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Webb Henderson welcomes two new partners and three counsel

Partners:  We are delighted to announce the appointment of Sarah Keene and Ashton Goatley as partners of Webb Henderson, effective 1 January 2023*.

Sarah is a senior competition lawyer, widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent competition law specialists in the New Zealand market. The addition of Sarah to the partnership in our Auckland office will enhance our competition law offering in New Zealand and she will also work closely with the competition law specialists in our Sydney office.

Ashton is in our Corporate team in Auckland which he joined in April 2017. Ashton has worked on a number of the firm’s high-profile corporate transactions and projects and his legal experience spans M&A, joint ventures, capital markets and corporate governance.

Counsel: We are also very pleased to announce the promotion of three lawyers at Webb Henderson to Counsel, effective 1 January 2023.

Richard Dampney is a senior lawyer in our TMT group in Sydney. Richard joined Webb Henderson inJanuary 2016 and has worked on many important commercial and regulatory projects in the TMT space.

Megan Roberts is a senior lawyer in our Corporate/Finance team in Auckland. Megan joined Webb Henderson in January 2019, and has played a lead role with a number of the firm’s significant clients including several complex M&A matters. Megan is currently on parental leave, and will return to the firm in early 2023.

James Godfrey joined Webb Henderson in February 2012 and he has been a key part of the corporate and finance team, particularly on the infrastructure side. He is a senior lawyer in that team and is the key relationship person for a number of our clients.

Corporate and finance group senior partners Garth Sinclair and Graeme Quigley said “Our team in Auckland is privileged to work with some of the most discerning corporate and finance clients in this market, helping them to implement their strategies and achieve their goals.  We could not do this without the outstanding contributions of our highly talented team.  We are thrilled to welcome Ashton to partnership and to recognise Megan and James’ achievements.   It also gives us great pleasure to welcome Sarah to the firm to enhance our competition and regulatory offering in Auckland.  It’s an exciting time for us and we are looking forward to the next chapter.” 

Angus Henderson said “We are very excited to have Sarah join as partner, as a pre-eminent practitioner in the competition field. She joins our competition team in Auckland and will combine well with our existing expertise there and in our Sydney office. I am also very pleased that Ashton will be promoted to partner, as one of the star performers in our Corporate and Finance team. It is particularly pleasing to also promote Megan, James and Richard to Counsel – we are always looking to offer opportunities to our lawyers for progression and Ashton’s appointment as partner and the appointment of these three new Counsel are representative of the senior talent we have at Webb Henderson.”

*Ashton Goatley’s appointment is subject to fulfilling Law Society requirements.

Sarah Keene, Partner: Sarah is a senior competition lawyer, widely regarded as one of the pre-eminent competition law specialists in the New Zealand market. The addition of Sarah to the Partnership in our Auckland office will enhance the competition law offering in New Zealand and with the broader NZ corporate team on competition aspects of corporate transactions. She will also work closely with the competition law specialists in the Sydney office. Sarah’s practice includes corporate adjacent work such as merger control and non-contentious competition law, regulatory and economic policy advisory work, including advice in relation to joint ventures and market studies. It also includes contentious competition and consumer law advisory work and litigation, including responding to NZCC investigations into competition and consumer law breaches, leniency applications and market conduct investigation work. Sarah has acted for a range of New Zealand’s leading corporates. Sarah is currently practicing as a barrister, having previously been a Partner at Russell McVeagh for approximately 15 years.

Ashton Goatley, Partner:  Ashton joined Webb Henderson as a Senior Solicitor in April 2017.  Since then, he has worked on a number of the firm’s high-profile corporate transactions and projects, including Fonterra’s capital structure project, the Guardians’ sale of their interest in Kiwibank to the Crown, and Genesis Energy’s strategic review of its interest in the Kupe oil and gas field.  Ashton’s legal experience spans M&A, joint ventures, capital markets and corporate governance, and he also plays a role supporting Ara in relation to the firm’s IT systems.

Richard Dampney, Counsel: Richard joined Webb Henderson in January 2016 and was promoted to Senior Associate in January 2017. Richard has worked on many important commercial and regulatory projects in the TMT group in Sydney. His clients include nbn, Spark and EITC (du). Richard has been on secondment several times to the nbn Legal team. Richard has recently played a key role in the Project Fairway transaction for Spark and is one of the main contacts for some of our major clients.

Megan Roberts, Counsel: Megan joined Webb Henderson in January 2019, after returning from working overseas, and has been a key member of the corporate and finance team since that time. Megan has played a lead role with a number of the firm’s significant clients, including on engagements with Allegro (the acquisition of Gull petrol stations), a variety of matters for Vector, acquisitions for retirement villages operator BeGroup, significant transactions for the Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, and a number of other complex M&A matters. Megan has also been a key part of the growth of the firm’s capital markets practice, including the successful IPO of Vulcan Steel undertaken in late 2021. Megan is currently on parental leave, and will return to work in early 2023.

James Godfrey, Counsel: James joined the firm as a junior lawyer in February 2012. Since then he has been a key part of the corporate and finance team, particularly on the infrastructure side. The standout matter for James during that time has been the Convention Centre for SkyCity –James has been the key team member on that matter. He is also a key relationship person for Channel Infrastructure, EnviroWaste and Vector where he also runs matters (particularly in the infrastructure space) himself.