Karen has twenty years' experience in integrated risk management, major infrastructure projects and climate change. Karen is recognized as a leader in climate change issues in New Zealand.  She negotiated the only two Negotiated Greenhouse Agreements with the Crown, and has facilitated securitization and trading in carbon credits on international markets for a range of clients. Karen is listed as a leading environment lawyer in a number of international directories.

NOTABLE EXPERIENCE

• Lead adviser in respect of a liability and risk management programme to cover the global operations of 260 subsidiary companies

• Assisting multinational clients to implement Environmental management Systems, obtain ISO 14000 certification, and undertake environmental and sustainable development reporting

• Advising a foreign government on a legal regime to govern carbon geosequestration

• Advising an international waste management operator and a New Zealand landfill owner of the possible opportunities available to them in respect of methane capture and flaring

• Advising in respect of GM contaminated maize grown at Pukekohe and Gisborne and liabilities issues, including under the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act 1996 (HSNO) and the Biosecurity Act

• Advising the Environmental Risk Management Authority (ERMA) on complex legal and technical issues arising out of the new organisms regime in HSNO and suggesting necessary amendments to the legislation

• Advising numerous manufacturing and industrial clients of their new obligations under HSNO and assisting them to develop Safe Handling Codes

• Assisting a range of clients to manage their relationships with central and regional government, including preparation of submissions to Parliamentary Select Committees and Ministerial Briefings

• Lead Counsel for a biomass cogen plant (80MW), a coal-fired cogen plant and a number of renewable energy projects including 330MW windfarm

• Advising a lines company in respect of a range of resource management issues relating to its lines network including obtaining requiring authority status from Minister for the Environment

• Advising a large iwi in respect of the proposed ECNZ split which led to the tribe successfully injuncting the Crown

• Lead Counsel for New Zealand’s only refinery – obtaining resource consents for all activities at the refinery

• Strategic advice for a pulp and paper mill on a water outsourcing project and air discharge consents

• Lead Counsel for a telecommunications operator in relation to its national cellsite network rollout strategy, and obtaining resource consents for its contentious mobile phone sites

• Advising a goldmining company on a range of strategic issues related to its activities in the South Island including energy efficiency and greenhouse issues

• Lead Counsel for a developer obtaining a district plan change and resource contents for a 600-lot subdivision, golf course and significant reserves at Omaha South, and all related infrastructural issues including a sewage treatment plan and innovative high-tech disposal fields ($350 Million project)