Member Profiles

Expertise Neill specializes in advising large to mid-size internationally operating enterprises, private equity firms, as well as high net worth individuals on mainly corporate matters, with a special focus on mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, restructurings, business expansions, and leveraged transactions.  In addition, Neill often assumes the role of strategic advisor for clients and guides them through complex transactions and commercial ventures. Given his U.S. background, Neill assists U.S. based clients on outbound investments in Europe and beyond with use of Dutch bases entities with full substance. Throughout his long standing career, Neill has advised a wide range of privately and/or publicly held enterprises in a variety of industries including medical cannabis, medical implants, automotive and automotive appliances, fashion, the music industry, consumer electronics retailing, energy, including carbon related products and mercury handling, satellite procurement, and oil terminaling business. Career Neill started his career with one of the top tier firms in the Netherlands (notarial department) and continued his practice with such firm at its New York office. Thereafter, Neill joined a boutique law firm with offices in New York as partner. After practising over 10 years in New York, Neill moved back to the Netherlands and joined  the same U.S. law firm as Richard and Hans in the Amsterdam office, after a four year spell at a law firm associated with the ‘big four’ in the Netherlands. Neill serves as opinion committee chairman and regularly renders legal opinions to financial institutions for borrowing to Dutch based enterprises. He has served on a number of not for profit boards, including the Netherlands-America Foundation and Julia's Kids Foundation, a foundation supporting foster children in Vietnam, and several other not for profit committees. Education Admitted to practice since 1991 in The Netherlands and as of 1993 in New York, N.Y.  Master of Laws (LLM), S.M.U., 1988 Dallas, Texas, Leiden University, the Netherlands (Juris Doctor, JD 1987). Neill is fluent and a native speaker in English, Dutch and speaks proficient French. Netherlands Bar/Specialization: Neill has registered the following principal legal practice areas in the Netherlands Bar’s register of legal practice areas: Corporate Law : Mergers and acquisitions Finance transactions Joint- ventures Legal opinion practice Based on this registration, he is required to obtain ten training credits per calendar year in each registered principal legal practice area in accordance with the standards set by the Netherlands Bar.

Anna specialises in corporate and commercial law and leads Lane Neave’s competition law team. She routinely advises on the Commerce Act, Fair Trading Act and all aspects of competition and consumer law. Anna is also the principal contact for Lane Neave’s intellectual property practice and acts on a wide range of trade mark, copyright and other intellectual property matters. Anna holds a Masters Degree from the University of Melbourne in Competition and Consumer Protection Law, and Chairs the Advisory Board of the Competition Law and Policy Institute of New Zealand. She also Chairs the Board of the Canterbury Society of Arts, which operates CoCA, Christchurch’s Contemporary Art Gallery. In  2023, Anna was recognised as an Elite Woman in NZ Lawyer’s annual rankings, and shortlisted for Antitrust/Competition Lawyer of the Year at the 2023 APAC Women in Business Law Awards.

Since starting practice representing refugees in the mid-1990s, Simon Laurent has developed a strong reputation as a leader in the Immigration field. Over the years he has mentored a number of lawyers through the firm, in order to refine their legal skills and their ability to think inventively to solve real-world problems.  He has chaired and presented seminars for both lawyers and immigration advisers, and has been called upon to provide industry comment for the media including a number of recent radio and television interviews.  For several years Simon sat on the Council of the Auckland District Law Society. He was a founding member of the Society's Immigration and Refugee Committee, and was Convenor in 2006, 2007 and 2014. He has been a member of the New Zealand Law Society Immigration Committee. From 2010 to 2012 he was Chairman of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment, and is now an Honorary Life Member for his services to NZAMI.  Involvement in these professional bodies gives Simon insight into developing trends and issues in the New Zealand immigration space. It also provides the opportunity to influence change for the benefit of both clients and colleagues. 

I practise as a barrister, arbitrator, and mediator. I was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1984 and spent the first six years of my legal career doing non-contentious commercial and company work. During that period, which spanned the 1987 crash, I was involved in a series of instructions that propelled me into litigation work. I became committed to achieving effective dispute resolution through negotiation, mediation, arbitration and litigation. I then gathered considerable experience in claims involving contract, fraud, fair trading, and tort law; company, director and shareholder disputes; insolvency restructuring, building and construction disputes; professional negligence; insurance; intellectual property; judicial review; relationship and matrimonial property; estates and trusts, tax administration, and trade practices. I also become primary legal advisor for selected clients. To those clients I am a trusted advisor and manages the appointment of other specialist lawyers for particular transactions and assignments

GREG is one of New Zealand’s leading specialists in insurance law and litigation. His knowledge and experience in acting for underwriters has resulted in him being instructed in numerous high profile insurance cases. He also has wide experience in commercial litigation, in particular litigation relating to contract and construction based disputes. A founding partner of Heaney Jones and Jones Fee, Greg has over 35 years of experience in practising insurance law and litigation. In September 2016 Greg established his third firm, Jones & Co with a view to cementing his position as a leading New Zealand litigation solicitor through a specialist firm and team of talented litigators.