 - Leading Lawyer
- Best in Workplace Relations Award (Australasian Women in Business Awards 2012)
- The International Who's Who Legal Management Labour & Employment 2012 - Leading Lawyer
- AsiaLaw Leading Lawyers Guide 2012 - Leading Labour & Employment Lawyer
- The International Who's Who Legal Commercial Litigation 2010 - Leading Lawyer
Examples of Work
- Provides strategic employment advice to many NZ Boards of Directors and holds a number of outside governance roles
- Fonterra Co-operative Group - advises on all senior executive employment agreements and recently advised on a restructure across multiple jurisdictions
- Auckland Council - successfully represented the Council in urgent proceedings in the Employment Court in 2012, over a dispute under Part 6A ERA on largely untested law regarding the definition of "cleaning services" in relation to vulnerable employees
- University of Auckland - represented the University in long-running proceedings culminating in a facilitation hearing in the Employment Relations Authority in 2011/12 over bargaining issues affecting all academic staff
Other Credentials
- Global Employment Law Alliance - Board member
- HealthAlliance NZ Ltd - Director
- Fletcher Building Employee Education Fund - Chair
- Auckland Writers & Readers Festival - Deputy Chair
- Auckland Grammar School - Board of Trustees member
- University of Auckland Faculty of Law - Guest lecturer
- Employment Law - Co-author
- Recruitment and Termination - Co-author
