K3 Blog

TWO NEW DIRECTORS JOIN K3 LEGAL

Written by K3 | 28-Oct-2018 23:28:47

K3 Legal continues to expand its highly-regarded team of directors with the appointment of two new experts in the fields of family law and commercial property and construction.

 

The firm now has eight directors, three of whom are women, making K3 Legal a stand-out among law firms in New Zealand for gender equality.

 

Family law expert and barrister Toni Brown joined the team as Director in October, and was followed a few weeks later by commercial property and construction specialist Jeff Walters.

 

Originally from Opotoki, Toni did her law degree in Dunedin and spent 20 years in Otago, before returning to the North Island. In 2013, she started her own firm, Toni Brown Law, in Tauranga, specialising in family and trust law.

 

She has worked on many notable cases and cites three she is particularly proud of:

  • Acting as counsel for the Voluntary Euthanasia Society in the Lecretia Seales case.
  • Acting as the lawyer for a dying child to determine who had the rights to make decisions about the child’s body.
  • A Bill of Rights case relating to children under the age of 10 who wanted to practise their Jehovah’s Witness religion despite conflict between their parents.

“I’m very interested in these sorts of cases and they make up about 30% of the work I do, with the other 70% being major relationship property cases, often involving trusts and companies,” says Toni.

 

Jeff brings more than 19 years of experience in property and construction law, during which time he has acted for some of New Zealand’s largest organisations.

 

He started his career with Chapman Tripp then Bell Gully. In 2012, he joined Lowndes as a partner where he spent five years, followed by 18 months at Anderson Creagh Lai.

 

“K3 is very distinct in the way it goes about the business of law and I’m excited by those opportunities. And having the K3 accounting and consulting teams working alongside K3 Legal will be very useful, particularly for the construction and property sectors,” says Jeff.

 

In addition to his law degree from the University of Auckland, Jeff has a Masters in Art History so has a keen appreciation of the many artworks adorning K3’s walls.