Young Practitioners' Group

Elliott Couper is an Associate in the London office of Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP.  He works on complex multi-jurisdictional disputes and advises corporations, individuals, States and State-owned entities on commercial and investor-state arbitrations as well as public international law.  Elliott has acted as counsel and as tribunal secretary, and has experience of proceedings in a number of industries and under various institutional rules (including the ICSID, ICC, SIAC and NAI rules).  Elliott also has experience in court litigation.  He has represented clients in cases connected with arbitral proceedings in different jurisdictions and has acted for corporate clients and the Government at all levels of the New Zealand courts (including appearances as lead and junior counsel).

Thomas Westaway is a Senior Associate at Lindsay & Francis in Auckland. He is a widely experienced litigator and arbitration counsel.  Prior to joining Lindsay & Francis in late 2020, he spent four years as an Associate in the London office of a top tier transatlantic boutique litigation and arbitration firm.  He was previously an Assistant Crown Counsel at the Crown Law Office and a Judges’ Clerk at the High Court in Auckland.  Thomas has appeared as sole or junior counsel in all levels of the courts of New Zealand (including multiple occasions in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court) and has represented clients in numerous complex and high value international arbitration proceedings.  He graduated from the University of Canterbury in 2012 with a First Class Honours degree in Law and is admitted to practice in New Zealand.

Desley is a barrister at Shortland Chambers in Auckland, with a wide-ranging commercial practice.  Before joining Shortland Chambers in 2022, Desley worked at Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP in London for five years, where she was Counsel in the firm’s international litigation and arbitration team and acted for clients in a range of complex and high value commercial disputes.  Desley graduated from Stanford University with an LLM and the University of Auckland with BA/LLB (Hons) degrees.  She is admitted to practice in New Zealand, New York and England & Wales.

Andrew Grant is a junior barrister at Shortland Chambers, Auckland. Prior to this, he practiced as an associate at Chaffetz Lindsey LLP, one of New York’s leading international arbitration and litigation firms. Andrew holds a Master of Laws from Harvard Law School, and a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelors of Laws with Honours from the University of Auckland.