Introducing Special Counsel Simone Tune: Q&A on her career in healthcare law
We are thrilled to welcome Simone Tune, a seasoned legal expert from Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand, to our team as Special Counsel. With a distinguished career spanning over a decade in healthcare law, Simone brings unparalleled expertise in medico-legal matters, public health policy, and complex litigation. Simone’s appointment underscores our commitment to providing top-tier legal support to both public and private health sectors across New Zealand.
Simone shares insights from her remarkable career, discusses her vision for the future of healthcare law, and reflects on the experiences that have shaped her journey.
Your legal career has spanned over a decade in healthcare law. What inspired you to specialise in this field?
Before moving inhouse to Health New Zealand I Te Whatu Ora (Health NZ), I spent around 15 years as a Crown Prosecutor, regularly conducting jury trials on behalf of the Crown. After the birth of my third child, I felt it was the right time to step back from the high intensity demands of criminal trial work which, while immensely rewarding, became increasingly difficult to balance with family life.
Throughout my career as a prosecutor, I had particularly enjoyed working with a variety of clinicians – briefing them, examining their evidence in Court and gaining their expert perspective in serious assault cases. Hence, when a vacancy arose in the legal team at what was then Auckland District Health Board (DHB), it felt like a natural and exciting shift – an opportunity to apply my skills in a new context, providing frontline advice to (now) the largest public sector organisation in New Zealand.
During your time at Health NZ I Te Whatu Ora, you supported a wide range of healthcare professionals. What were some of the most rewarding or challenging aspects of that role?
In my role at Health NZ, I was involved in a wide variety of interesting and complex legal advisory and litigation work for the organisation, including advising and/or appearing in Court on medico-legal matters such as:
- Guardianship applications under the Care of Children Act 2004;
- Applications for declarations under the Declaratory Judgments Act 1908 for the withdrawal of life support;
- Applications for Treatment orders under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1988;
- Coronial Inquests, including advising the organisation on its responses to requests for information from the Coroner and provisional findings;
- Code issues and complaints to the Health and Disability Commissioner;
- Discrimination matters before the Human Rights Review Tribunal;
- Privacy and official information issues;
- Policy drafting and reviewing; and
- Public health and population-level issues such as disease control.
It was a privilege to contribute to the efforts of a tireless team of extraordinarily talented individuals striving to provide the highest standard of care in the face of significant resource constraints.
As Special Counsel, what areas of law are you most excited to focus on in your new role?
In my role as Special Counsel at Duncan Cotterill, I plan to draw on the firm’s broad expertise to establish a national health law team – a one-stop shop for providers and individuals seeking health law advice and representation. With offices in Auckland, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch and Queenstown, Duncan Cotterill is ideally positioned to meet the legal needs of national organisations in the fields of medico-legal, commercial, health and safety, public and employment law. My desire is to market us as a leading, full-service health law team, offering comprehensive support to both public and private health providers as well as individuals navigating health-related legal issues.
Healthcare law is constantly evolving. How have you seen the legal landscape shift during your career, and what do you foresee as key areas of focus in the future?
Within Health NZ, the legal landscape has had an enormous shift over the past few years with the establishment of Health NZ and Te Aka Whai Ora on 1 July 2022 under the Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act (and then the disestablishment of Te Aka Whai Ora in June 2024 and its integration into Health NZ).
The public health sector went from being 20 District Health Boards, each a Crown entity with its own board, policies and legal obligations, to a centralised agency, the largest Crown entity and the largest employer in New Zealand. This saw the nationalisation of key aspects of the health system, including policies, procedures, clinical guidelines and contract templates. This shift aimed to ensure consistency across the motu, but it has also brought legal and practical challenges in balancing national direction with local context.
In more recent times there has been a move towards a regional structure. Authority and accountability remain with Health NZ at a national level but planning and delivery is moving back to the regions. This is likely to create new and diverse legal risk to the organisation as devolution to the regions progresses.
How does your experience align with our firm’s values He Tangata, Authenticity, Excellence and Enterprising?
He Tangata
My public service career underscores my strong people-centred ethic – working for the Crown and Health NZ for much of my career has placed people and communities at the heart of my work. I embody the value He Tangata, whether in the context of supporting colleagues, my relationships with clients, or my engagement with communities. I prioritise relationships, empathy and respect in everything that I do.
Authenticity
Working in an in-house legal role requires genuine authenticity. Being embedded in an organisation means you witness first-hand the real impact of your advice – on outcomes, on the business, and on your colleagues. This experience has given me a unique perspective on how legal advice needs to be tailored not just to the legal issue, but also to the client’s needs, values and context. The stronger your relationship with your client, the more meaningful your delivery of advice can be.
Excellence
Prosecuting on behalf of the Crown requires a high standard of legal skill, impartiality, professionalism and judgment. Performing under, at times, intense public scrutiny requires a strong commitment to excellence. Similarly, working at Health NZ where decisions can have a direct and meaningful impact on people’s lives, calls for the same high standard of care and dedication.
Enterprising
I took an enterprising approach in my role at Health NZ, proactively identifying legal and operational risks and assisting with the development of policies and procedures to manage those risks. I also undertook initiatives to improve the legal capability of the organisation, delivering targeted training across the organisation on matters such as Coronial responses, informed consent and privacy. Within the legal team, I organised an annual legal conference for the team and developed a summer internship programme due to my passion working with interns and graduates and helping them to develop. I am driven to get involved in Duncan Cotterill initiatives that involve sharing knowledge, building networks and developing the next generation of lawyers.
