With the recent reforms to the Accredited Employer Work Visa Scheme, new visas, changes to the residence rules and the false and misleading information rules the Annual Immigration Law Conference is here to support you. Addressing these issues is more urgent than ever. Gain practical strategies for presenting and reviewing evidence. Receive insights into IPT processes and approaches from the IPT Tribunal, ensuring you are equipped with best practice tips, updated case law and that you can manage the challenges and opportunities in immigration law. Stay informed and enhance your practice with the knowledge you need.

Presenters

Deputy Chair Debra Smallholme, Deputy Chair, Immigration and Protection Tribunal
Debra Smallholme was appointed as a member of the Immigration and Protection Tribunal in 2015. Prior to this, Debra spent nine years working as a barrister and solicitor, to partnership level, in Gisborne. During this time, she was also the District Inspector for Mental Health Services for four years and held roles as lawyer for child and counsel to assist the court. Having always had a strong interest in access to justice, and after three children and a move to Tāmaki Makaurau, Debra began her work as a tribunal member. She worked for 15 years as a Disputes Tribunal Referee and, during that time, for eight years as a Tenancy Tribunal Adjudicator. She has also determined ACC reviews and child support reviews and reviewed grants of legal aid. Debra works in all appeal work in the IPT and is responsible for leading the residence appeal work.


Lauren Qiu, Principal, Stay Legal
Lauren is the Principal at Stay Legal. She has presented at national seminars and conferences on immigration law. Lauren is an immigration law commentary author for Thomson Reuters. Lauren is currently a Committee Member of The Law Association’s (formerly Auckland District Law Society) Immigration & Refugee Law Committee, a Member of the Tauranga Migrant Settlement Network (an Immigration New Zealand led Welcoming Communities initiative), and a Volunteer Immigration Solicitor at the Citizens Advice Bureau (Tauranga). Previously, she was a guest lecturer, teaching aspiring immigration advisers at Toi Ohomai Institute of Technology.


Sonny Lam, Consultant, Queen City Law
Sonny is a former Immigration New Zealand Officer. He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in 2007, practicing in the area of employment and family law for around 7 years before joining Immigration New Zealand. He has a balanced understanding of the New Zealand Immigration system having served with INZ in multiple officer roles before being called back to private practice as a lawyer in 2015. Sonny’s focus is on helping families. He has personally taken part in assisting thousands of people obtain residency, whether as an Immigration officer or as an Immigration lawyer. He has particular expertise in the SMC Skilled Migrant Category Residence applications, particularly in Immigration Appeals to the IPT on residency decline decisions. His family law background and his former experience as an Immigration Officer in the partnership assessment teams will give you the edge in preparing for a partnership application. Due to the unique mixture of his background, Sonny is also highly in demand in providing Employment and Immigration business advisory advice for companies hiring migrant workers, including applying for the legalisation of overstayer workers which is known as a s61 application. He has acted on Immigration/ Employment matters for various international companies for their New Zealand business interests, including collective bargaining with migrant workers.


Hannah Alcantara, Lawyer, Queen City Law
Hannah holds a Bachelor of Law and Commerce Conjoint from the University of Auckland and has subsequently been admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor. She has considerable expertise in the immigration sector, having worked in the field for more than three years. She is proficient in handling diverse visa applications and crafting comprehensive submissions, including Potentially Prejudicial Information (PPI) Responses, Appeals to the Immigration and Protection Tribunal (IPT), and Ministerial Special Directions.


Charlotte Summers, BDes LLB LLM GCNZIA GDipArts(Politics) GCertArts, IAA Licensed Immigration Adviser
Charlotte previously worked for INZ for 18 months following the completion of her LLB before commencing work with one of New Zealand’s leading immigration companies, Pathways to New Zealand Ltd, in Hamilton in October 2012. Due to the restrictions of the Immigration Advisers Licencing Act and the 12 month stand down requirement, Charlotte initially worked in the role of Client Relationship Manager while completing her GCNZIA and LLM degree. Charlotte relocated to the Pathways Wellington Office in January 2016 where she has continued to develop her particular expertise in appeal, deportation, ministerial requests, character and health matters. In regard to immigration-related health matters Charlotte’s expertise has contributed to successful outcomes from children with ASD at all ends of the spectrum through to heart conditions in young and elderly adults, and applicants with cancer, HIV, hepatitis, psychiatric matters and very rare health conditions. Charlotte’s legal background and her extensive experience with Pathways makes her especially well credentialed to present on immigration health matters.


