Chapman Tripp welcomes new Chief Executive partner

This is a supplied media release

Chapman Tripp farewells the firm’s current Chief Executive Partner, Andrew Poole, and welcomes his incoming replacement, corporate partner Nick Wells.

Wells will be promoted to Chief Executive Partner as of Friday, 1 July.

Poole was originally one of the firm’s two managing partners, along with Mark Reese. Reese has since returned to full time legal practice as a partner in the firm’s Wellington banking and finance team.

Poole became the firm’s primary managing partner – whose title changed to Chief Executive Partner in June last year.

As Chief Executive Partner, Poole was responsible for the overall leadership of the firm and driving Chapman Tripp’s strategy and growth.  He won ‘Managing Partner of the Year’ at the 11th annual New Zealand Law Awards last November.

Wells has been a partner at Chapman Tripp for 13 years, specialising in corporate and private equity transactions and fund formation, who has led some of the most significant corporate acquisition and private equity transactions in New Zealand.

Wells is a leading expert on corporate structuring for Maori, private equity, businesses and charities and - as Chief Executive Partner - he will continue as Kaihautū of Chapman Tripp’s Māori Legal Group, Te Waka Ture.

The group specialises in providing commercial legal advice to iwi and Māori organisations, and those looking to work with them - focusing specifically on post-Treaty settlement transactions, joint ventures and collective iwi arrangements.

Wells is also is responsible for the University of Auckland Law School’s Iwi Governance courses at undergraduate and Master’s level, a contributing author to the Laws of New Zealand and co-author of Wells’ Limited Partnership Handbook published by LexisNexis.

 “It is a privilege to lead a law firm that has been one of New Zealand’s most successful for more than 140 years.

“Chapman Tripp holds a strong position in the New Zealand market – with an integral role in mergers and acquisitions, disposals, takeovers, financing, insolvency, restructuring, banking, procurement processes, large scale infrastructure projects and dispute resolution proceedings – and an increasingly global presence. I am excited by the opportunities and challenges ahead for the firm.”

Wells will work alongside the firm’s Managing Partner – Wellington, Andy Nicholls.  Nicholls is New Zealand’s leading regulatory lawyer, advising clients in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands on regulatory and competition law issues in the electricity, gas, telecommunications and airport sectors. He has been a partner at Chapman Tripp for 11 years.

Roger Wallis, partner and chairman of Chapman Tripp’s board, said: “The strength of our senior leadership is both testament to, and reflective of, the high level attained by staff across the firm, which ultimately best serves the interests of our clients and enables us to continue to succeed as one of New Zealand’s leading law firms.”