New-Zealand firm Simpson Grierson’s commercial litigation team, securities enforcement & finance litigation and construction groups have been expanded, with the hire of five specialist lawyers.

Senior associate Nina Blomfield has been re-hired to the firm’s commercial litigation group, after first joining Simpson Grierson in 2002. Blomfield returns to the firm’s Wellington office after stints with Herbert Smith and Barlow Lyde & Gilbert.

Associates Philip Shackleton and Lina Lim have been added to the firm’s securities enforcement & finance litigation group, both of whom come from Auckland-based law firms. Prior to their appointments, Shackleton specialised in insolvency and mortgagee sales and Lim specialised in debt recovery and insolvency.

Also, the commercial litigation practice in Auckland has been beefed up with the addition of Australian associate Annette Quesado. She spent the last two and a half years in the media and commercial litigation team at Olswang in London, prior to which she worked at Freehills in Melbourne.

Simpson’s has also added specialist construction lawyer Craig Wheatley, previously with Semple Fraser in Scotland, to its Auckland construction group.