After graduating from the University of Auckland, Russell worked for two years in a large commercial law firm in Auckland. He then practiced in Sydney at a leading Australian commercial and insurance firm for over 10 years before returning to New Zealand in 2010, where he joined Fee Langstone at their predecessor firm, Jones Fee. Russell has represented clients in the legal, financial, accounting, auditing, mining, chemical, forestry and property industries, and became a partner of Fee Langstone in 2019.

He has extensive experience advising on policy coverage, conducting commercial litigation and providing advice on a range of legal issues. Russell has particular expertise in professional indemnity insurance/commercial litigation – including solicitors and barristers, auditors, accountants, financial brokers and real estate agents and Directors’ and Officers’ Liability insurance.

Russell also has considerable experience with disciplinary complaints made against professionals. He has represented clients in relation to complaints made against solicitors, barristers, accountants and auditors.

Russell is admitted to practice in the High Court of New Zealand, the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the Federal and High Courts of Australia.

“Russell Stewart is an extremely hard-working, commercially-minded litigator. He strikes the right balance between excellent client service without overworking legal problems. Excellent communicator and client-focused.”

— Client testimonials, Legal 500 Asia Pacific Rankings 2023

Work highlights

• Successfully acting and appearing as counsel for one of the defendants in the Feltex shareholder class action High Court trial. Subsequently acting on the successful appeals to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court (Houghton v Saunders [2014] NZHC 2229, [2015] 2 NZLR 74; Houghton v Saunders [2016] NZCA 493, [2017] 2 NZLR 189; Houghton v Saunders [2018] NZSC 74).

• Acting for a major accounting firm on a $700 million auditor negligence claim.

• Acting in the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court hearings in relation to champerty/maintenance and litigation funding issues (Walker v Forbes [2015] NZHC 1730, (2015) 22 PRNZ 660; PricewaterhouseCoopers v Walker [2017] NZSC 151).

• Acting and appearing as counsel in the High Court on a solicitor’s negligence claim for in excess of $100 million involving multiple parties and complex issues of taxation.

• Acting for a major accounting firm in relation to a complaint made to the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants by the regulator;

• Acting for a major accounting firm in the Fuji Xerox litigation.

• Acting for solicitors, real estate agents and accountants in relation to complaints and disciplinary matters.

• Acting for a prominent barrister involving a dispute over the resolution of separate High Court proceedings.

• When working for an Australian firm, obtaining an injunction against the Sydney Opera House Trust (the trust that administers and manages the Sydney Opera House).

Professional associations

• New Zealand Law Society

• Auckland District Law Society

• New Zealand Insurance Law Association (NZILA)

• Australian Professional Indemnity Group, New Zealand (founding New Zealand Committee member)