Paul Beverley

Paul leads the environment and Māori law team in the Wellington office and specialises in Resource Management Act consenting and processes, Māori and Treaty settlement law and negotiations and conservation law. 

He appears in a range of courts and tribunals including the Environment Court, High Court and Court of Appeal, and Boards of Inquiry and Special Tribunals on a range of RMA and environmental/conservation law matters.

Paul advises the Crown on the environmental and conservation law aspects of a number of negotiations with Māori, including Treaty settlements and negotiations under the Marine and Coastal Area Act.  Paul also advises local authorities on legal obligations to Māori, and has published widely on Māori interests under environmental legislation.

Prior to joining Buddle Findlay, Paul spent four years as a senior lawyer at the Department of Conservation.  Paul is a leading specialist in conservation law, including concessions and biodiversity issues.  He advises on Conservation Act, National Parks Act, Marine Reserves Act, Reserves Act, Wildlife Act and Marine Mammals Protection Act issues.

Paul is a member of the World Conservation Union’s Commission on Environmental Law.

Recent work includes:

• Appearing for Contact Energy in Environment Court proceedings on a successful appeal in relation to a windfarm
• Advising the Auckland Council on a range of Māori legal issues
• Advising Riverstone Holdings on its applications under the Conservation Act for a monorail through 29km of public conservation land in Southland
• Counsel advising the Board of Inquiry in relation to the New Zealand King Salmon RMA applications for aquaculture in the Marlborough Sounds
• Advising the New Zealand Transport Agency on its RMA applications in relation to the Peka Peka to Otaki road of national significance
• Advising the Crown in the following Treaty settlement negotiations:
  • Waikato River (co-governance and co-management)
  • Rangitaiki River (co-governance and co-management)
  • Te Tau Ihu (top of the South Island – 8 iwi)
  • Te Hiku (Northland – 5 iwi)
  • Ngāti Manawa and Ngāti Whare
  • Whanganui River (current)
  • Ngai Tuhoe – Te Urewera National Park (current)
• Advising and assisting the Crown and local authorities on the design and negotiation of co-governance and co-management arrangements with Māori
• Appointed by the Ministers of Conservation and Fisheries to Chair the Subantarctic Marine Protection Planning Forum
• Appearing in front of the Board of Inquiry on the Proposed New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement under the RMA
• Advising on the Marine and Coastal Area (Takutai Moana) Act including assisting the Crown in negotiations with iwi on the East Cape and advising the Crown in the revision of the Foreshore and Seabed Act 2004
• Appearing before a Special Tribunal in relation to a water conservation order in Otago, and in a hearing on raising the level of a hydro electric power storage lake in Otago
• Appearing in the High Court and Environment Court on a range of judicial reviews, appeals and declarations on environmental matters, including under the Conservation Act, Wildlife Act and RMA