Chen Palmer & Partners

Chen Palmer & Partners is a New Zealand law firm. It is unusual among law firms. It arose from an academic vision about the “new public law” and its application in New Zealand. The vision was developed by two academic lawyers, Sir Geoffrey Palmer, ex Prime Minister of New Zealand and Mai Chen, while teaching public law at the Victoria University of Wellington. Both partners have had extensive exposure to the United States legal system and the broader approaches to law that are taken in that country. Geoffrey Palmer’s experience as a Minister in the New Zealand Government and as an MP convinced him that lawyers were not making the best use of the available opportunities for their clients within either the Executive Branch of Government – that is to say dealing with Ministers and public servants – or with Parliament and its Select Committees. Both Mai Chen and Geoffrey Palmer have published extensively on various aspects of New Zealand public law. They first met when Geoffrey Palmer, as Deputy Prime Minister, launched a book written by Mai Chen, on international public law and discrimination (published by the Institute of Policy Studies at Victoria University).

When, in 1991, after Palmer retired from politics, they started teaching the public law course together at Victoria University Law School, they became convinced that there were unmet legal needs in the public law area. Both had associations with major law firms, but found that it was difficult to pioneer a new idea in law practice due to the problem of being swamped by traditional approaches to solving public law problems.

So, in 1994, they started Chen & Palmer (as it was then known), having left their role as full-time academics. The aim was to be a 'Washington law firm': to influence the policy and law making process and regulatory system on behalf of clients, to represent their interests in advocacy to the Executive Government and to Parliament, as well as undertaking public law litigation in the courts. The vision turned out not only to be practical, but successful. The firm was overwhelmed with work and has grown quickly.

Unlike most law firms, the agenda of issues upon which the firm works tends to be set by Government activity. The firm advises public and private entities, but it has been particularly active in providing strategic advice to clients whose businesses are likely to be impacted by Government. Clients particularly value the combination of strategic and technical legal advice in the interface between business and Government. It maintains a close monitoring of all the developments within Government and produces a weekly newsletter called Wellington Watch, summarising the developments in politics and the Wellington policy-making establishment.

It has developed a practice in the promotion of legislation to solve public law problems. Delegated legislation has also been a particular area of specialty with appearances before the Regulations Review Select Committee of Parliament. The firm has drafted numerous submissions for Select Committees and appeared in front of those Committees. The firm has worked in the area of Mâori jurisprudence and the Waitangi Tribunal. It has been involved in major litigation, including before the Privy Council. The firm has particular expertise in the provision of opinions on human rights, particularly the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and its application to Government decisions.

The Firm's original vision has been modified only slightly. At the outset, the degree to which public law problems backed into commercial law problems, was not fully appreciated. Indeed, this is the single biggest development in the growth of the firm, since the public law aspects of big commercial problems are frequently critical to a successful outcome. With the re-regulation of New Zealand, it has been necessary to strengthen and add a competition law speciality to the original mix since regulatory problems for business are now pervasive. In the fascinating kaleidoscope of law and public policy, Chen Palmer & Partners has, in a period of almost ten years, made itself a conspicuous and unique feature of the New Zealand legal landscape.