Our Team

Our strength is our people. Our collaborative approach, consistency of service and wide range of in-house legal expertise ensures the best possible results for our clients.

Our Team

Bruce Murray

Partner | LLB (Hons)

Michelle Clark

Partner | BA, LLB

Tenille Homes

Partner | BA, LLB (Hons)

Ash Prakash

Senior Associate | BA, LLB

Christine Oh

Associate | BA, LLB

Matthew Sims

Associate | LLB, BSc

Mary Zhou

Associate | LLB (Hons), BHSc

Kenton Starr

Solicitor | BSc/LLB

Toinette Mill

Registered Legal Executive

Amanda Anderson

Practice Manager | BCom,ACA

Susan Denning

Senior Secretary

Beth Nicol

Secretary

Sam McIntosh

Secretary

Fiona Moriarty

Trust Account Administrator

Kelly Nicholson

Administrator

Gloria Staninski

Receptionist

Jane Neill

Credit Controller

Shiraz Khan

Office Assistant

Armineh Edgar

Office Assistant

Nicole Tweeddale

Office Assistant

Our Team

VHP & YOU

When you contact a lawyer you should feel comfortable and confident in their abilities . Your lawyer should have a style and approach thats fits with you.

Our relationship with you is critical. Trust and open communication is our business.  We are approachable and polite. When you talk, we listen. Face to face we welcome the hard questions. We do everything within our power to make your legal experience as stress free as we can.

When you engage VHP you can relax knowing that we have got your back. We can assist you with everything from  conveyancing and business issues to family disputes and immigration services. Our solutions focused, in-house team offers a consistency of service that few other firms can.

Our team is encouraged to deepen their knowledge of all aspects of law and go beyond their area of expertise. This interdisciplinary approach strengthens our practice, facilitates collaboration and helps us to flag potential issues for clients. This means we can deliver the clearest, most effective strategies to settle your matters positively, as soon as possible. Our range of expertise means we handle the majority of your needs from one office.

Going to court is rarely the best way to resolve disputes. We work hard to find out of court solutions but sometimes we are left no option. We have a reputation for powerful advocacy. Our litigation team is highly skilled with decades of experience to draw on.  We take the hits so you don’t have to.

We pride ourselves on the ongoing relationships we have developed with our clients. Some have graciously made us feel like part of their family and their community.

The personal relationship you have with your lawyer is key to your success.  We find answers to problems that can sometimes seem insurmountable. We do not take risks for our clients. Instead we provide expert service and beneficial solutions that help people get the best out of their lives.

Our Team

For confidential service and expert advice contact the team that listens now.

Meet The Team
Back to Our People

Bruce Murray

|  General Litigation  |  Civil & Commercial Disputes  |  Employment  |  Property  |

Bruce has had a long career that has spanned most practise areas. He has helped clients navigate issues both in and out of Court, whether it involves their work and family life or their business affairs. He has been to the Privy Council and back. Bruce is skillful at analysing situations succinctly and can advise on civil litigation and dispute resolution, employment and commercial law, as well as relationship property.

A family connection and a love of history and language propelled Bruce into the legal profession. His experience in providing personalised attention over a raft of service areas has earned him the trust of clients for over three decades:

“A lawyer should be a conservative voice in people’s lives. We need to listen first to be able to give the right advice to people so they can make their own decision about risk.”

When he is away from the office, Bruce has been known to be an avid player of touch but now walks to keep fit. He is also is fluent in Spanish and will always say yes to a glass of top shelf tequila.

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Michelle Clark

|  Litigation  |  Immigration  |  Criminal  |  Employment  |

Michelle is no stranger to the Courts and her experience includes all areas of immigration, employment law, criminal (including jury trials in the District and High Court) and litigation.

Going the extra mile is second nature for Michelle. On the rare occasion when she cannot find you an answer the first time, she will persevere until a solution is found. She admits being ‘feisty’ and committed to obtaining successful outcomes for clients.

Michelle’s success and established reputation means the majority of her clients are from word of mouth referrals. Clients feel comfortable with Michelle from their first meeting; many have become friends and in some cases, extended family.

Law is more than a job for Michelle:

“Law challenges and excites me. VHP is not another tick the box law firm. VHP has a solid reputation in the Immigration field for taking on the difficult cases and challenging unfair and unlawful decisions in the High Court and Court of Appeal”.  

