Introduction

Kiely Thompson Caisley is a boutique corporate law firm. It was established in 1996 as a national firm with offices in the central business districts in Auckland and Wellington. The firm has five partners, three in Auckland and two in Wellington.

We are accustomed to providing advice to many of New Zealand’s largest corporates as well as many significant public sector organisations. We pride ourselves on providing prompt, sound, practical advice that takes account of legislative responsibilities and media sensitivities.

We are committed to exceeding our clients’ expectations. We recognise the importance to our clients of accessibility, accountability and action.

Because Kiely Thompson Caisley is a boutique corporate law firm it only practices in its specialist areas. The firm is divided into corporate practice groups each of which act for a wide range of national and international corporations, public sector organisations and private clients.

Employment & Industrial Relations

Kiely Thompson Caisley is widely recognised as having the leading employment law team in the country. All of our team members are well respected in the employment law field and have an intimate knowledge of this area of the law. One of the strengths of the firm is the depth of expertise available to our clients. We do not rely on one or two key people. The team has been independently acknowledged as being one of the best employment law teams in the country by Asia Pacific Legal 500, an independent authority on leading law firms in the Asia Pacific region.

Because of the intrinsically human nature of employment law, and because the parties to an employment dispute will often have an ongoing relationship, we place strong emphasis on practical dispute resolution.

Of course, where other forms of dispute resolution fail, we have the skills and experience to resolve the matter through litigation, to the highest level. We regularly appear as counsel in the leading and law-making cases in the employment law field.

Health & Safety

Kiely Thompson Caisley has considerable health and safety expertise available to clients. We regularly assist corporate clients with the review and update of their health and safety policies and in the management of prosecutions commenced by OSH health and safety prosecutions. The introduction of stress as a potential cause of harm has created considerable uncertainty for many organisations and our team has been at the cutting edge of this new law. Members of our team have appeared as counsel in many of the leading stress cases in New Zealand. Also, one of our team has previously worked within the Department of Labour and so is extremely familiar with the issues and tactics involved in this area of the law.

Immigration

Kiely Thompson Caisley’s Wellington and Auckland offices both provide immigration services to our clients. We regularly assist clients seeking immigration permits for key employees (including residence or work permits) and liaise with the Immigration Service on the client’s behalf. We also advise on policy requirements, strategy (such as the best immigration route to apply for) and applications for the accredited employer programme.

Corporate and Commercial Law

The firm’s Wellington office provides strategic legal and business advice to corporate and state sector clients. It has experience in a wide variety of corporate and corporate finance work, including business acquisitions and reorganisations, board-level issues, company compliance, financial restructurings and general corporate advisory work.