The people behind the Council

Leading more than 300 criminal-proceeds matters in the High Court, Mark has built a reputation as an expert on the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009, including authoring papers and presenting on its theory and practice.Mark has appeared before the Court of Appeal in several leading judgments under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act, as Crown counsel in jury trials in the High Court and District Court, and regularly appears in the High Court to restrain and forfeit criminal proceeds.He has also acted for numerous public bodies in prosecutions and civil litigation.

Bronwyn Jones is the General Manager Policy, Courts and Government at the New Zealand Law Society Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa. Bronwyn is responsible for the Law Society’s Policy, Law Reform and Advocacy functions including rule of law and administration of justice law reform and advocacy. She is also responsible for key strategic stakeholder relationships with the judiciary and government departments. Bronwyn has been with the Law Society for over 20 years.Her passion for justice initially drove her studies in criminology, sociology and legal studies, ultimately earning her Law Degree, her BA in Criminology, Sociology and her MBA from Victoria University.

_‍Justice Rebecca Ellis was admitted to the Bar in 1989. She was a Legal Advisor with the Law Reform division of the Department of Justice from 1987 to 1992 and a senior litigation solicitor at Chapman Tripp in Wellington from 1992 to 1996. In 1996 Justice Ellis joined the Crown Law Office and was employed as Crown Counsel in that office until her appointment as Director, Legal Services at the Ministry of Economic Development in 2004. In 2005 Justice Ellis re-joined Crown Law. In 2006 she became a Team Leader of Crown Law’s Tax and Commercial Team and during 2008-2009 she was Manager of the Crown’s Structured Finance Litigation.Justice Ellis was appointed a Judge of the High Court in 2009. Her appointment as Judge of the Court of Appeal took effect from January 2024_{.
(Photo Credit: Monique Ford / STUFF / The Post)}

Mary Scholtens is an experienced King's Counsel who has acted predominantly in the commercial public law area since commencing practice in 1982. She spent ten years in the Crown Law Office before joining the independent bar in 1996. She was made a King's Counsel in 2002. As well as a very significant number of judicial review proceedings involving central and local government and a broad range of regulators, she has appeared in public law claims in contract, tort and equity, and in appeals from regulatory bodies.   There include acting for IRD in significant tax avoidance cases involving cross - border structured finance transactions, and for the Commerce Commission in relation to the Commission’s determinations of ‘input methodologies’ for regulating the airports services, electricity and gas transmission and distribution sectors.  Mary also acts in general commercial and civil disputes and is an accredited mediator.Mary brings to her advice and representation an appreciation of how government works. She has carried out or been involved in a number of inquiries, including Commissions of Inquiry, inquiries by Parliamentary Select Committees, and the District Court on an Electoral Petition.  Mary has been appointed as amicus curiae in a number of cases before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Mary is a member of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal.

He uri nō Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Hine, Tῡwharetoa, Te Whānau a Apanui, Tῡhourangi.

Natalie is a barrister at Thorndon Chambers. She specialises in public and administrative law, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, Māori legal issues, human rights, whenua, Treaty of Waitangi settlements and trust and governance matters. Natalie is an expert in the intersection between tikanga and the common law and has lead precedent cases on this intersect in all senior Courts. Natalie was previously a partner at Kāhui Legal, a leading specialist boutique firm for Māori legal issues. She holds first class honours degrees in Law and Arts (Māori Studies) from the University of Otago and an LLM from Harvard University. She was also a Law Lecturer at the University of Auckland. Natalie sits in various representative roles including on the NZ Council of Legal Education, the NZ Council of Law Reporting and is the current Co-President of Te Hunga Roia Māori, the Māori Law Society.

Stephanie Marsden has practiced as a lawyer since 1989. Before joining the independent bar in November 2011, she worked for larger Christchurch firms.Stephanie’s practice is almost exclusively in resolution of relationship property disputes involving high value assets and complex asset ownership structures (including trusts, companies and partnership interests) and estate claims. Over recent years Stephanie has specialised in this area of practice but she has experience at a senior level in all aspects of family law.Stephanie has experience with claims in respect of relationship property and trusts in the Family Court and High Court. Stephanie receives instructions based upon her pragmatic and commercial approach to resolution of these issues. Stephanie adopts a team approach to work with the client’s other advisors.Stephanie is a member of the New Zealand Law Society Family Law Section advisory panel making submissions on law reform, the Counsel of Law Reporting and a member of the Academic Review Board of the New Zealand Women’s Law Journal.She regularly presents continuing legal education seminars for the New Zealand Law Society.Stephanie is from a farming background. She is married and has adult children. In her spare time Stephanie is involved in running, reading, entertaining friends, gardening and the Christchurch law choir.