After the challenge of the working week, Michelle relishes spending her free time at the beach with her family, including her two young daughters and dog Lenny.

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Tenille Homes

|  Family  |  Litigation  |

Tenille has been practising law for over a decade, specialising in family and civil litigation matters. She graduated from Auckland University with a conjoint degree in Law (Honours) and Arts, with a major in psychology. During her career she has appeared in both the Family Court and High Court, as well as assisting in Court of Appeal cases and a recent appeal to the United Nations. She is hard working, personable and passionate about doing right by her clients. Tenille’s focus is on finding enduring resolutions to complex issues, quickly and with the minimum of fuss.

From parenting orders and adoptions to estate matters and relationship property, Tenille is an all-rounder who delivers a clear and coherent ‘roadmap’ to point her clients in the right direction:

“I am driven by achieving the best possible resolution for people who are sometimes at a very low point in their life.”

Tenille was born in South Africa, emigrating to New Zealand at a young age. She loves travelling back to visit her family and explore Kruger National Park. Out of the office and Court, Tenille enjoys quality time with her family and has a secret penchant for science fiction novels.

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Ash Prakash

|  Residential & Commercial Property  |  Estates & Trusts  |

Ash has a wealth of experience in Commercial and Property law.  He is hard working, driven and strives to get an understanding of his clients’ issues at first instance. His personable nature allows him to build strong relationships with his clients and as a result provide pragmatic, and cost effective legal advice to meet his clients’ needs.

Having a background in general practice, Ash also advises his clients across various other areas of the law including Trusts and Estate planning, Elder law and private client related matters.

Outside of work, Ash enjoys keeping busy and you can at times find him on the cricket field playing Club Cricket or “hacking” his way around the golf course.  Ash provides volunteer legal services to a local Citizen’s Advice Bureau and to various sporting clubs and organisations.

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Christine Oh

|  Immigration  | Litigation  |

Immigration and litigation are Christine’s specialties.

Christine relishes the variety and challenge that each case brings, as well as the opportunity to meet and represent clients of all backgrounds and cultures. When you talk to Christine about law, the words you hear from her most are “helping people.” This was, she says, her “motivation for practising law.”

Christine was born in Seoul, raised in Auckland but has also spent time living in Japan. She is particularly skilled at languages, being fluent in Korean, English and Japanese and is currently learning Mandarin. Christine is also a foodie at heart who tries out new restaurants whenever she can.

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Matthew Sims

|  Residential & Commercial Property   |  Estates & Trusts  |

Matthew has strong experience across a broad range of conveyancing, commercial, and private client matters, including wills, trusts, and estates. He provides thorough and pragmatic advice, with a focus on achieving practical outcomes for clients. Matthew enjoys helping people and always aims to provide advice in a way that’s easy to understand so that clients can make fully informed decisions about their affairs.

In his spare time, Matthew spends plenty of time with friends and family, and enjoys travel, music and a range of sports.

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Mary Zhou

|  Immigration  |  Litigation  |

Mary is a specialist immigration lawyer who has extensive experience in all aspects of immigration law, including visa applications, appeals, complaints, special direction requests and other complex matters at the appellant level.

She is able to provide tailored legal advice for both private and corporate clients, assisting them with all aspects of their immigration matters, ranging from small scale individual requirements to long term, large scale projects.

Due to her background in health sciences, Mary is also experienced in dealing with medical issues as part of the immigration process.

In addition to being fluent in English, Mary is able to communicate in Mandarin and the Shanghai dialect.

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Kenton Starr

|  Litigation  |  Criminal  |  Immigration |

What matters most to Kenton is that his clients receive the best he has to offer. He particularly enjoys bringing clarity to complex processes in his areas of expertise and helping clients navigate challenging circumstances. With Kenton, his clients know they have someone professional and knowledgeable who is decidedly in their corner.

After hours, Kenton likes to take short excursions into the local native bush, or catch up on his favourite comedy shows.

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Toinette Mill

|  Residential & Commercial Property  |  Estates & Trusts  |

Toinette is a Legal Executive in our property team and has worked in law firms since 2005.  Starting her career as a Legal Secretary, she then completed her Legal Executive qualification in 2009.  Toinette took a break for a few years, becoming a mum to two girls and assisting a friend with the administration work in their business.  She returned to the legal field in 2014.

