Partner Auckland Office
Contact DDI: 64 9 336 7513
Facsimile: 64 9 336 7629
Email ross.burns@meredithconnell.co.nz Qualifications LLB
Admitted 1982. Member of the Bar of England and Wales 1989.
Specialties Criminal prosecutions for murder, serious drug offending and organised crime. Civil claims against the Crown.
Background Ross has had 25 years experience in criminal, civil and employment litigation.
Experience He began his legal career with a small Wellington firm, then after a period with the Crown he moved to Hawkes Bay. There he became a partner in a substantial Napier firm, establishing a defence practice which included trials for murder, gang related rape and violence, and serious drug offending as well as a wide variety of other crime. He left the partnership and travelled to England where he became a member of a prominent set of criminal Chambers now situated at 9-12 Bell Yard. His practice was largely criminal in nature, both prosecution and defence. He returned to New Zealand to take up a position with Meredith Connell, where he was made a partner in 1997.
In addition to his prosecution practice, Ross has written and spoken at seminars on criminal law issues and served for a time on the Committee of the Criminal Bar Association of which he was a founding member. He has been appointed to the Serious Fraud Office Panel of Prosecutors. In 2006 he was appointed to the list of counsel eligible to represent accused persons and victims before the International Criminal Court, at present the only New Zealand resident lawyer to be appointed. In July 2010 he was appointed to the List of Counsel for the U.N. sponsored Special Tribunal for Lebanon. He is a member of the International Association of Prosecutors, the International Criminal Bar Association, and Lawasia.
