Stepping Up - foundation for practising on own account

Presenters 2025

Course director

Niamh McMahon
McMahon Butterworth Thompson, Auckland

Niamh is a partner in the firm of McMahon Butterworth Thompson and practises primarily in the commercial law area. She was a convenor of the ADLS Documents & Precedents Committee for seven years and drafter of the 4th ed ADLS/REINZ Standard Agreement for Sale and Purchase of a Business. Niamh was a member of the Law Society’s Property Law Section Executive Committee from 2013 to 2016, a member of Standards Committee 5 (Auckland) for seven years, a costs assessor and an investigator for the Law Society. She is currently a member of the Lawyers & Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. Niamh is a regular presenter for CLE New Zealand Law Society.

Presenters

Kathryn Dalziel
Walker Street Chambers, Christchurch

Kathryn is a barrister specialising in employment, privacy, and education law as well as civil litigation and professional ethics. In her career, she has worked as a senior crown prosecutor and is currently an Adjunct Professor at the University of Canterbury. As a senior lawyer, Kathryn regularly presents at legal conferences and has written for a number of publications. She has co-authored Ethics, Professional Responsibility and the Lawyer (3rd ed), and co-authored the chapters on Employment Law and Health Information in Health Care and the Law (5th ed).
 

Kavita Deobhakta
Morgan Coakle, Auckland

Kavita was admitted in 1996 and is a Partner at Morgan Coakle in Auckland. Kavita’s particular focus is insurance claims litigation. She is a specialist in liability insurance, advising insurers and defending insureds. Her particular interest is in professional negligence, construction claims, subrogated recoveries and in defending companies charged with breaches of Health & Safety legislation. Kavita is also the Partner responsible for the firm’s own insurance arrangements and has a keen interest in risk management, and in the general practice of law.

Kirsten Hodgson
KScope Marketing, Auckland

Kirsten helps lawyers to retain and grow their existing clients, and attract more of their ideal prospects. An experienced business development and marketing professional, she has worked in, and with, professional services firms for the past 20+ years. Kirsten is also a qualified business and systemic team coach who works with lawyers to improve performance, wellbeing and collaboration. In 2012 she authored LinkedIn for Lawyers: Connect, Engage and Grow your Business (LexisNexis) and in 2015 co-authored LinkedIn for Lawyers: Developing a Profile to Grow your Practice (Ark Group).

Shelley Kopu
Shelley Kopu Law, Auckland

Shelley (Te Atiawa) is an experienced employment lawyer representing employers and employees in the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court. Complementing that experience, she is a registered mediator, investigator and governor. While studying for her degree in law, Shelley developed a successful career in human resources in international law and accounting firms. She has gone on to work in both private practice and in-house, while growing a governance portfolio spanning iwi (Te Kotahitanga o Te Atiawa), commercial (Papa Rererangi I Puketapu, New Plymouth Airport) and healthcare (Tui Ora).

Emily Morrow
Executive Consultant, Auckland

For over 25 years Emily was a lawyer and senior partner with a large firm in Vermont, where she built and managed a premier trusts, estates and tax practice. Now she works as an international consultant, focusing on the core capabilities for success in the professions: business development, strategic planning, self-presentation and communication skills, practice management, and succession planning. Emily is a frequent contributor to LawTalk and LawNews, and has been the keynote speaker at numerous professional conferences.

Dr Neil Oakes
FMRC Pty Ltd, Australia

Neil has served the Australasian legal profession since 1989. He has been a director of FMRC for over 30 years, assisting firms with myriad management challenges. Neil assists firms with strategy and profit growth, partner/director management and profit sharing, key talent management, management structures and succession management. He conducts law firm planning retreats regularly, assisting them to plan for and achieve greater success. Neil presents in FMRC and other workshops. He has degrees in Economics and Financial Management.

Anna Parker
Frank Risk Management, Auckland

Anna is an insurance litigation lawyer turned broker. After seeing the severe implications of businesses not having proper insurance advice, she made the conscious decision to move to insurance broking. Anna has deep technical knowledge and extensive experience in the professional indemnity space and is known for her ability to steer clients through contentious insurance issues and complex insurance programs. This has been recognised in multiple industry awards. Anna is responsible for placing all commercial insurance lines with a particular focus on solicitor’s professional indemnity and cyber insurance.

Kane Smith
Law Society Inspector, Christchurch

Kane has a Bachelor of Management Studies majoring in finance and economics and a Graduate Diploma in Accounting. He spent several years as a young entrepreneur and worked at Inland Revenue in the fraud and evasion team. Kane started as an Inspector for the New Zealand Law Society in 2016 based in Hamilton. He has since moved to Christchurch and looks after the South Island regions.

Kingi Snelgar
Barrister, Auckland

Kingi (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Whakaue, Te Whakatōhea, Ngāi Tahu) has extensive expertise in research, analysis, advocacy, and litigation, particularly in complex and sensitive criminal matters. He provides guidance on tikanga and te Tiriti issues across a range of areas, such as employment law, civil litigation, trust law, inquiries, family law, and various forms of dispute resolution. Kingi speaks to both legal and non-legal audiences on topics such as tikanga, criminal justice, and te Tiriti and has a Masters of Law (LLM) from Harvard Law School.

Philip Strang
Law Society Inspector, Christchurch

Philip is a chartered accountant and was in private practice from 1988 until joining the Inspectorate in 2003. His work experience was initially in a “big 5” firm, dealing mainly with insolvency practice, then he spent most of his time in forensic assignments including statutory management-type assignments and SFO prosecutions. Philip examines the Trust Account Supervisor training programme and was the principal contributor to the re-write of the Trust Account Guidelines.

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