Partner - Auckland
Mark Davies
Mark is known for his perseverance and agility when advocating for clients in highly complex matters and for achieving excellent outcomes, no matter the odds.
Mark is known for his perseverance and agility when advocating for clients in highly complex matters and for achieving excellent outcomes, no matter the odds.
About
As one of the lead Partners in MC’s commercial litigation practice, Mark acts for a wide range of corporate clients as well as government bodies providing a full range of civil and commercial litigation advice and advocacy services. He is vastly experienced in mediation and arbitration work and has substantial experience in High Court civil proceedings. He also has specialist expertise in contractual disputes, property and leasing disputes and insolvency litigation, particularly around breaches of directors' duties.
Mark was responsible for setting up, and leads, MC Sports Law practice.
Recent Cases & Achievements
Mark was lead counsel in the high profile case brought by Fuji Xerox New Zealand against its former Managing Directors and CFO from 2017 to 2023. As a result he gained specialist experience acting for offshore entities and Japanese corporations in particular. He continues to act for Fuji Xerox New Zealand on litigation matters.
From 2015 to 2022 Mark was the partner responsible for assisting the Ministry of Education to obtain recoveries in relation to defective buildings in its national school portfolio. This programme was run over many years on a national scale. Mark was responsible for managing multiple claims for damages in the High Court and succeeded in returning substantial funds to the Crown. As part of this programme Mark was lead counsel in the High Court trial of The Minister of Education & Ors v H Construction North Island Ltd (formerly Hawkins Construction North Island Ltd) that resulted in the Ministry obtaining a substantial judgment of over $13 million after trial. He then successfully argued for and obtained a costs award against the parent company, McConnell Limited, of over $1 million.
Mark has acted on several of the major cases involving recoveries by liquidators for breaches of directors duties. In Morgenstern & Anor v Jeffreys an award of $3.49 million made by the High Court was upheld in the Court of Appeal, where Mark represented the liquidators. He was lead counsel in the Rowmata Holdings Limited (in liquidation) & Anor v Hildred & Ors trial where his liquidator clients successfully obtained significant judgments against the company directors. Mark was lead counsel for the liquidators of HCINL in substantial claims against the directors and McConnell Limited in High Court proceedings from 2019 until 2024.
In the Sports Law field, Mark acts for the Blues Super Rugby franchise as well as assisting Drug Free Sport New Zealand, High Performance Sport New Zealand and other sporting bodies with their legal needs. Mark set up the specialist Sports Law practice at MC, attracting Adine Wilson to the firm to continue to build on its existing offering to clients in the sports space.
Outside of MC, Mark is active in community matters, being a longstanding Board member of the North Shore Cricket Club and as an appointee of the Westlake Boys High School Foundation.
Credentials
Admitted as NZ Barrister and Solicitor, 1994
LLB/BA (majoring in Criminology and Psychology), Victoria University of Wellington
M Phil, University of Cambridge (United Kingdom)