Lauren Eastlake
Senior Associate - Kaiwawao Mātāmua
BA/LLB (Hons) from the University of Auckland.
Contact
lke@lcc.co.nz
Lauren has experience in regulatory proceedings, with a particular focus on health and safety litigation, and professional disciplinary investigations and prosecutions. Lauren acts for and advises regulatory bodies such as Maritime New Zealand, WorkSafe New Zealand, the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand and the New Zealand Transport Agency. She regularly appears in the District and High Courts as well as the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal. Prior to joining Luke Cunningham Clere, Lauren worked at a commercial law firm specialising in health and safety advice and litigation. Lauren began her career as a criminal defence lawyer at the Public Defence Service, and has also worked at the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry.
Recent and notable work:
Junior counsel for Maritime New Zealand in the first health and safety prosecution of a CEO of a large company under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015: Maritime New Zealand v Gibson [2024] NZDC 27975.
Junior counsel for Oranga Tamariki in the High Court involving an application under the Care of Children Act 2004 for court-ordered guardianship of a child in need of life-saving medical treatment: Health New Zealand v Hill and Winston [2025] NZHC 427.
Junior counsel for the Investigating Committee of Engineering New Zealand in a defended disciplinary proceeding concerning the adequacy of structural engineering work.
Representing Committees in the investigation and prosecution of allegations of serious professional misconduct in the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and Teachers Disciplinary Tribunal.