Olivia Taylor

Most people have a few ideas as a child about what they want to be when they grow up. Maybe it’s a pilot, a firefighter or even a nurse, something you’d expect to hear from an 8-year-old. But not Olivia — she wanted to be a lawyer. She vividly remembers being that exact age, sitting at the dining table at her grandad’s home when a family member asked her what she wanted to do for a career. While all the young boys in the family wanted to be rugby players, she was set, a lawyer it was.

Having that sense of advocacy has followed Olivia throughout her whole life, all the way up until law school and then into her current role as a Crown prosecutor. At university, she finished her honours in Art History before returning to her second year of law and although she was waylaid for a few years by working as a corporate lawyer in Queenstown, she leapt at the opportunity to take up a role as a criminal defense and private client lawyer when she returned home to Invercargill. Originally from Southland, she spent 5 years at a local firm before joining the team at PRlaw in August 2022.

Olivia understands that, more often than not, people need to approach a lawyer when they’re in a tricky situation. But that doesn’t mean the process needs to be any more difficult. While she has previously been focused on helping defendants understand the legal process, her drive now comes from a public safety perspective and ensuring that justice is served.

Experience

Olivia previously worked as a corporate lawyer in Queenstown, before taking up a role as a criminal defense and private client lawyer when she returned home to Invercargill. Originally from Southland, she spent 5 years at a local firm before joining the team at PRlaw in August 2022.

Heavily interested in art and art history, she plans to get involved in the growing arts community scene here in Invercargill and has a modest collection of modern works by New Zealand artists around her home. When she’s not working, Olivia is a voracious reader and spends a lot of time getting out in nature with her husband and two French bulldogs

Expertise

• Crown prosecutions
• Civil litigation
• Commercial law
• Relationship property
• Property law