Brent & Partners is made up of Allan Brent and you, my partner
Navigating law with purpose, precision, and partnership.
Are you looking for a lawyer who builds a partnership with you, and working to fully understand your needs? Who will do your work themselves from start to finish? Who will explain their advice to you clearly? And who will do it all for a clear and reasonable price?
Allan has almost fifteen years’ experience across a wide range of law at leading firms and NGOs. These days he works for real people, clubs and sophisticated businesses alike, on issues large and small. If you want quality advice without having to go to the big of town, Allan has you covered.
Not sure where to start with a legal issue or need some advice? Let’s have a chat.
We work with different partners in different ways. How can we work with you?
Are you looking at buying a house or business and want help interpreting the information you’re given in “due diligence”? Give me a call.
Do you have or are you buying a business that deals with the Department of Conservation or Council on “concessions”? I can advise comprehensively.
Do you need advice about land law questions about things like rights of way, easements or covenants? I can tell you what these mean for you.
Do you have legal advice you don’t fully understand or have full confidence in? I can offer independent advice.
Do you have a dispute with someone? I can help resolve it constructively.
Do you have an issue with the Council or a government agency? I can help facilitate and navigate engaging with them.
Do you have environmental or other concerns about a development? I can help you to have your say.
Are you concerned about fraud or do you want something discreetly investigated? I can advise.
Does your business have a tough legal, governance or strategy problem to crack or decision to make? I can help you step back, work through the issues and spot opportunities.
Have you used ChatGPT to draft your commercial contracts? Do you feel exposed about that? You should, and I can help you with redrafting.
Is your business being run too informally for your comfort? I can help you formalise arrangements like commercial leases and shareholders’ agreements.
Do you want to get your club or organisation charitable status or make sure it is set up right? I can help.
In the community
Taking a positive role in our communities and places. Financial success. To us, these are two sides of the same coin.
Are you based around Southern New Zealand? Are you sustained by a strong sense of place down here? Do you or your local organisation want our place to retain its character as somewhere for more than things like property market opportunism? To be a place where you have a real stake in shaping a common life that fits our place? If so, we would be delighted to talk and see how we can help you.
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For Upper Clutha people who cannot afford basic legal services like job or tenancy advice, we may be able to help, or help you find the people you need.
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For young lawyers who haven’t found a place to call home in the law, or a legal mentor, or just want to hear about what we do, we can offer you our time for a chat.
How we work
Our process is different for every partner and client. That’s because the heart of an enduring client relationship is always understanding what makes you tick.
Getting a clear shared understanding of your drivers is crucial in setting objectives together. After that, it is often straightforward to figure out the possibilities to get you where you want to go.
About Allan
Allan has operated Brent & Partners since early 2025. He serves a small number of clients of all kinds with dedication.
Before this work, Allan spent his early legal career at some of New Zealand’s large commercial law firms involved across local government, environment, property, fisheries, general litigation work and much more. He followed this with periods working in the bush for the Department of Conservation and in development work for a university.
Between 2020-2024, Allan was the senior lawyer helping start-up Environmental Law Initiative, an NGO. This work spanned building ELI’s internal culture and external mana, as well as its research and legal programme. In this time ELI’s legal team developed eight public law cases against various government bodies, all starting in the High Court. All Allan was involved with were wins. ELI’s cases have extracted many practical concessions from government departments.
Having operated for over a decade, often at the cutting-edge of law, Allan is now unphased by the novel challenges that will inevitably arise in using legal tools to pursue opportunities; by working with clients to navigate new terrain; or by the tenacity and sticking power required on such journeys.
Allan Brent is a southern New Zealander, a dad, a husband, and one to whom a relationship with place is important. He is a fifth-generation lawyer, or so the legend goes. Through this comes his bone-deep commitment to the service and ethics of legal work: Allan will go to the well for you.
Outside his legal career and on top of family life, Allan is an alpine climber, tramper, paraglider, runner, and part-time biker and sailor. To give back to these areas, he has been involved in Federated Mountain Clubs of New Zealand, or FMC, since 2020. He served as Vice-President for three of these years. FMC is New Zealand’s peak outdoor recreation body, founded in 1931. It works on numerous advocacy projects for many outdoor disciplines, and anything touching recreation on public conservation land and its margins. Currently Allan’s biggest FMC involvement is in securing a sustainable future for New Zealand’s backcountry hut and track network.
Allan lives out a passion for cultivating a positive public conversation about a sense of belonging to New Zealand, often with a legal dimension. He writes about this on Substack at Brenty’s Two Cents.
Get in touch
Interested in working together?
Send us a message and we will be in touch shortly.