Toinette enjoys assisting clients to achieve their goals in both property and personal matters.

“I am always pleased to hear my clients’ happy voices when I phone them to advise their settlement is complete”.

In her spare time Toinette enjoys spending time with her family, she loves music, biking and going for long beach walks.

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Amanda Anderson

Amanda has over 30 years’ accounting and administration experience, working in law firms of various sizes.  Amanda studied part time at Auckland University, completing a Bachelor of Commerce in 1999, she then continued on to become an Associate Chartered Accountant in 2008.

Amanda is a member of Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand, the Auckland Association of Legal Administrators, and ALPMA.

Outside of work Amanda enjoys watching a good movie, exploring new places, and spending time with family and friends.

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Susan Denning

Susan is a senior secretary in our litigation/immigration team. She has worked for over 25 years in Auckland law firms, gaining diverse range of experiences.  Susan enjoys many facets of the job particularly the IT component.  She has strong interpersonal and communication skills coupled with the ability to prioritise and manage multiple responsibilities efficiently and accurately.  Susan is a hard working self-starter committed to providing service to clients.

Susan’s weekends include the regular Sunday movie night with her family and walking along Auckland’s waterfront.

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Beth Nicol

Beth joined us in early 2018 as a legal secretary in our litigation team.

After completing her tertiary studies Beth started her working life in the UK, moving to New Zealand in 2015.  Since immigrating to New Zealand Beth worked in administration and support roles in construction before joining the legal industry.

In her spare time Beth appreciates the sights and sounds of New Zealand on her frequent road trips, as well as live music gigs.

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Sam McIntosh

Sam has had extensive experience working in the legal industry both in New Zealand and overseas, with a strong background in conveyancing.

In her spare time Sam enjoys travelling, socialising with friends, and cheering on her favourite sports teams.

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Fiona Moriarty

Fiona joined VHP in 2015, she looks after the client funds in our Trust Account. You may also contact Fiona for credit card payments.

Outside of work Fiona enjoys long walks, gardening, cross stitch, and reading.

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Kelly Nicholson

Kelly has several years’ experience in government and corporate sectors. She recently completed a double degree at AUT in Law (Honours) and Business, majoring in Finance. Kelly is currently a PhD candidate at AUT, researching how institutions enable economic harm in Aotearoa, New Zealand.

Kelly has received the following awards:
The College of Law New Zealand Prize for the best Part I student – AUT South Campus
Deans Honour Roll (Business) 2020
Top 5% in Paper Award for Personal Finance

AUT Law School Honour award for best honours dissertation (2023).  Kelly’s dissertation looked at whether the Family Court’s response to vexatious litigation meets the needs of post-separation survivor families.

 

When she is not working or studying, Kelly enjoys rock’n’roll dancing, quilting, and indoor netball.

 

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Gloria Staninski

Gloria joined VHP in September 2016 and has had several years’ experience working in the law sector.

Out of work, Gloria’s interests include reading, movies, baking and trying out new cafes and restaurants.

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Jane Neill

Jane has more than 23 years legal accounting experience working in both large and small firms.

Jane’s qualifications include the NZIM Diploma in Management and the Legal Executive Certificate.

Outside of work, Jane enjoys walking, gardening and genealogy research.

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Shiraz Khan

Shiraz is currently a student at Auckland University of Technology. Shiraz began his studies in 2019, and is doing a double degree of Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Business with a Major in Marketing. Once he completes his studies, he is interested in commercial law.

When Shiraz isn’t studying, he enjoys driving and loves to drift at Hampton Downs whenever he has free time.

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Armineh Edgar

Armineh is a third year law student at Auckland University of Technology. Since Armineh began her studies in 2020, she has taken interest in Criminal law and Public law, specifically the work undertaken by the Ombudsman.

In her free time, Armineh enjoys reading, attending dinner club and enjoys curating new food combinations.

 

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Nicole Tweeddale

Nicole is studying Business at Auckland University of Technology, majoring in Finance with minors in Accounting and Economics. She is the Outreach Officer and Marketing Executive for AUT Women in Business and an active member of the AUT Investment Club.

In her spare time, she enjoys playing tennis, stunt doubling for movies, and managing her sustainable clothing business.