New Crown Solicitor for Auckland announced after Brian Dickey’s departure

Meredith Connell partner Alysha McClintock has taken over the Crown Solicitor warrant for Auckland. Photo / Supplied

From cross-examining killers to leading a team of nearly 150 prosecutors, Alysha McClintock will be the next Crown Solicitor for Auckland.

The Meredith Connell senior partner’s promotion to the role was announced this afternoon.

The appointment means Meredith Connell (MC) maintains its position as Office of the Crown Solicitor for Auckland, a role it has held for more than 100 years.

McClintock takes over from Brian Dickey, who is moving to practice as a barrister at Bankside Chambers from February 20, the same day McClintock officially takes over as Crown Solicitor.

Dickey prosecuted the trial of Jesse Kempson, who murdered Grace Millane.

MC said McClintock had more than 20 years’ experience prosecuting for the Crown, Crown entities and government agencies.

“She has conducted High Court and District Court trials on all manner of serious crime, including murder, sexual and other serious violent offences and major drug crime over many years.”

Solicitor-General Una Jagose KC made the announcement today.

McClintock has prosecuted cases including the 2021 murder trial of Isaac Allen Harnwell, who was found not guilty of murder.

She was prosecutor the same year in the case of sex offender Nigel Patrick Poa, who was sentenced to preventive detention.

McClintock prosecuted Matthew Edmonds, who punched his ex-partner’s new boyfriend to death and was acquitted of murder but found guilty of manslaughter.

And in 2020, she was prosecutor in the murder trial of Peter Te Maru, who was found guilty of murdering his brother Marino Te Maru at Snells Beach.

McClintock said as Crown Solicitor she aimed to retain and respect the traditions and integrity of the role.

She said it was important for her to stand alongside and protect the interests of victims of crime and their whānau.

Brian Dickey is moving to a new job on February 20 after holding the role of Crown Solicitor since 2015. Photo / Michael Craig

And McClintock said she wanted to ensure she could help with Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann’s vision of a legal profession that better reflected contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand.

The firm said McClintock will lead a team of nearly 150 prosecutors, including nearly 30 who are full-time lawyers on Crown warrant work.

McClintock’s team will include Brett Tantrum, Robin McCoubrey, Henry Steele, Fiona Culliney, Sam McMullan, Matthew Nathan and Claire Paterson.

“Combined, the eight of us have conducted thousands of jury trials in the District and High Courts and hundreds of appearances before the Court of Appeal,” McClintock said.

“We have a collective responsibility to train and develop the next generation of senior Crown prosecutors who will serve Tāmaki Makaurau.”

Legal sources last year told the Herald McClintock was tipped to be the next Crown Solicitor for the country’s biggest city.

Crown warrants allow the solicitor, and their firm, to monopolise criminal prosecution work. The Auckland warrant generated $7.5 million in billings for Meredith Connell in 2021.

MC recently announced the appointment of its new chief executive, Sophie Schwass, who is returning home to New Zealand.

Schwass was most recently chief operating officer for the UK region at Clifford Chance, one of the world’s biggest law firms.