Stacey has over 20 years of experience as a lawyer successfully representing financial institutions, other corporate clients, public sector entities and directors and officers in significant litigation and regulatory matters. After starting her legal career in Wellington, Stacey spent 11 years working for Paul Weiss in New York (selected as the best litigation firm in the United States by The American Lawyer in 2006) before returning home in 2010 and becoming a litigation partner at the MinterEllisonRuddWatts firm.
Stacey has since been recognised as a leading lawyer in New Zealand by the Chambers International Law Directory, The Legal 500, Legal Media Group and NZ Lawyer. She was named the Law Fuel Lawyer of the Year in 2015 for New Zealand. Stacey also was selected in the NZ Lawyer 2015 Hot List and Law Fuel’s Power List for her community work.
Stacey’s pro bono legal work in New York included working in women’s prisons to help imprisoned mothers and domestic violence victims, acting for Muslim refugees, providing research assistance to the UN International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda on genocide as a war crime and volunteering on projects following the September 11 terrorist attacks. Stacey also spent time in Ghana, Africa, working for a NGO and assisting with village outreach programs intended to free exploited girls. Stacey also worked for the Ghanaian Police Force to assist with investigations and prosecutions alleging sexual violence.
Since returning to New Zealand, Stacey founded the WHO DID YOU HELP TODAY social movement which seeks to encourage us all to help each other more and the Who Did You Help Today charitable trust. She has been recognised as a Blake Leader, Women of Influence Award winner, Kiwibank Local Hero recipient and NEXT Woman of the Year finalist for her work with women and children. That work has included developing Mothers Project, a programme in all New Zealand female prisons to help mothers maintain meaningful relationships with their children and seek to reduce the likelihood of re-offending. Stacey also developed the Homework Help Club programme to assist children in low decile primary schools around the country with their homework and to obtain access to different role models. Stacey has similarly worked to develop HelpTank, a digital platform that matches skilled volunteers with community projects.
Stacey seeks to provide thought leadership by regularly writing and speaking at conferences, events and schools on topics such as the importance of diversity, contribution and volunteering. She also co-authored the 2016 Thomson Reuters book Health and Safety at Work in New Zealand: Know the Law, which covers all the essential elements of the new Health and Safety at Work Act.
Having been a nationally ranked New Zealand women’s tennis player and member of the New Zealand Women’s Ultimate Team, Stacey also was a Wellington U21 representative netball player and has competed in multisport events including Ironman.
Most importantly, Stacey is the mother to four children.
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