About Fitzgerald Strategic Legal

 

I founded Fitzgerald Strategic Legal in January 2018, having stepped away from the large law firm environment after more than 30 years, with a clear focus on the next 30 years.

I now have the flexibility to work for a small number of clients on selected projects.  I work with people I want to work with and provide them with a level of personalised service which is unavailable in the traditional law firm. 

I apply a filter of six keywords before accepting engagements – ‘strategic, contribution, valued, fun, flexibility, conservation.’  Not every piece of work need (or does) tick all the boxes, but if I cannot make a substantial and valued contribution to the engagement, or if the project is environmentally adverse, it’s probably not for me.  

Fitzgerald Strategic Legal is, and will be, just me. That means I usually only accept new clients on a referral basis.

My work spans governance, corporate and family succession, dispute resolution, discrete commercial engagements, law reform, foreign investment, and environmental enhancement. I have unique expertise in the law of the South Island High Country.

 

Governance

I am a director of Southern Hops Limited and The Alpine Group Limited along with several other companies and sit as an advisory board member to several substantial family offices. I retain a very small number of trusteeships for longstanding clients. 

Southern Hops is developing what will be New Zealand’s largest single hop farm with about 380 canopy hectares of hops. Located in the extraordinary Matakitaki Valley, the farm will produce the very highest quality of hops for export. The Alpine Group is a diversified farming, tourism and aviation business originally founded by Sir Tim Wallis.

Dispute Resolution

My dispute resolution work does not see me standing up in Court (I brief and then work closely with barristers for that).  My role is to look for solutions and create strategies to achieve them.

Commercial

My broad experience in corporate, financial services and securities law has led to my more recent focus on the management of large projects and the application of my governance experience and insights to the boards and senior management teams of leading New Zealand entities.

I take a strategic approach to commercial work using selected firms to produce documents, deal with the commodity aspects, and settle transactions.  This approach allows me to focus on how a transaction is best advanced, managed and implemented.

When it comes to law reform, I periodically submit on my behalf on topical issues or work with clients on areas impacting them, often working alongside public and political relations experts to formulate longer-term strategies. Examples are on my website.

Offshore investment in New Zealand assets

I am one of New Zealand’s most experienced advisers to overseas investors from the USA, China and Europe seeking New Zealand assets. I provide pragmatic advice on New Zealand’s expectations of the benefits expected of overseas investment.  

My preference now is to work with overseas individuals rather than corporations, and I enjoy extending the assistance beyond the law to address the problems, needs and aspirations of overseas individuals in their New Zealand dealings.

Not-for-Profit roles

Leaving a large law firm delivers the independence and flexibility to allocate time to non-remunerative roles and the not-for-profit sector. I have focused on the environmental and cultural sectors.

As a founding governing trustee of the Lake Taupo Protection Trust  (https://protectinglaketaupo.nz/) from 2006 until 2023, I now have considerable insight into the complexities of the science and the challenges of freshwater quality.

Over this period the trust has reduced the level of manageable nitrogen entering Lake Taupo by 170 tonnes, by acquiring land covenants at a total cost of approximately $80 million.

I also sit on the Board of the Dunedin-based Land Connections Trust (https://www.haloproject.org.nz).  Our flagship projects deliver predator control to the coastal and near-coastal areas north of Dunedin, and riparian planting and fencing of key waterways within an area of 124,000 hectares from Dunedin north to the Waihemo and Shag river catchments.

I Chair the Waitati Beach Reserve Society, one of New Zealand's oldest conservation initiatives. We have an ambitious plan for the restoration of the Society's land at Doctors' Point.

I also Chair the Hill Family Foundation for the Arts and Music and the Michael Hill International Violin Competition (https://michaelhillviolincompetition.co.nz).  The Foundation has a range of initiatives including the provision of an instrument bank for the provision of fine string instruments to leading New Zealand talent. The latter is one of the world’s most prestigious violin competitions.

Contact

You can contact me by email: gerald@legalfitz.co.nz or phone: +64 21 505 048

Gerald Fitzgerald
Founder
Fitzgerald Strategic Legal