Commentators

Ben is a barrister with a passion for competition, consumer, and regulatory matters. He has nearly 20 years’ experience in this area and was Chief Legal Counsel – Competition at the Commerce Commission until joining the bar in 2022. Ben has previously worked in the litigation team at Chapman Tripp, and prosecuted for the office of the Auckland Crown Solicitor, Meredith Connell. He regularly advises on all aspects of competition and consumer law, and is a member of the board of the Competition Law and Policy Institute of New Zealand.

Emma is an economist with 25 years of experience in economic regulation and competition analysis. She has provided expert evidence for regulatory proceedings, competition investigations, merger clearances and authorisations.

Emma is the owner of consultancy Link Economics Limited, which she established in 2012. She has worked with a number of international consultancies including Charles River Associates where she was a Principal Economist and Castalia where she was a Director in the New Zealand and Pacific Practice.

Recent matters that Emma has provided expert evidence for include the authorisation of collective bargaining by chicken farmers who supply services to Tegel, and the Australian merger authorisation for Telstra and TPG to pool together their spectrum holdings in regional areas as part of a broader proposed transaction.

Jennifer is a highly experienced competition and consumer lawyer, with a particular specialty in enforcement actions and disputes.

She advises on the full suite of competition and consumer law issues, including merger clearances, authorisations, cartels, leniency applications, and collaborative activities. Jennifer acts for clients on Commerce Act and Fair Trading Act (FTA) investigations and enforcement actions. She also advises on issues under the Commerce Act and FTA arising from contractual terms and practices, and advertising and promotions. She regularly provides compliance seminars to clients and speaks on competition and consumer law issues at conferences and seminars in New Zealand and is ranked as a Rising Star by esteemed legal directory The Legal 500 Asia Pacific.

Jennifer has extensive experience as a commercial litigator and has represented commercial and government clients on competition and consumer law actions, and commercial disputes, in all levels of the New Zealand courts. She also has significant experience in alternative dispute resolution processes, including expert determinations, arbitrations, and mediation.

Jennifer returned to MinterEllisonRuddWatts in 2016 after almost 10 years in Australia where she worked in the competition teams at King & Wood Mallesons, Baker McKenzie, and Webb Henderson. During her time in Australia, Jennifer acted on many high-profile competition enforcement actions, mergers, and other regulatory matters, including for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. She was also seconded to in-house roles with Lion and Sportsbet. Jennifer draws on this in-house experience to provide commercial and pragmatic advice to her clients.

Michael is the Mergers Manager at the Commerce Commission, Te Komihana Tauhokohoko. He manages the Commission’s team of merger investigators and is responsible for the Commission’s portfolio of mergers work. Michael is a trained competition lawyer, with over 15 years’ experience working in New Zealand, Australia and the UK, advising on all aspects of competition law, including merger clearances and authorisations, cartels, restrictive trade practices and market studies. He has extensive experience drafting and negotiating merger remedies, including behavioural remedies.

Prior to joining the Commission, Michael was a Senior Associate in the competition team at a leading New Zealand firm. He has also had stints at a Magic Circle Firm in London, the UK OFT (now the CMA) and the ACCC. Needless to say, he is an advocate of the ‘revolving door’ between law firms and competition regulators.