In the annual Crown Law promotion round, seven lawyers were made Associate Crown Counsel. They are Megan Inwood, criminal law; James Burns, natural resources; Sara Ritchie, natural resources; Cathryn Curran-Tietjens, tax and commercial, currently seconded to human rights; Charlotte Griffin, human rights; Lisa Fong, social services and employment and Meg Poutasi, Treaty issues and international law. A further three were promoted to Crown Counsel and they are Sarah McKenzie, criminal law; Rachael Schmidt, social services and employment and Andrew Irwin, Treaty issues and international law.

Alistair McMechan has joined Buddle Findlay's Wellington office as a senior solicitor in the corporate and commercial team. Most recently, Alistair was a member of Westpac's legal team and before that he was in private practice in Wellington and overseas.

Christchurch firm Goodman Steven Tavendale Reid has appointed a partner, a senior associate and a senior solicitor. Michael Singleton has been made a partner in the corporate and commercial team. Michael has a particular focus on mergers and acquisitions, banking and finance, insolvency and restructurings. Jane Costigan recently joined the firm as a senior associate in the litigation and dispute resolution team. Jane, who was previously with Chapman Tripp, has expertise in all aspects of civil litigation and dispute resolution. Olivia Sparrow has also joined the firm as a senior solicitor working in the corporate and commercial team.

DLA Phillips Fox has appointed two new partners in its New Zealand corporate team. Mark Williamson, formerly a senior associate with the firm in Auckland, has acted in a variety of major New Zealand and Australian commercial projects and has particular expertise in competition law and regulation, and major infrastructure contracting. Jason Woolley was formerly a senior associate in DLA Phillips Fox's Wellington office, having returned after four years working for a specialist European law firm. His specialty is competition law and regulated markets. DLA Phillips Fox has also promoted Veronica Lobão and Nick Cross to special counsel in Auckland. Matthew Kelleher and Ashley Cornor become senior associates in Wellington and Tammie Watkins becomes a senior associate in the firm's Auckland office.

Sarah Graydon has joined New Zealand Post as group legal counsel. Most recently Sarah was a senior legal adviser to the Health and Disability Commissioner and before that worked in-house in a UK telecommunications company and in private practice in Edinburgh and Wellington.

Julian Daly has been appointed to the newly created position of general counsel with PGG Wrightson (PGW) and will start in the position on 4 August. Julian will be responsible for legal and company secretarial services to the PGW Group, and under PGW's management agreement to NZ Farming Systems Uruguay Ltd. Julian moves to PGW from Bader Saud Al-Bader & Partners, a corporate and banking law firm in Kuwait.

Kathryn Buchanan has begun practising as a barrister at North Shore Legal Chambers having previously been an associate of LawWorks in Auckland. Kathryn specialises in family law.