McHugh Law is the practice of Southland Barrister Kate McHugh. Kate has been practising as a lawyer for 15 years and specialises in criminal defence work, transport law matters, family and youth law.
Her criminal law practice includes all criminal defence work to category two trial work, mental health, Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act law and appeals to both the High Court and Court of Appeal. She also regularly represents clients before the New Zealand Parole Board.
Kate’s transport law practice ranges from advocacy regards general traffic matters, through to applications for limited licences and specific representation on Land Transport Authority, and regulatory matters.
Kate is both a Ministry of Justice appointed Youth Advocate representing young people in the Youth Court, and Lawyer for Children representing children in the Family Court. She also advocates for parties in that jurisdiction.
Kate practises in the Invercargill, Gore, Queenstown and Alexandra Courts, and also travels to Otago when required.
Career
Born and bred in Winton, Southland, Kate always knew she would return to the Southland community on completion of her studies to practise law.
After graduating from Otago University with an LLB, Kate began practicing as Staff Solicitor at the Southland Community Law Centre in 2003. She saw this as an ideal place to begin her career and developed strong and enduring links with the Southland community as a result. Kate enjoys good relationships with local prosecuting authorities and social agencies and believes it is incredibly important to strengthen and maintain those – while challenging their roles in order to advance her clients’ interests.
Following working for two other small Invercargill firms through to Associate level after leaving the Community Law Centre, Kate joined the AWS Legal Criminal Team in June 2011 and swiftly moved to a Senior Associate level, during which time her private and regulatory practice grew, culminating in Kate opening her own Chambers, McHugh Law, in 2018.
Kate is currently the Youth Advocate representative for the Southland Youth Offenders Team, a committee undertaking significant work on addressing local youth issues. Kate is well-known for her passion for working with young people, and advocating for the best possible outcomes for their future. She was appointed to the Ministry of Justice, and Lawyer for Child and Youth Advocate panels in 2007, and is also on the Police Detention Legal Assistance Scheme panel for Southland and Queenstown.
Kate has completed voluntary work under the Mayor’s taskforce in respect to youth issues and convened and chaired the Southland Youth Summit with Principal Youth Court Judge Becroft in attendance. She is the Chairperson of the St Theresa’s School Board of Trustees and is in her fifth season sitting on the local Rugby Southland Judiciary Panel as a member, as well as in the Disciplinary Officer role and was the first female to take on such a role locally.
Kate has been both Chair and committee member of the Family Court Association. Kate facilitated duty solicitor training for Southland with the New Zealand Law Society and Legal Services Agency and is still involved in convening local Continuing Legal Education.
Even after leaving the Southland Community Law Centre, Kate continued to volunteer her time there by supervising their staff solicitors and also at the Citizens Advice Bureau. Additionally, Kate was the President of Young and New Practitioners, which was redeveloped in during her time in that role. She has been a committee member on the Southland Women Lawyers Committee, Southland District Law Society (now the Southland branch) and sub-committees, including legal aid, and currently sits on the social committee.
Tracy Kelly
Legal Executive
Tracy has worked for Kate as her right hand woman and senior PA for the past five years, initially at AWS Legal, before joining Kate at McHugh Law. Tracy qualified with high marks as a Legal Executive after three years of study in 2015. By that time, she had more than 20 years’ experience in legal support staff roles. Tracy is the first point of contact for clients and is across each and every one of Kate’s cases in support of her work. Tracy is passionate about helping people and encourages Kate to continue to provide legal aid services and work within the community. Tracy is an integral part of McHugh Law, ensuring everything is ticking over as it should and can always be relied upon to provide a friendly welcome to clients. You will see Tracy mentioned in the testimonials often, as she is a core part Kate’s overall practice and is committed to developing strong relationships with McHugh Law’s clients.