Samuel Jeffs

• BCL(Dist) – University of Oxford, 2018
• BA/LLB(Hons) – University of Auckland, 2016

Sam Jeffs is a barrister specialising in commercial and civil disputes. Sam advises and acts for parties to disputes involving contracts, joint ventures, construction projects, and trusts and estates. He has appeared at all levels of the judicial system, including in the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, as well as in construction adjudications and arbitrations. Although his practice is focused on Auckland, Sam acts for parties and in disputes across New Zealand.

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In recent years, Sam has been involved in major commercial litigation, often as part of a team of barristers led by King’s Counsel. Examples of this work include: acting for the principal in a $100 million construction dispute, which involved a 13-week arbitral hearing; acting for representative plaintiffs in two class actions, one involving the collapse of CBL Corporation and the other involving allegedly defective building products; acting for a local authority with a $350 million claim against its former insurance broker; acting for parties said to have received assets valued in excess of $15 million in breach of trust; and acting to support the interests of hundreds of thousands of account holders with Cryptopia, a failed New Zealand cryptocurrency exchange.

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Recent examples of Sam’s work as sole counsel includes: acting for an ahu whenua trust seeking the return of misappropriated carbon credits and defending a claim for breach of a long-term forestry agreement; acting for the vendor of a share sale agreement, who successfully struck out a claim for breach of contract and specific performance brought by the purchaser; acting in a dispute between family members concerning various properties in Auckland and monies misappropriated in breach of trust; and acting for various parties in disputes over commercial and residential construction projects.  

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Sam’s experience is not confined to commercial disputes, with recent instructions involving issues of Māori land law in the Court of Appeal, appeals from decisions of the Electricity Authority to the High Court, and assisting with an appeal from an electoral petition in Tonga.

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Sam graduated from the University of Oxford with a BCL (Distinction) and the University of Auckland with BA/LLB(Hons) degrees, where he was a Senior Scholar for both Law and Arts. Sam won the Stout Shield mooting competition at Auckland, as well as the national competitions for mooting and witness examination. He represented New Zealand at the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot in Washington, DC. Sam was also Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Auckland University Law Review.

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Sam’s career has always been at the bar, giving him a unique perspective as an independent and commercially-minded adviser and advocate. Sam has been a member of the New Zealand Bar Association’s Council for some years and also sits on the NZBA’s Audit, Risk and Governance Committee.

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Re Cryptopia Ltd [2020] NZHC 728

Sam represented the interests of 900,000 account holders of Cryptopia Ltd, a Christchurch-based cryptocurrency exchange, in High Court proceedings, alongside Peter Watts QC. In a Commonwealth-leading decision, the account holders were successful in establishing cryptocurrencies are property and were subject to trusts in their favour.

Electrix Ltd v The Fletcher Construction Co Ltd [2020] NZHC 918

Sam acted for Electrix, alongside Kelly Quinn, in a four-week High Court trial, which saw Electrix awarded $7.5 million for its successful quantum merit claim. Fletcher Construction's counterclaims were dismissed.

Construction arbitration between principal and contractor

Sam was part of the counsel team led by Les Tayor QC, representing the principal in a very large construction arbitration concerning a commercial development in Auckland. The hearing lasted some three months across the second half of 2020. Due to the impact of COVID-19, portions of the hearing were conducted remotely.

Brown v New Zealand Basing Ltd [2017] NZSC 139

Sam acted, with Philip Skelton QC, for two Cathay Pacific pilots who succeeded on conflict of laws issues, touching on discrimination law, in the Supreme Court.

Livingstone v CBL Corporation Ltd (In Liq)

Sam is part of the counsel team representing a class of shareholders claiming compensation for alleged breaches of the Financial Markets Conduct Act by CBL Corporation, a collapsed publicly-listed insurer.

Property Brokers Ltd v Hastings McLeod Real Estate Ltd [2020] NZHC 271

Sam acted, with Andrew Brown QC, for Property Brokers in successfully obtaining an injunction in the High Court to restrain the use of a trade name for passing-off and breach of the Fair Trading Act.