She was admitted as a barrister in London before moving to New York where she worked as a litigation attorney for 15 years with a leading US and international law firm Shearman and Sterling, specialising in commercial litigation and international arbitration.
Helen came to Hesketh Henry with strong expertise in construction litigation, director obligations, insider trading and securities fraud and had represented both defendants and plaintiffs in class and derivative actions. Since returning to New Zealand, she has expanded her construction law expertise, acting in leaky building cases (including a seminal High Court trial), Construction Contracts Act cases and providing advice relating to projects in the residential, commercial, energy and infrastructure sectors. Most recently, Helen has leveraged her international experience to conduct and advise on investigations and negotiations in relation to projects funded by international funding institutions (such as the World Bank and JICA) in the Asia / Pacific region. Helen provides up-front drafting advice in relation to residential and commercial construction projects and is familiar with NZS 3902, 3910, 3915 and 3916 as well as drafting bespoke contracts. Complementing her construction expertise, Helen has developed an insurance practice focussing on professional indemnity insurance (in both the construction and legal sectors) and more generally in advising on general liability and material damage policies. She has added New Zealand domestic arbitration, particularly in the valuation and commercial rent review areas, to her extensive international arbitration experience and has also provided sanctions advice in relation to doing business in Iran.