The corporate lawyer explains why he returned to the law
For Mark Heine, inadequate access to justice remains a problem not just for individuals, but for businesses as well. The Hudson Gavin Martin special counsel has seen how businesses have been priced out of being able to bring disputes before a court, reinforcing the need for innovations that address this pressing problem.
In the second half of this interview, Heine names one overseas model New Zealand can take cues from and discusses what he observed about the rule of law over long stints in the US.
What’s one misconception you think people have about lawyers, and how would you correct that misconception?
One misconception is that we are all black-letter lawyers giving advice from afar without thinking about real-world implications. The best lawyers provide advice through a strong commercial lens. While I was in-house counsel, most decisions the legal team supported were driven more by commercial considerations than purely legal ones. Ensuring lawyers have a strong commercial grounding and are thinking about real-world implications when giving advice is critical to correcting that misconception.
That was one of the reasons why I rejoined Hudson Gavin Martin, and I am looking forward to settling back into the team. HGM has the deepest bench of technology and IP lawyers in the country, and they have a strong understanding of the challenges growing tech businesses face in New Zealand. I have worked first-hand with the team and seen how they support their clients through each stage of growth.
What challenges are particularly pressing in the country’s legal industry?
Access to timely, affordable justice continues to be an issue. This is not just limited to personal legal matters – often it is too expensive for businesses to take disputes to court. Further innovation here, such as following the UK’s Intellectual Property Enterprise Court model for small IP claims and having greater specialisation at the judicial level, will help provide faster, more affordable resolution.
What are your thoughts on the current state of the rule of law worldwide?
Unfortunately, every country at the moment, including Western countries, is seeing challenges to the rule of law. I have spent the bulk of the last four years in the United States, and we see almost daily in the media the challenges in that country, particularly around Congress and the Supreme Court deferring their power to the president. This creates real uncertainty, particularly for companies doing business in that country, around investing, expanding, or selling their products. Whether it is the imposition of tariffs on goods or export controls on new technology, the confusion and cost of doing business helps no one.
What are you looking forward to the most in the coming year?
I returned to the law to help Kiwi technology businesses grow and take their solutions to global markets. Kiwis punch above their weight in terms of creating innovative technology, but we then struggle to obtain the right capital base, go-to-market strategy, and experienced management team to export that technology to the world. I am really looking forward to working alongside businesses like these to help them grow.
