Polly Pope

Practice Areas

Polly is a highly regarded commercial litigator and dispute resolution specialist, at Bankside Chambers in Auckland, New Zealand. She has expertise in commercial, insolvency, construction, and financial regulatory enforcement disputes and investigations. Polly has been trusted to solve complex problems for clients including listed companies, banks, insolvency practitioners, and public entities. Through Bankside’s presence in Singapore, Polly can assist New Zealand companies to pursue international arbitration to resolve disputes. Polly also conducts New Zealand disputes work instructed by overseas law firms, companies and family offices.

Career

Polly was admitted to practise in New Zealand in 1999, and England and Wales in 2003, gaining international experience in the arbitration and litigation teams of leading global firms Debevoise & Plimpton and Clifford Chance. She joined the independent bar after over a decade as partner at preeminent law firm Russell McVeagh, including a term as Chair of the Partnership. 

Professional Memberships

Polly is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) and the Arbitrators' and Mediators Institute of New Zealand. Polly co-founded Women in Restructuring and Insolvency and is a member of Society for Construction Law, and the Restructuring, Insolvency and Turnaround Association of New Zealand.

Publications

Polly Pope contributed to Chambers and Partners' new International Arbitration 2024 guide, writing the chapters on New Zealand, Cook Islands, Fiji and Vanuatu.

She co-authored the New Zealand chapter in the 2021 Collective Redress and Class Actions Chambers and Partners Global Practice Guide.

She co-authored Consumer Credit, Laws of New Zealand (LexisNexis), and was editor of the arbitration chapters of Sim's Court Practice (LexisNexis).

Awards

Education