Chris Mitchell has worked in local government and resource management law since 1982.
In Local Government
From 1982-1992 he worked for the Wellington City Council as a lawyer, and was City Solicitor from 1991. He undertook a broad range of commercial, property and general litigation work. In that time he also had responsibility for much of the Council’s planning litigation, and appeared frequently in the Planning Tribunal (now the Environment Court). From the late 1980’s he was involved in the local implementation of local government restructuring, and in the sale of a number of the Council’s businesses such as public transport, retail electricity, milk distribution and meat processing.
In the planning area, he was centrally involved in a number of key initiatives, including the planning for the Lambton Harbour precinct, the CBD urban form and height controls, and a number of the City’s ‘heritage’ precincts.
In private practice
From 1992 to 2006 Chris was a partner in the Australasian law firm Phillips Fox (now DLA Piper). He was instrumental in establishing the firm’s RMA and local government practice groups, which are now among the most successful in New Zealand.
He advised a range of local authorities, and agencies working in the local government sector. Much of this work was in the RMA area, particularly in the ‘first generation’ of Plans, and also in consents for major infrastructural works such as waste water treatment, landfills, roads, civic areas and marinas.
In 2007 he established Mitchell Law to practice primarily in the RMA and local government areas.
He has been appointed as an independent hearings commissioner in many cases, by a range of local authorities. He is accredited under sections 39A and 39B with a chairing endorsement. He chaired the recently completed hearings on Palmerston North City Council’s district plan sectional review.
He has also undertaken significant RMA work outside of the local government sector, and has been involved in projects such as airports, forestry, quarries, coal mining, retail, and service stations. Subdivision work has included unit title and airspace developments, as well as conventional residential and commercial work.
Chris has acted as counsel both in the Environment Court and in local authority hearings on many occasions. He has also been counsel in hearings in senior courts on appeals, declarations and judicial review cases. He has also acted as a mediator in environmental disputes.
He has been an adjunct faculty member of Victoria University of Wellington’s Law School since 2008, and taught the Resource Management Law Course (LAWS318) in 2019.
‘Core’ local government work has included governance and members, conflicts, elections, rating and other revenue mechanisms, official information and meetings. From 2002, there has been an increasing emphasis on compliance with the decision-making processes required under the Local Government Act 2002, and Chris has advised a number of Councils and the Office of the Auditor-General on these issues.
Chris has advised on the review and drafting of a number of bylaws under both the 1974 and 2002 legislation, as well as those made under a variety of other statutes.
In the property area, Chris has worked extensively on issues arising under the Reserves Act, specific local legislation, the ‘endowment’ provisions of the LGA, and, of course, acquisition and disposal under the Public Works Act. In 2006 he appeared as counsel in the Court of Appeal in separate cases involving decision making on endowment land and obligations under s.40 PWA.
Recent general litigation work has included appearing as counsel on property dispute arbitrations, and acting on boundary, drainage and access disputes.
Publications
Chris has written several papers and presented many conference and client seminars.
He is co-author (with Dr. Dean Knight of Victoria University of Wellington) of a number of works on local government law published by LexisNexis:
- Local Government (loose leaf and on line) (2002 – present)
- Laws of New Zealand Local Government chapter (2008)
- Local Government Law In Practice (2010)
In 2011 he was commissioned by LexisNexis to peer review Climate Change Law and Policy in New Zealand (Cameron and others)
