Mary is a specialist local government and resource management lawyer, fast-track approvals panel chair, and public authority investigator. Previously a partner at Tauranga firm Cooney Lees Morgan, she joined the independent bar in September 2025.

With over 25 years’ litigation, advisory and dispute resolution experience, Mary appears regularly in courts and tribunals throughout the country and has led several novel cases in the Supreme Court.

Mary advises private clients and local authorities on all aspects of resource management and local government law and policy, including subdivision and development, coastal processes and natural hazards, freshwater, Māori rights and interests, public works acquisitions and Reserves Act matters, consultation and engagement, governance and probity, local authority elections, privacy and information issues, and judicial review and declaration proceedings.

A past President of the Resource Management Law Association, Mary has a particular interest in resource management reform and was consulted by the Randerson Review Panel in relation to reform of the RMA. Mary regularly speaks at conferences on this subject.  She sits on the New Zealand Law Society’s Environmental Law Committee.

Mary chairs expert panels under the Fast-Track Approvals Act 2024. She is the external designated officer for protected disclosure referrals for several local authorities under the Protected Disclosures (Protection of Whistleblowers) Act 2022 and investigates local authority Code of Conduct complaints.

Mary has a Masters of Commercial Law, specialising in competition and consumer law and intellectual property. She maintains an interest in those areas.

Mary is based in Mount Maunganui and accepts instructions throughout New Zealand.