Director of Kannangara Thomson

Brent joined the Law Alliance NZ firm, Kannangara Thomson as a partner in 2015, after 26 years with a larger Christchurch firm.

In 2017 Brent joined the Executive of Law Alliance NZ and acted as Treasurer until leaving the Executive in early 2022.

He lives in North Canterbury about 40km outside of Christchurch, with his wife, Fleur, also a lawyer in her own practice. They have four children between them, three older boys living in Christchurch, Dublin in Ireland, and Wellington, and together, they have a daughter, Keisha, aged 13.

Brent completed his law degree in two stints at Canterbury University. He completed his first and second years of Law in 1983 and 1984 before spending two years living and working in the UK, returning to complete the degree at Canterbury in 1987 and 1988.

He joined Harmans in 1989 and joined the partnership of that firm in 1994 and was a member of that partnership until resigning from the firm in March 2015 to join Kannangara Thomson.

Brent was co-opted onto the board of Law Alliance NZ in 2017 before being elected for an initial three-year term at the AGM in Sydney in 2018. He is the current treasurer of Law Alliance New Zealand.

He has had numerous board positions in the past on three not for profits, several private company directorships, and two school boards, on a number of occasions as chair. In addition to the obvious ‘buying power of the Law Alliance NZ group of firms in obtaining favorable deals with suppliers, the point of difference for Law Alliance NZ member firms for Brent is the collegiality and informal support networks that exist within the group. This was never better displayed than during the aftermath of the recent Covid-19 pandemic when some groups of firms in the same general region scheduled regular support group calls and shared ideas and information which would be less likely to occur but for the relationship of trust which exists because of the relationships built at conferences.

His areas of legal practice are varied and include all aspects of residential and commercial property law as well as a significant interest in asset protection, estate planning, and succession law.