Ana Simkiss

Special Counsel Mātanga Ture

she/her

Ana has practiced as a commercial litigation and dispute resolution lawyer for more than 20 years. She works with a range of clients to help them to resolve and to manage disputes in a way that enhances their business.

Ana is responsive and strategic. She appreciates the need for prompt solutions to disputes so that her clients can protect their interests and focus on their businesses. She is experienced in obtaining urgent relief, such as injunctions and freezing orders, including in support of foreign proceedings. She is also knowledgeable in issues of foreign law and jurisdiction, having worked overseas and acted for international clients on disputes determined in New Zealand.

Banks, insolvency professionals, business advisers, and businesses themselves benefit from Ana’s expert knowledge. She specialises in contract disputes, property law, banking and finance, debt recovery, insolvency, and receiverships. Her recent work includes extensive advice on compliance with consumer lending regulation due to the changes to the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act (CCCFA). She has also been assisting clients with property and other disputes arising out of COVID-19 health measures. She has in-depth knowledge of the rural sector, beginning with the large and highly contentious receivership of the Crafar Farms companies.

Ana regularly appears in the High and District Courts and in alternative dispute resolution. She is highly experienced in running large litigation efficiently with the strategic use of litigation management technology.

Renowned for her calm manner, Ana quickly identifies the important issues at stake. Clients praise her responsiveness and practical approach: “Ana Simkiss made herself available on very short notice. She digests information quickly and provides clear, coherent and sensible strategic advice” - The Legal 500 Asia Pacific 2021.

Ana is an author of the Business Disputes section of Lexis Nexis Practical Guidance Business Law.

Career highlights

Advising major banks and other clients in the financial sector on compliance with tightening consumer lending regulation.

Assisting a number of landlords and tenants with rent abatement claims and disputes as a result of COVID-19 health measures.

Acting for a major bank to enforce a guarantee in the context of a receivership: Sgargetta v ASB Bank [2021] NZCA 459.

Acting in proceedings up to the Supreme Court on a high-profile matter for Las Vegas gaming executives concerning an investment by them in a winery and vineyard in Nelson, New Zealand: Schaeffer v Murren [2020] NZSC 98.

Obtaining a freezing order in support of proceedings in Florida which engaged complex issues of foreign law and jurisdiction: Trident Trust Company (NZ) Ltd v Bozo [2018] NZHC 947.

Acting on the large and highly contentious receivership of the Crafar Farms companies, including on a leading case on the PPSA: StockCo Ltd v Gibson [2012] NZCA 330.

Achievements and recognition
  • Tier 1 team, Dispute Resolution, The Legal 500 Asia-Pacific