Partner - Auckland
Gareth Neil
Gareth is among New Zealand’s most experienced and trusted insolvency practitioners and litigators.
Gareth is among New Zealand’s most experienced and trusted insolvency practitioners and litigators.
Expertise
About
Gareth has over 20 years of general civil litigation experience appearing in all levels of the New Zealand court system. He has overseen and led hundreds of cases covering an extensive range of matters, including contractual, property, equitable, restitutionary, insolvency, health, human rights, securities and fraud based cases. He and his team are well placed to assist with all litigation and dispute resolution needs, and welcome difficult or novel briefs.
As a leader of MC’s Insolvency, Recoveries and Enforcement Group, Gareth is a specialist in insolvency law. He acts for both debtors and creditors, including companies and directors facing recovery demands, private insolvency practitioners and the Official Assignee. He and his team are experts in all aspects of personal and corporate insolvency, including complex and high-value High Court recoveries-related litigation.
Gareth has substantial experience in asset preservation, fraud-based clams, and cross-border insolvency matters. He has acted in New Zealand for a number of foreign representatives, and also in extra-territorial cross-border cases in Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore and the Pacific islands.
Gareth and his team have also appeared in a number of important precedent setting insolvency cases, including the majority of the recent cases that have come before the Māori Land Court, Māori Appellate Court, High Court and the Court of Appeal involving the application of Tikanga Māori in insolvency matters. They are expert in this area, and experienced litigators in the specialist indigenous land forums.
Recent Cases & Achievements
Shearing Services Kamupene Ltd (in liq) v Tarahau Farming Ltd [2021] NZHC 2376, [2023] NZCA 196, [2023] NZSC 129
Validity of voluntary administration and application of principles of Tikanga Māori in insolvency matters. Successful appeal against judgment of the High Court and successful opposition of application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Bamber v Official Assignee (Māori Land Court, Māori Appellate Court)
Successful setting aside of an order of the Māori Land Court vesting general land in a Whanau Trust, that had the effect of defeating the bankrupts’ creditors.
Ma v Hagen [2022] NZHC 3060
Favourable resolution of interaction between relationship property and insolvency concepts in insolvency cases.
Pearson v Official Assignee [2022] NZCA 158
Successful application to strike out an appeal to the Court of Appeal as an abuse of process.
The Vintage Aviator Ltd v DeMarco [2021] NZHC 3096
Favourable resolution of complex issues of fraud based subrogation to securities and tracing.
Wulff v DeMarco [2021] NZHC3110
Acceptance of client’s position on ownership interests in vintage aircraft and company shareholding.
Beattie v Official Assignee [2021] NZHRRT 21
Successful defence of the applicant’s claim of interference with his privacy before a 4 day hearing in the Human Rights Review Tribunal.
Official Assignee v Yarrow [2020] NZHC 2594
Successful application for asset preservation orders pending determination of ‘clawback’ recoveries action.
Re Harman, ex parte Official Assignee [2019] NZHC 101
Successful argument for reducing compensation for breach of directors’ duties from $22m initially claimed to $6m.
Auckland Steel Fixers Ltd (in liq) v Watson [2015] NZCA 263
Successful appeal against decision of the High Court declining to grant a freezing order.
Chean v De Alwis [2010] NZCA 30
Partially successful defence of appeal in relation to Securities Act 1978 based civil action for recovery of subscriptions made to a company with no registered prospectus in breach of s 37 of that Act.
Credentials
Admitted as NZ Barrister and Solicitor, 2002
LLM(Hons), University of Auckland
LLB, University of Otago