- Bachelor of Arts (Japanese), University of Otago 2011
- Bachelor of Laws, University of Otago 2011
- Member of the Auckland District Law Society
Claire is an experienced commercial and property lawyer who advises in the areas of property, corporate and commercial, trust (discretionary) and inheritance planning. Claire’s client service is second to none. She often goes above and beyond to provide advice producing a result which is strategic and commercial.
Claire joined Pitt & Moore at the end of 2020 after working as a commercial and property solicitor in Auckland. Claire has a broad range of experience in the areas of corporate/commercial, property, intellectual property and commercial litigation.
Post admission to the bar in 2012, Claire lived and worked in Kagoshima prefecture in Japan for three years. She is conversationally fluent in Japanese and is passionate about all aspects of Japanese culture, including practicing both karate and kendo in Japan. She holds the grade of Ikkyu (1-kyu) in kendo.
Claire advises on a very broad range of commercial matters, including mergers and acquisitions, due diligence investigations, business sales, joint ventures, small business set ups, shareholder arrangements and commercial property (including commercial leasing). Claire has also assisted clients with investor classification and capital raising requirements under the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.
Claire is very responsive and always pleasant to deal with.
Claire can assist with private wealth and property work, including implementation of trust arrangements, advising on trustee obligations and beneficiary entitlements, resettlement of trusts, advising clients on the Trusts Act 2019 requirements, advising on property use arrangements, commercial leasing (preparation and advice), general due diligence for property transactions, preparing and advising on enduring powers of attorney and wills.
Claire is experienced in commercialising intellectual property, including applying for and registering trade marks (both in New Zealand and Australia), negotiating with other parties infringing intellectual property rights, implementing trade mark co-existence arrangements and licencing arrangements designed to ringfence and maximise intellectual property assets.
Claire has appeared in both the High Court and Court of Appeal in the Feltex litigation (Houghton v Saunders), New Zealand’s first securities ‘class action’ law suit.
She has also successfully advised clients in their respective defences of third-party claims brought by Auckland Council for alleged breaches of the Building Code.