Bringing over 30 years of litigation experience and judicial service to every dispute, with a commitment to outcomes that are fair, efficient, and lasting.
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Grant Brittain KC is a former Associate Judge of the High Court of New Zealand, now practising in alternative dispute resolution. He offers services in mediation, arbitration, and facilitation of conferences of expert witnesses.
Grant practised as a litigator for more than 30 years before appointment to the bench. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 2017 and an Associate Judge in 2022. He holds an LLM (Dist) and is a Fellow of the Arbitrators and Mediators Institute of New Zealand Inc (Mediation and Arbitration).
Grant has developed broad knowledge of the law, with experience in all aspects of disputes involving rights and obligations arising in all aspects of commerce, construction, insolvency, trusts, estates, and relationship property.
I represented parties in mediations from the early 1990s, honing my skills through considerable practical experience as counsel in hundreds of mediations, including many multi-party disputes with complex issues.
I undertook formal training with LEADR NZ (now Resolution Institute) and the Fellowship Programme in mediation with AMINZ. I began accepting appointments as mediator before my appointment to the bench, mediating more than 30 disputes, followed by numerous judicial settlement conferences between 2022 and 2026 — with a very high rate of settlement.
Every dispute and its participants are different, but patterns emerge. I start with informal discussions with the counsel involved to explore the best way for the parties to proceed.
I am comfortable commencing a mediation after a prior exchange of written statements of position, or no exchange of information at all. Where the parties intend an evaluative process, a pre-mediation exchange of written statements and additional information may assist.
I appeared as counsel in numerous arbitrations and completed the Fellowship Programme in arbitration with AMINZ, accepting appointments as arbitrator before my appointment to the bench.
I delivered over 200 reserved judgments as an Associate Judge. None have been overturned by the Court of Appeal.
I will work with counsel for the parties to agree a cost-effective process. Many parties are looking for a faster process — arbitration's flexibility is a significant advantage. Costs can be reduced by:
I am comfortable adapting the process to meet the parties' needs, or following a conventional adversarial process. I will deliver an award promptly regardless of the process adopted.
Under the amended High Court Rules in force since 1 January 2026, there is likely to be more case management of conferences of experts, with conferences taking place earlier in the life of a proceeding. Skilled facilitation of these conferences greatly increases the likelihood that experts will find common ground and commit to it.
I am experienced in dealing with complex issues of expert evidence and managing experts. As counsel I undertook a significant amount of defective building litigation, involving experts from many disciplines.
I have experience with valuation evidence, forensic accounting evidence, and medical opinions.
I welcome enquiries about any matter you consider might benefit from mediation, arbitration, or facilitation of an expert conference.
Please feel free to call me directly to discuss whether I am the right person for your dispute, and how I might be able to assist.