Our People
You’re in excellent hands
We take our work seriously, not ourselves. Our values are key to our practice and we are a true team. Nau mai – Welcome!
Partners
Emma Butcher LLB
Partner
Emma is a founding partner of BE Employment Law together with Angela Evans. Emma spent her first 14 years, 4 as a partner, with a leading national firm and the next 14 as a partner at another boutique employment firm.
Emma chose employment law as her specialist area because of its diverse and challenging technical legal issues applied to human problems. While litigation and dispute resolution were where Emma originally focussed, and continues to practice, in more recent years she has become sought out for her outstanding judgement and strategic insights on advisory work. Emma is frequently involved in providing guidance at governance and leadership level, as a trusted and reliable navigator of the most complex and difficult workplace law issues.
ebutcher@belaw.co.nz
DDI +64 9 553 7174
Mobile +64 21 288 8901
Angela Evans LLB BA
Partner
Angela is a founding partner of BE Employment Law together with Emma Butcher. Angela has almost 20 years’ legal experience, having practiced in leading firms in London and New Zealand before starting BE Employment Law.
Angela is an employment law specialist who provides client-centric advice on all aspects of employment and industrial relations law, and represents her clients at mediation and in the Employment Relations Authority and Court. Angela’s experience and intuition mean she is often asked to guide her clients through complex employment relations matters.
aevans@belaw.co.nz
DDI +64 9 553 7173
Mobile +64 21 516 105
Melissa Johnston LLB (Hons.)
Partner
Melissa joined BE Employment Law as a partner in 2024 from the partnership of a national full-service firm, where she led the employment team. Melissa is both New Zealand and UK qualified, having spent nine years practising in the UK, before returning to New Zealand to carry on her career in employment law.
Melissa’s experience has given her a commercial, pragmatic edge. She understands that employment law advice is usually time sensitive and nuanced, requiring clear analysis and directive thinking to resolve problems quickly and cost effectively. As well as having a strong advisory practice, Melissa is an accomplished litigator, representing clients at mediation, the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court. She has also done a vast amount of work in the area of workplace investigations, helping clients to successfully navigate the complexities of the process to get the best business outcome achievable.
Melissa is a sought after speaker and regularly presents at employment law seminars and conferences.
mjohnston@belaw.co.nz
DDI +64 9 553 7176
Mobile +64 21 811 130
Team
Kelly Rowell LLB
Special Counsel
Kelly joined BE Employment Law following over 11 years in her own practice as a Barrister. Previously, she worked as a senior associate with another specialist employment law firm.
Kelly is skilled at quickly identifying the key issues at the heart of an employment relationship problem and developing effective strategies to best meet our clients’ desired outcomes. She is insightful and experienced, with excellent judgement, making her a trusted advisor to our clients. In addition, Kelly has a wealth of workplace investigation knowledge and experience, which she uses to assist clients undergoing that difficult process, to get the best possible resolution.
krowell@belaw.co.nz
DDI 09 281 5320
Mobile 027 549 0399
Tanya Preston LLB (Hons.)
Associate
Tanya focuses on promptly identifying key issues and providing practical, strategic, commercial advice to our clients to achieve the preferred outcome. Confident, pragmatic and solution focused, Tanya is a specialist at helping clients navigate litigation and overcome issues arising from all aspects of employment law. She has represented clients at mediations and in the Employment Relations Authority.
Tanya joined BE from another boutique employment firm. Prior to that Tanya has worked in Immigration, Insurance and general Litigation practices, so brings a full range of knowledge to the team.
tpreston@belaw.co.nz
DDI 09 553 7175
Mobile 021 083 00644
Sam De La Mare LLB (Hons.)
Associate
Sam delivers insightful, well-researched and clever advice that gets our clients quickly to a solution. He is approachable, adaptable and skilled in dealing with the full range of complex employment law issues sensibly and efficiently. Since commencing in practice Sam has worked in a number of other legal areas as well as employment law and brings this valuable foundation in broader legal practice to his work with us.
Sam joins us after 3 years with a highly respected South Island firm, making the move back to Auckland to specialise in his discipline of choice in BE’s high-performing team.
sdelamare@belaw.co.nz
DDI 09 553 5390
Mobile 027 237 2723
Vijay Mistry LLB (Hons.) BSc
Associate
Vijay has made a strong start to his career with BE Employment Law, joining the firm at a time where our clients needed urgent assistance with issues arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic, including advice on interpreting constantly changing legislation, redundancies and health and safety. Vijay is now applying the skills he learned during this time to solving contemporary problems for our clients and providing skilled and thorough research assistance to the team in all the technical areas of law for both our advisory and dispute work. In addition, Vijay is honing his skills around employment agreements and policy drafting, privacy and other compliance issues for our employer clients.
Vijay joined BE Employment Law in 2021 whilst completing his Law (Honours) dissertation at the University of Auckland and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in October 2022.
vmistry@belaw.co.nz
DDI 09 930 9144
Mobile 021 0249 5207
Gordon Gore LLB BBus
Law Clerk
Gordon joins the BE Team with a strong academic background and experience working in a corporate environment. As well as his intellectual ability, Gordon’s approachable and enthusiastic style makes him a valuable member of our team, well equipped to provide skilled and thorough input and assistance on advisory, contentious and corporate support work. He is honing his skills with employment agreements and policy drafting, privacy advice, and other compliance issues for our employer clients.
Gordon completed his Bachelor of Laws (LLB) in 2024. He will be admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of New Zealand later this year.
ggore@belaw.co.nz
DDI 09 553 4310
Mobile 027 217 2187
Bailey Collier
Law Clerk
Bailey is working in the BE team as its 2025 Law Clerk, while he completes his LLB (Hons) at AUT.
With a strong academic background and a growing passion for employment law, Bailey is gaining hands on experience and providing valuable assistance to the team this year.
bcollier@belaw.co.nz
Myrneen McIntosh BEd DipTch
Practice Manager
Myrneen is a powerhouse! Dedicated, calm and detail orientated with a passion for optimising operations, she has strong organisational skills that she uses to ensure the firm runs like clockwork. Myrneen takes care of all of BE’s systems and procedures so that our team can focus on delivering excellent service to our clients in a high functioning, supported environment. Her energetic, can-do attitude and unflappable demeanour, brings a positive air to our whole working experience.
Before joining BE Employment Law, initially as our contracted Accounts Manager before taking up the wider Practice Management role, Myrneen provided top tier administrative support to two leading King’s Counsel, for over 8 years. In a former life, Myrneen worked in recruitment and HR in the UK, where she lived for over a decade.
mmcintosh@belaw.co.nz
Mobile 021 182 6830
Naomi Urika BCom
Legal PA
Naomi offers comprehensive and efficient support to the legal team in all aspects of BE Employment Law. From being the first point of contact for suppliers and internal staff, through to client care, IT, and helping to ensure the smooth day-to-day running of the office, Naomi is a key part of the team. With over four years of legal support experience, a Bachelor of Commerce degree, and her people-focussed warm personality, Naomi’s intelligent and calm presence helps us achieve the best outcomes for our clients.
nurika@belaw.co.nz
DDI 09 553 7172