I am a pragmatic, commercially-minded lawyer, with over 15 years’ experience working in one of New Zealand’s top commercial law firms. I have a passion for working closely alongside my clients to understand their business, environment, challenges and needs in order to craft robust legal arrangements that secure the required benefits for my client, and appropriately allocate risks to each party. I really enjoy learning about the technical and operational sides of my clients’ businesses and projects, as I feel that makes my advice much more useful and appropriate for them.
While at university, I was lucky to be selected to participate in Bell Gully’s summer clerk programme. After finishing university, I returned to Bell Gully in a full time role. During my time at Bell Gully, I worked in various teams and on many varied commercial projects. These included banking and finance, M&A, oil and gas, geothermal, defence procurement, construction, major projects and public private partnerships (PPPs). As well as these key areas, I have also provided advice with respect to a myriad of smaller commercial contracts. I have always enjoyed learning about new industries, and during my time at Bell Gully I was privileged to work on many projects of varying complexity and with many great clients, some of whom I am pleased to now call friends.
At the end of 2016, having spent over 15 years at Bell Gully, I decided it was time for a change. I am now the principal of Sykes Limited.
I love being part of a team, and working together towards a common goal. Although I am a lawyer by training, my role often extends to beyond the strictly legal aspects. Clients appreciate my ability to look beyond the legals and to test some of the technical aspects with the technical experts. Gaining this deeper understanding has allowed me, in many cases, to reduce risk to the client by ferreting out errors or inconsistencies in technical requirements, or to tighten the language used to make sure the meaning is clear to all parties – the way it should be!
Qualifications
Degrees: LLB (Hons)/BCom
Admitted: 2002
Contact Lucy Sykes
Sykes Limited
Level 8
23 Waring Taylor Street
Wellington 6011
Email: lucy.sykes@sykeslc.co.nz
Mobile: +64 21 1126 225
Lucy’s areas of practice
Procurement and contracting
Construction and infrastructure
Public private partnerships