Steve O’Connor
Partner - Tumuaki
LLB (Auckland) BA (Australian National University)
Contact
sbco@lcc.co.nz
+64 4 472 1043
+64 27 283 3441
Steve is an experienced civil and criminal litigator with particular expertise in criminal prosecution, regulatory enforcement litigation, and public law. In addition to prosecuting serious crime, Steve advises and represents government departments and regulatory bodies including the Department of Internal Affairs, Oranga Tamariki | Ministry for Children, Auckland Council, the Ministry of Social Development (Disability Support Services) and the Financial Markets Authority.
Steve has acted on major class action litigation and private prosecutions. He has been involved in public commissions of inquiry including the UK Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, and the ongoing NZ Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. He appears at coronial inquests, advises on regulatory enforcement action and prosecutes on behalf of the Crown and other entities including the Department of Internal Affairs and the SPCA.
Before joining LCC Steve worked at the office of the Auckland Crown Solicitor for two periods totaling five years. In between those periods Steve worked in the United Kingdom for the Financial Conduct Authority’s Enforcement and Market Oversight team and conducted judicial review proceedings on behalf of the UK Home Secretary in respect of human rights, asylum seekers, and victims of trafficking claims.
Steve leads LCC’s pro bono practice.
Recent and notable work:
Regulatory enforcement:
Counsel to the FMA in the ongoing Du Val Group proceedings (2024-)
Lead counsel in a private prosecution for the SPCA involving 58 criminal charges under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 and a six-week Judge-Alone Trial in the Auckland District Court (2023).
Second counsel in an eight-week High Court trial in a complex fraud prosecution brought by the Financial Markets Authority: R v Robertson [2020] NZCA 218.17).
Public:
Counsel to the Ministry of Social Development (Disability Support Services) in complex litigation involving intellectually disabled defendants under the CP(MIP) Act 2003 and ID(CCR) Act 2003.
Lead counsel for ACC in coronial inquest proceedings (2025).
Lead 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 (2025).
Lead counsel for Auckland Council in proceedings heard in the Human Rights Review Tribunal under the Privacy Act 2020 (2024).
Counsel to faith-based respondents in response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care (2021-present).
Lead counsel for the Department of Corrections and the Chief Executive of Oranga Tamariki in just the second case of an application to transfer a young person from a youth justice residence to the youth unit of a prison (2024).
Representing Oranga Tamariki in respect of proceedings brought in the Human Rights Review Tribunal under the Privacy Act 2020 and associated High Court appeal proceedings (2023-present).
Representing Oranga Tamariki and the Department of Corrections in respect of young defendants charged with murder.
Preparing the Department of Corrections Office of the Inspectorate’s report in response to the 3 September 2021 LynnMall terror attack (2022).
Leading the British Council’s preparatory response to the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA, formerly known as the ‘Goddard Inquiry’), the largest statutory inquiry in English and Welsh history (2016).
General criminal:
Prosecuting serious child exploitation and objectionable publication trials on behalf of the Department of Internal Affairs.
Prosecuting sexual violence jury trials on behalf of the Wellington Crown Solicitor in the District Court.
Appearing as second counsel in three murder trials in the High Court, 2014, 2015 (R v Fahey [2015] NZHC 78) and 2021 (R v Simeon [2021] NZHC 1371).
Classified by the Crown Law Office as intermediate prosecutor in 2016. Over 450 appearances in the District and High Courts of New Zealand as Crown counsel in jury and judge-alone trials, bail, sentencing and pre-trial hearings.
Specialist Youth Court prosecutor.