Riaia Donald

Riaia is a specialist construction, projects and property dispute resolution lawyer, having worked in this area of law since 2009.

She has particular experience in construction contract and project delivery disputes, focusing on claims for variations, extension of time and delays/disruption, design issues and defective works. She is experienced in bringing and defending adjudications under the Construction Contracts Act 2002 and High Court proceedings for such disputes. She has acted on important infrastructure projects including roading projects, earthquake rebuild and power stations. She works alongside her clients to provide day-to-day advice on project delivery, particularly advice on contractual compliance and to resolve claims / disputes as they arise. She provides detailed technical and strategic advice and input, while appreciating the project relationships and client’s business drivers.

Riaia also has experience in mediations and arbitrations for commercial property and lease disputes, in particular landlord and tenant obligations and rent review disputes.

She contributes to the lecturing for the Construction Law paper at the University of Auckland and Law for Construction as part of the Masters of Project Management programme at the Auckland University of Technology.