McGechan

Jessica is the legal advisor in the Policy Advisory Group at the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.  Prior to this, Jessica was Senior Crown Counsel (Public Law) in the Crown Legal Risk Group at the Crown Law Office; Jessica's specialist areas of practice are public law litigation and advice, with a particular interest in judicial review. Jessica has also worked at several medium to large private firms in Wellington in the areas of Treaty of Waitangi settlement negotiations and general civil litigation, with a public law focus. Jessica was the assistant author to Graham Taylor on the second edition of Judicial Review: a New Zealand Perspective (LexisNexis, 2010) and is the editor for the Procedure Reports of New Zealand. Jessica has a BA/LLB(Hons)(1st class) from Victoria University of Wellington and a LLM from Harvard Law School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Stephanie is a barrister practising in Christchurch, undertaking trial and appellate work in civil litigation matters, insurance, trusts/estates and regulatory and disciplinary prosecutions. She was a litigation partner at Anderson Lloyd for 6 years then Duncan Cotterill for 7 years before moving to the independent Bar in 2018. She is a member of the Canterbury Westland Standards Committee, a faculty member of the New Zealand Law Society Litigation Skills course and a member of the New Zealand Bar Association Education Committee. She was appointed a King’s Counsel in 2022.

Justice Jason McHerron graduated from the University of Otago with a BA in English Literature in 1994 and an LLB in 1996. From 1996 to 1999 he worked as a solicitor in the litigation, commercial, and public law teams at Russell McVeagh in Wellington. In 1999 Justice McHerron joined Crown Law, working as counsel in general public law litigation and advisory work until he left to join the independent bar in 2006.  From 2010 to 2018 Justice McHerron was an investigator with the Gas Industry Co, investigating alleged rule breaches by industry participants and effecting settlements for approval by the Rulings Panel. From 2015 to 2024 he was a part-time adjudicator with the Motor Vehicle Disputes Tribunal. From 2018 to 2023 he was a member of the Rules Committee, as a New Zealand Law Society nominee. He was appointed a High Court Judge in 2024 and is based in Wellington.

Justice Rob Osborne graduated from the University of Canterbury in 1976 and subsequently obtained (part-time) an LLM. He initially worked in litigation roles in Christchurch before a five-year period in the Attorney-General’s Chambers in Hong Kong where he both prosecuted and conducted civil litigation for the Government. On return to New Zealand, he became a partner in Duncan Cotterill. After a brief period at the independent Bar, he served as an Associate Judge of the High Court from January 2009 to December 2018, when he was appointed a Judge of the Court. Since statutory retirement in October 2023, he has served as an acting Judge.

Nicholas Wood is special counsel in the litigation team at Chapman Tripp's Wellington office. He graduated from Victoria University of Wellington in 2001 and holds the degrees of LLB (Hons) and BA (Hons). Nicholas acts for and advises clients on a wide range of issues including complex contractual and commercial disputes, tort law, intellectual property and administrative law. He has been a co-author of McGechan on Procedure since 2008 and is also the author of Sale of Goods in New Zealand (Thomson Reuters, Wellington, 2018).

Greg is a Consultant with Greg Kelly Trust Law Ltd which he established in 2009.  He holds the degrees of LLB and LLM with distinction and has over 40 years’ experience in the wills, estates and trusts areas.  He has written and delivered numerous papers at seminars, conferences and webinars for the NZ Law Society and other professional organisations.  He is a member of STEP and has chaired the NZLS bi-annual trust conference seven times since 2009.  Greg has contributed to a number of legal texts including Mental Capacity Law in New Zealand and the 6th, 7th and 8th editions of Garrow and Kelly’s Law of Trusts and Trustees.  He was also a member of advisory panels for the Law Commission on the Reviews of Succession Law and the Law of Trusts.

Judge Philip Rzepecky is a District Court Judge in the Whangarei District Court and regularly sits in other courts in Te Tai Tokerau. Philip has been a long standing member of the Maritime Law Association of Australia and New Zealand (MLAANZ). Before his appointment to the District Court in 2021, his legal practice included maritime law matters, which included advising clients on cases involving admiralty law and practice.