Connect with meKatie is a professional liability and dispute resolution lawyer with almost 20 years’ experience advising clients across New Zealand and Australia. She acts in complex professional negligence claims, disciplinary proceedings, regulatory investigations, and commercial disputes, providing strategic and commercially focused advice from initial complaint through to resolution.
Katie has expertise advising professionals in the real estate, legal, engineering, valuation, allied health, and construction sectors. She is known for helping clients navigate challenging disputes and investigations with confidence, while achieving practical and commercially sensible outcomes.
Katie has a particular interest in negotiation, mediation, and conflict management. She has completed postgraduate study through Harvard Law School’s Program on Negotiation, including separate programmes in Mediation & Conflict Management and Negotiation, complementing her experience in resolving complex and high-stakes disputes.
While committed to achieving early and pragmatic resolutions wherever possible, Katie also regularly guides clients through tribunal, disciplinary and court proceedings where matters require formal determination.
Earlier in her career, Katie gained experience working with Zurich’s Major & Complex Loss team and AGCS’ Financial Lines team.
Katie has previously been named as a Rising Star by Australasian Lawyer in 2014, as a Leading Insurance Lawyer in Best Lawyers (2021-2023) and was listed as part of Elite Women – Insurance Business NZ in 2022.
Outside of her core responsibilities, Katie has trained with the New Zealand Institute of Directors and sits on the Board of Dress for Success Auckland, a charitable organisation aimed at empowering women to achieve economic independence.
Professional Indemnity
- Acting as defence counsel for various engineering and real estate professionals in claims and mediations concerning leaky building and earthquake prone issues.
- Successfully defending a professional negligence claim against a solicitor in respect of his conveyancing advice.
- Acting as defence counsel in one of the key High Court decisions regarding the availability of compensation for unsatisfactory conduct under the Real Estate Agents Act 2008.
- Representing a real estate agent facing allegations of misconduct related to the management of a transaction.
- Successfully resolving a claim against insurers of an insolvent roofing company joined to proceedings with nine other defendants concerning the construction of a large apartment block.
- Acting as defence counsel in proceedings against a real estate agency facing allegations related to boundaries at commercial premises.
- Successfully defending a liquidator facing allegations about the validity of their appointment and reasonableness of their fees.
- Acting as defence counsel in more than 50 professional negligence claims against a law firm following the collapse of a group of property investment companies.
Recoveries
- Achieving 100% recovery (indemnity and costs) for an insurer and co-insurers following damage to a fibre optic cable by an excavation company.
- Successfully pursuing recovery following a large fire at a major shopping centre that resulted in significant sulphuric acid contamination of the underlying foundations of the building.
- Advising on a potential recovery against a manufacturer of an inverter following a fire causing material loss and damage to large industrial premises.
- Assisting an insurer with a recovery action against a builder and certifier following defective construction works to the insured’s shopping centre.
- Producing various reports on recovery prospects following fires and water damage at commercial, industrial and rural properties.
- Professional Liability
- Property - Commercial
- Property - Major Loss
- Subrogated Recoveries
- Construction and Infrastructure
- Property and Real Estate
- Industrial and Commercial Property
- Professions and Business Services
- Manufacturing and Consumer Goods
- Construction Law Society of New Zealand
- Arbitrators’ and Mediators’ Institute of New Zealand
- New Zealand and Australian Insurance Law Associations
- New Zealand and Australian Professional Indemnity Groups