Mihai Pascariu

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Disputes; Corporate Governance; Commercial Law; Banking and Finance; Securities; Restructuring and Insolvency.

AWARDS

• ‘Next Generation Lawyer’, Legal 500 Asia Pacific, 2019.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor of Laws (LLB), Auckland University
• MBChB Carol Davilla Institute of Medicine and Pharmacy – Bucharest, Romania
• Admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in New Zealand

SELECTED REPRESENTATIONS

• Acted in relation to investigations by the Commerce Commission of financial services providers and global pharmaceutical companies for misleading advertising.
• Acted in Mainzeal Group’s claim against its former directors.
• Acted in the receivership of Reef Shipping which involved complex disputes and litigation in multiple jurisdictions across Pacific, including Hong Kong, Fiji and Tahiti; the receivership of Torchlight Fund LP which involved Trans-Tasman security enforcement and litigation in New Zealand and Cayman Islands in respect of a lending facility of $35 million and for the administrators and liquidators of Dick Smith Electronics Group in New Zealand and Australia.
• Acting in litigation, providing advice and training to clients on governance and regulatory compliance matters under Companies Act 1996, Privacy Act 2020, Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act 2003, Fair Trading Act 1986, Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017, Financial Service Providers (Registration and Dispute Resolution) Act 2008 and Insurance (Prudential Supervision) Act 2010.
• Acted for joint venture partners in a multimillion dollars cross-border claim involving New Zealand assets against TCA Fund Management Group Corp, a US investment fund placed in receivership by SEC for fraudulent investment lending practices.
• Acted for Clearwater Construction Limited and DH Steel Limited in a multimillion contract dispute with Scentre Properties (New Zealand) Limited (subsidiary of Scentre Capital Assets Pty Limited – Westfield Group) in respect the construction of Westfield Newmarket Mall.
• Acted for Chinese investors in relation to a $17 million claim in relation to a joint venture investment in two wineries: Matakana Estate and Waihopai Valley Vineyards.
• Acted for the Canadian beneficiaries and trustees of two Cook Islands International Trusts, in proceedings involving assets in excess of Can$20 million in the High Court of the Cook Islands and parallel litigation in the Cayman Islands; Alberta, Canada; St Christopher and Nevis and Singapore
• Acted for Westpac New Zealand in successfully defending, inter alia, the first “shadow director” claim against a bank in New Zealand.
• Acted for the developer of a billion-dollar land development in judicial review proceedings under the Local Government Act 2002.