During a career spanning 40 years, Brian has conducted cases in almost all areas of civil and commercial litigation and has extensive experience acting for both plaintiffs and defendants in major and complex matters.

As a barrister, he has made numerous appearances as counsel in leading cases or important decisions before the Courts, more than 50 of which have been reported in the law reports.

Prior to going to the independent Bar in 2013, Brian was the senior litigation partner in Bell Gully, having been a specialist litigation partner at that firm for 38 years.

The 2010 edition of Chambers Global recognised Brian for being “widely regarded as a leader in the field”. The Chambers Asia Pacific Guide 2011 also noted that he is “sought out as lead counsel in complex cases”. While the 2012 edition added Brian was “renowned for his depth of knowledge.”

In the Carter Holt v Genesis case (2009-2010) Brian was instructed to act as senior counsel for the plaintiff, to replace King’s Counsel. The Carter Holt case was major multi-million dollar civil litigation against two defendants represented by New Zealand King’s Counsel and senior English counsel respectively. The case ran for 155 sitting days in the High Court at Auckland and was finally resolved with a confidential settlement.

In 2011 Brian acted as lead counsel for Cavalier Wool Holdings Limited to successfully oppose an appeal against a decision of the Commerce Commission under the Commerce Act to authorize the acquisition by Cavalier of the last remaining business competitor in the wool scouring industry in New Zealand.

In 2011 Brian also appeared for the New South Wales Mines Rescue Service before the Royal Commission on the Pike River Coal Mine tragedy.

Since 2012, Brian has been acting as lead counsel for NZX Ltd in litigation between NZX and Ralec Commodities Pty Ltd in relation to significant claims based on misrepresentation and breach of contract.