5 May 2010

 

Minter Ellison Rudd Watts continues to grow the depth of talent within the firm, with the appointment of commercial litigation, insolvency, white collar and regulatory specialist Stacey Shortall.

Stacey returns to the firm after working in New York as Counsel with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, where she amassed over ten years of litigation experience. The American Lawyer named Paul, Weiss as the best litigation firm in the United States in 2006 and the firm was a finalist for litigation department of the year again for 2009.  Stacey was the first non-American woman to make Counsel in the litigation department at Paul, Weiss and is believed to be the first New Zealand woman to achieve this level in any of the leading Wall Street litigation departments.

 

Stacey has a wealth of experience defending financial institutions and corporations in many aggressive and high stakes cases, including in Enron-related litigation.  Stacey has acted for clients such as AIG, Lehman Brothers and Exxon Mobil and has substantial experience in securities actions, antitrust litigation, insolvency-related proceedings and investigations involving allegations of bid rigging, accounting improprieties, money laundering and environmental offenses.  Stacey also has extensive trial experience and had a key role in the AIG securities class action and derivative litigation in which plaintiffs’ estimates of possible damages ranged in the billions of US dollars.

Pro-bono interests have seen Stacey appear as counsel to many incarcerated mothers and as lead counsel for a plaintiff in a jury trial concerning allegations of prisoner brutality by New York State correctional officers.

The firm’s managing partner, Mark Weenink, said “Stacey’s expertise will complement our strong team and be of particular benefit to our clients at a time when the regulatory, criminal and financial landscape in New Zealand is changing; including the financial advisor regulatory scheme, the recent Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism Bill, and the financial reform that aims to bring New Zealand in line with international standards.”

Stacey is based in the firm’s Wellington office.