Adrian Olney

Partner

Practice Area:

Specialisations:

He also has experience in contractual disputes, insurance, trade finance, maritime and international trade litigation, criminal prosecutions and regulatory and corporate investigations.

He has been with Russell McVeagh since 1998, apart from two years with the Hong Kong office of major UK law firm Herbert Smith.  Adrian became a partner at Russell McVeagh in 2007.

• Acting for major corporates and multinationals including Fonterra, Telecom, Todd Energy, NZ Post, IBM, Westpac, BNZ, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse First Boston, Amex, Travelex, Mitsubishi, PCCW and Mobil. 
• Acting on High Court claims relating to the Pohokura gas/condensate field for alleged breaches of the joint venture operating agreement, the Commerce Act, and the Crown Minerals Act (ongoing). 
• Acting in an arbitration over disputed rights of access to a bulk oil storage facility in Taranaki. 
• Acting in two arbitrations over the procurement of advisory services to major onshore and offshore oil and gas developments and the levying of fees for such services by the operator of the joint ventures. 
• Acting for the incumbent telecommunications provider in Hong Kong in relation to two High Court restitutionary claims in excess of HK$400 million relating to the rerouting of international telephone traffic. 
• Acting for Fonterra in an arbitration to value shares in the New Zealand Dairy Board following restructuring of the dairy industry. 
• Bringing judicial review proceedings over the granting of export permits under New Zealand's (then) single-desk marketing regime. 
• Conducting and managing corporate investigations including: 
  • an internal investigation into the leaking of a confidential government cabinet paper; 
  • internal investigations into breaches of internal processes in the Japanese office of a large multi-national; 
  • internal investigations for multi-national into allegations of improper procurement processes, and responding to a Commerce Commission investigation into that matter; 
  • providing legal support for an intensive three month investigation across three jurisdictions into allegations of the illegal exporting of approximately $30 million of dairy products and advising in relation to MAF and SFO investigations into the same matter; 
  • working with an Indonesian team to manage investigations by the Indonesian anti-corruption body and a number of parliamentary committees into allegations of misconduct on the part of a multi-national investment bank. 
• Obtaining urgent injunctive relief including interim orders in support of judicial review, urgent orders freezing assets worldwide, urgent orders allowing the seizure of assets and evidence in support of allegations of employee fraud involving more than US$3 million over 15+ years, and admiralty arrests of vessels. 
• Advising a multi-national financial institution in relation to civil and criminal proceedings brought by the Commerce Commission under the Fair Trading Act for alleged non-disclosure of foreign exchange commission fees. 
• Acting on international trade disputes including letter of credit disputes as to the obligations of banks under UCP500, and disputes as to international sale of goods. 
• Acting on admiralty and shipping matters including collision at sea, admiralty arrests and tracing/priority disputes following admiralty sales, and providing urgent legal assistance in responding to vessel arrest, and bio-security, oil spill, and cargo damage incidents. 
• Managing Indonesian proceedings against a multinational investment bank, including successfully challenging a decision of the Indonesian competition regulator and the imposition of penalties in excess of US$8 million. 
• Representing clients in summary and indictable criminal matters including Fair Trading Act, Resource Management Act, Fisheries Act, Maritime Transport Act, HASIE Act and general criminal prosecutions.