Chris Browne

Chris specialises in all areas of energy sector law, with a particular focus on New Zealand’s electricity regulatory regime.

His expertise extends to end-to-end legal process management for major infrastructure projects, IT projects, procurement and general commercial contracting. He also has experience in corporate and M&A matters.

Chris has a thorough understanding of the Commerce Commission’s economic regulation of electricity lines businesses, the Electricity Industry Participation Code and the transmission pricing methodology. He has prepared numerous regulatory submissions, and has a thorough understanding of technical and operational aspects of the electricity sector.

Chris has significant experience in a wide variety of commercial matters, including negotiating and drafting procurement, project, IT and service provider agreements. He has also worked on telecommunications projects relating to fibre optic networks.

Prior to joining Simpson Grierson, Chris was the Deputy General Counsel at Transpower and a part of their in-house legal team for 14 years.