Hear from our people
Ayesha Goel, Solicitor & Charles Baker, Solicitor
The GCR team is involved in a broad range of work spanning, government, competition, and regulation. As part of our team you will have the opportunity to work in and experience all three practice areas.
In the competition area, we advise on the full suite of matters relating to the Commerce Act 1986. We advise on the merger control process where there is a merger between competitors. We also advise clients facing cartel conduct and misuse of market power investigations, as well as assisting clients to engage with market studies initiated by the Commerce Commission to assess the state of competition in a particular market. Our competition practice works across all industries, our clients include banks, technology firms, private equity firms, electricity companies, FMCG and airports and airlines. As junior lawyers we analyse the relevant industries, market dynamics, and economic theories, which provides unique insights into a diverse range of market segments. Many of the transactions we advise on have a multi-jurisdictional dimension, providing international perspectives.
Our regulation practice advises clients on the law-making process as well as the interpretation and application of those laws. As such, we advise on the full "life" of laws, from their inception to application. We also assist clients in their engagement with regulators, and local and national government. Where clients do operate in regulated industries, we play a key role in advising on how to navigate complex regulation as well as advocating to ensure that regulation is fit for purpose. A core workstream for our regulatory team is economic regulation under Part 4 of the Commerce Act. Our larger clients operate in the electricity, supermarket, telecommunication and airport industries. The team also does regulatory advisory work which covers a wide range of areas including the regulation of medicines / medical devices, sanctions, emissions trading scheme obligations, vaping, and retail payment systems. Junior lawyers will have the opportunity to use their problem-solving skills to analyse the application of a particular piece of legislation to a client's query or fact scenario in this area.
Our government work assists clients to engage with government on law reform, which involves drafting submissions on bills and consultation papers, writing letters to Ministers, and engaging with officials and Ministers. We also advise on core public law concepts such as consultation and judicial review. In the day-to-day work, junior lawyers are closely involved in research, analysis, and drafting. In the bigger picture, junior lawyers will see engagement strategies play out and how that engagement shapes the regulatory landscape in New Zealand. Junior lawyers with an interest in regulatory and public policy will enjoy supporting the team in keeping clients up to date on the ever-changing legislative and policy environment.
Given our variety of work, taking a breadth of university papers will ensure that you have a strong base. Students that enjoyed competition law or microeconomic papers are likely to have an interest in our competition practice. Public law and administrative law papers could also be useful in all of our practice areas. The most important quality we look for in GCR law clerks and summer clerks is a real sense of curiosity to explore the complexities of the economy, government, and business world