Quayside recently welcomed Suzanne back into the role of Legal & Risk Manager after a year’s parental leave. Born and raised in Tauranga, Suzanne graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University of Auckland in Film, Television & Media Studies / Sociology before specializing in law receiving her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Canterbury in 2007.
Her early focus was in litigation during the height of the leaky building claims. Suzanne was involved in single and multi-plaintiff claims from case preparation through to settlement, before taking that experience to Melbourne for a twelve-month stint, specialising in building and construction disputes, commercial and civil litigation.
The itchy feet that Kiwis are inherently born with took hold with her traveling the west coast of America before settling back in New Zealand taking up a role at Vero Insurance in Auckland in customer dispute resolution and claims settlement following the tragic earthquakes in Christchurch. This was a significant role for Suzanne dealing with complex commercial insurance claims, analysing expert evidence, contractual/policy interpretation, negotiation, mediation and significant litigation. A challenging time for Cantabrians and Christchurch, her ability to maintain an empathetic human side to this work was a necessity given the unprecedented scale of the disaster in New Zealand.
Moving back into private practice Suzanne used her inhouse insurance claims experience representing insurers negotiating and litigating commercial residential property insurance claims through the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Her early legal and technical knowledge of building related disputes was key in both her insurance roles. She enjoyed being involved in complex litigation that set precedent for how insurance policies should be interpreted in responding to successive earthquake events and working with the brightest legal minds in the insurance industry.
Suzanne became Mum to Indigo before joining the Quayside team in 2019 looking after all things legal, risk and compliance to ensure Quayside meets its obligations as a CCTO and as a debt issuer on the NZX. With Quayside’s diverse range of activities, Suzanne’s breadth of knowledge plays an important role – we remain resolute to following our values by being bold in our initiatives, while robust in our decisions and risk assessment.
By contrast to the dotting of the i’s and the crossing of the t’s at Quayside, Suzanne has a love for the creative side of life, using the right side of her brain in her interior design studies she is currently undertaking. Her family love their life at Papamoa, the closeness to the beach, water and sunshine. With a Scottish husband, the family are preparing to kick start travel again in 2023 to visit family and friends in Scotland and give their two young children some European adventures, partaking potentially in some haggis, square sausage and a wee dram of whisky!