Shi Sheng Cai (Shoosh), Senior Associate, Copeland Ashcroft
Shi Sheng Cai (Shoosh) is a Senior Associate at Copeland Ashcroft and regularly acts for employers to help with immigration matters. He has over 7 years of work experience in the immigration sector including experience in the areas of global mobility, corporate immigration, investor migration and expertise with complex New Zealand immigration matters. Shoosh is a member of the Law Association Immigration Committee and is an author for Thomson Reuters Human Rights Law resource. You will find Shoosh "a great guy to deal with". He enjoys working with government officers and is a critical thinker with an insightful legal mind.


Simon Laurent, Principal, Laurent Law
Since starting practice representing refugees in the mid-1990s, Simon Laurent has developed a strong reputation as a leader in the Immigration field. He has chaired and presented seminars for both lawyers and immigration advisers, and has been called upon to provide industry comment for the media. For several years Simon sat on the Council of the Auckland District Law Society. He was a founding member of the Society's Immigration and Refugee Committee and has been a past Convenor. From 2010 to 2012 he was Chairman of the New Zealand Association of Migration and Investment. Laurent Law accepts instructions to solve complex immigration situations, including referrals from other lawyers and advisers.


Simon Graham, Partner, Young Hunter Lawyer
Simon is a litigation partner at Young Hunter Lawyers. He is responsible for leading the firm’s immigration and human rights team. As part of his role, he regularly appears before specialist Tribunals, and the Courts. Simon specialises in providing advice and representation with respect to all aspects of immigration litigation. This includes deportation appeals, refugee and protected status appeals, residence appeals, judicial reviews and High Court appeals, and criminal matters (including immigration fraud) which have the potential to affect a person’s immigration status. He is a member of the New Zealand Immigration and Refugee Law Committee of the New Zealand Law Society.


Richard Small, Director, Pacific Legal Ltd
Richard Small has over 22 years of specialist experience as a lawyer in his field. He is a member of the Auckland District Law Society Immigration and Refugee Law Committee. He has held various New Zealand Law Society Immigration Committee positions and is often quoted in national media as an immigration expert. He co-presented the New Zealand Law Society submission to Parliament on what became the Immigration Act 2009. Richard served on the Board of Directors of the New Zealand Association of Migration Investment (NZAMI) from 2015 to 2018, the largest peak body for immigration advisers in New Zealand. He was the Association's Policy Chair in 2017/18 and played a key role in submissions on a range of major changes to instructions and processes during that time. Pacific Legal ltd Richard's firm has offices in Auckland and Wellington and covers a wide range of immigration work. The firm is known both for its work individual cases but also in its reform work. The firm has won local and international recognition for its work. It covers the full ambit of immigration work from humanitarian to business and investment visas. Richard is now based in the Auckland office and leads of team of 5 staff who each have considerable experience in their own fields.


Marcus Beveridge, Managing Director, Queen City Law
Marcus Beveridge is the Managing Director of Queen City Law NZ Limited. His main areas of practice are construction and property law, commercial law, foreign investment, real estate services and immigration. Marcus has developed expertise in business-based immigration and has acted on literally 100's of successful business-based immigration applications over the best part of 3 decades. Many of these clients have subsequently become major clients of his firm. The total amount of business immigration funds invested in NZ in the last decade is close to NZ$10 Billion. Marcus is a regular commentator on immigration based issues on national Radio & TV and has presented and chaired many NZ Immigration Law conferences over the years. Marcus has also recently been on several Working Groups and Immigration Reference Groups liaising with senior INZ management about assorted immigration issues. His firm comprises one of NZ’s largest immigration law teams. Marcus was formerly Chairman of NZAMI and Convenor of the New Zealand Law Society Immigration Committee.