Marika Eastwick-Field

Marika is a Russell McVeagh Board member and a commercial litigation specialist focusing on complex commercial disputes. She has contentious and advisory expertise in mergers and acquisitions disputes, banking and financial services, capital markets, property and leasing disputes, and insurance.  

Marika brings a commercial and strategic approach to disputes and is valued for her ability to avoid and efficiently resolve issues for her clients.

Marika’s recent experience includes:

• Acting on significant M&A disputes, including acting for both plaintiffs and defendants on warranty claim actions and pursuing claims under W&I insurance policies.  

• Acting for and advising parties on a broad range of corporate matters, including director indemnities, D&O insurance, shareholder disputes and schemes of arrangement.

• Representing clients in Court proceedings and arbitrations involving contractual disputes, professional negligence claims and Fair Trading Act issues. 

• Acting for and advising securities markets participants on regulatory compliance and investigations, and advising on liability and recommended processes under financial markets legislation.

• Acting for and advising various financial services entities on regulatory matters and regulator engagement.

• Specialist advice on significant insurance placements, including major IPOs and construction projects, as well as warranty and indemnity insurance in mergers and acquisitions transactions.

• Acting and advising on significant insurance claims, including in respect of earthquake damage.

• Acting on complex rent reviews (including ground rent reviews) and other lease-related disputes.

LLB (Hons), BA, University of Auckland.

Marika was admitted to practise in New Zealand in 2007.

Marika is co-author of the New Zealand chapter in The Insurance and Reinsurance Law Review – Edition 8, with Russell McVeagh banking and finance partner Tom Hunt, and a co-author of the New Zealand chapter in The Securities Litigation Review (Editions 4, 5 and 6) and Insurance Litigation 2022: A Chambers Global Practice Guide.

Marika was recently named 'Lawyer of the Year' for Insurance and Reinsurance in the Women in Business Law Awards 2021, APAC; is recognised in the Best Lawyers® New Zealand 2023 Guide in the field of Litigation; as an 'Up and Coming' lawyer in the Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific 2023 Guide; and as a 'Leading Individual' for Dispute Resolution in The Legal 500 2022 Guide. ​Marika has also been recognised as a 'Future Star' in the Benchmark Litigation 2022 guide.

Client feedback in Chambers and Partners 2022 Legal Guide emphasised Marika's expertise in the Litigation sector, stating Marika is "extremely thorough" as well as "very strategic, and conscious of the commercial realities, as the context requires."