About Speakman Law

Our History

The firm was founded in mid 2010 by its principal, Peter Speakman who has over 30 years experience in law as a specialist in tax and company law.  He had been a partner for many years, firstly, for 9 years, at Brookfields and later, for just under 6 years, at Kensington Swan. Clients are nearly all corporate, a mixture of multi-nationals and privately owned small medium enterprises.  Peter works closely with numerous accountants, helped by having majored in accounting while doing his Bachelor of Commerce degree at Auckland University.  

Predominantly Peter operates in the corporate area providing tax and commercial advice. He has acted on many acquisitions and reconstructions, established many joint ventures and limited partnerships and is constantly involved in shareholder matters, both agreements and disputes.  Peter also has considerable experience in the front end of tax disputes, dealing with the Inland Revenue.  He has been keynote speaker at a Corporate and Finance Tax Seminar speaking on the subject of tax disputes and resolution and in 2008 was a keynote speaker for the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants at their National Tax Conference speaking on limited partnerships. 

Recently, Peter has authored a book, published by CCH, entitled "A Practical Guide to Tax Penalties in New Zealand".  He was also joint NZ reporter for the International Fiscal Association in 2010 on Cross Border Restructuring.  Outside of law his time is adorned with family activities, in particular the social and sporting lives of his 3 active boys.

Peter is supported in the practice by Natalie Stewart, who is expert in corporate and commercial matters. Natalie had formerly been a senior associate at Minter Ellison and before that worked at Simpson Grierson.  Natalie has over 15 years experience in law.  Behind the scenes at Speakman Law is the office manager, Wendy Hepburn.  Wendy has worked with Peter for about as long as it takes light to reach here from the most distant stars.

OUR EXPERTISE

At Speakman Law you will only deal with experts.  In addition to a law degree, as mentioned above Peter has a commerce degree majoring in accounting, and indeed, in his university years, Peter gained working experience in an accountancy practice. Peter's experience and commercial acumen means we can give you the best possible commercial and legal advice.

OUR Charges

Our charges recognise the realities of the current economic environment our clients are working in.  Where we can, we will give you an estimate or quotation so you are in control of expenditure and the level of service you need.

Terms of engagement

 Our standard terms of engagement (pdf) are available in full if you wish to read these.