Who We Are
Leading with integrity and passion – Belinda Moffat, Chief Executive at Real Estate Authority
Belinda Moffat grew up with community service running through her veins. Her parents actively contributed to New Zealand communities and they raised their three children to do the same. That’s why Belinda says, “Helping people feels completely natural to me and that instinct has always had a strong influence on what I like to do and what I'm passionate about”.
It’s an outlook that’s shaped her impressive career journey. After completing a law and criminology degree in Wellington, Belinda wanted to explore the world. But unlike other young people with the travel bug, she decided to spend her time studying at the University of Cambridge rather than working in hospitality or backpacking around Europe. At Cambridge, she earned a master’s degree in criminology, competed in the inter-university dry slope skiing competition, and earned a netball blue along the way.
The London years
After graduating, Belinda headed to London to look for a job. On the way, she met another New Zealander on the train. They got chatting and Belinda discovered that he was also a lawyer and had a friend at Ashurst who was looking for some young lawyers to work on a construction matter. He asked Belinda to send him her CV, so she whipped one out of her bag then and there. Shortly afterwards, she was interviewed by Chris Vigrass and Sarah Evans and joined Ashurst as a paralegal working on big construction cases. “I still chuckle when I think of teetering down to the cold portacabin in the railway construction site in my one set of high heels to do that first job”, said Belinda.
“Soon after, I was employed as a solicitor, and started working with a wonderful group of people in the Ashurst Litigation team on construction and commercial cases, including on big arbitration cases in Liverpool, and across London.” She added, “Working on construction cases teaches you a lot about the law and how to solve problems commercially and strategically.” After that, Belinda joined the Product Liability group and was part of the team that successfully represented Imperial Tobacco in the first UK class action. She went on to spend six years with the firm, working on a range of litigation cases from competition law, human rights law, commercial, and banking and finance to civil matters. Importantly, Belinda built a strong network of friends including a group of talented and savvy women that she maintains regular contact with to this day. “We worked extremely hard to serve our clients, and there were some long hours and tough cases. The environment was very supportive, it enabled friendships and careers to flourish.”
While she was working at Ashurst, Belinda’s passion for supporting others led her to volunteer one or two nights a fortnight as a legal advisor at the Toynbee Hall Community Law Centre in East London. This work was a stark contrast to the large commercial cases, but was critically important to the people served – whether it was dealing with debt arrears, family disputes or bailiffs. “I feel privileged to have had the education and career I have had, so giving back to the community, giving my time, is a small way that I can give back to those who might not otherwise have access to legal services.”
Two of the other lawyers she met doing pro bono work, Nick Nocton and Tim Smith, were representing prisoners on death row in the Caribbean. Belinda got involved and soon found herself working on commercial cases during the day and death row matters at night.
When the death row cases became more critical, Belinda approached the Ashurst partners for support. “I spoke to Head of Litigation, Ed Sparrow, and Roger Finbow and they were very supportive of the view that it was our duty to give back, and that pro bono experience is great for young lawyers. They invited me to put together a business case to form a pro bono team, so I did, and the firm started to support us to do pro bono work during the day while also meeting our budget targets. I was supported in this work by a stellar young lawyer, Julie Morris, and a number of young lawyers who all contributed to Ashurt’s pro bono mission. We worked with many talented human rights solicitors and barristers across London, who were inspirational and key to the services we provided. When the firm decided to recognise pro bono efforts in determining bonus allocations – and in my case also supported travel to Trinidad to enable me to appear in a death penalty case in the Trinidad and Tobago Court of Appeal – it demonstrated that Ashurst was really ‘walking the talk’ about supporting pro bono work in a fully committed way.”
Coming back to New Zealand…
In 2003, Belinda’s mother met the then Chief Justice of New Zealand at a function and proudly told Dame Sian Elias that she had a daughter who was a lawyer in London. The Chief Justice responded, “Well, tell your daughter, while women in law are making progress in NZ, the glass ceiling is only cracked, it’s not yet broken, we need her to come back and help to continue the work of women in the law at home.” In 2004, Belinda moved to Auckland and started to do just that.
After spending a few years in private practice, Belinda became the Head of Dispute Resolution at Westpac in 2008. In that role, she was responsible for all non-lending loss disputes involving the bank, including regulatory investigations and civil claims. Three years later, she became the Director of Enforcement and Investigations at New Zealand’s Financial Markets Authority where she oversaw the FMA's enforcement mandate, which included investigation, litigation and forensic accounting capability across all aspects of New Zealand's regulated financial services sector. During that time Belinda continued her pro bono services as a Board member of Dress for Success Auckland, a charity that provides interview-appropriate clothing and career support to women in need who are re-entering the workforce. She also mentored a young Samoan student in her final years of school, through a future leaders programme.
In 2015, Belinda moved to her hometown of Wellington to build a life with her now husband. Although she intended to take a short career break, she soon got involved in establishing the inaugural Fraud Film Festival in New Zealand. “I’d met some amazing forensic investigators when I was with the FMA. They were talking about the concept of the festival to increase awareness about the impact of fraud and what we can collectively do to fight against it in New Zealand, so I said, ‘I’ve got some time’. I became the Festival Project Manager, started working with the local team, Amsterdam rights owners and a film curator, and created an anti-fraud award. While it was a completely unexpected project, it was the perfect mix of my love of media and film, blended with my career passion in law and community.”
That same year, Belinda also became a part-time Adjunct Instructor at the College of Law in New Zealand – a position she held for over five years. “During my career break, I also decided to do some teaching and I loved it. Law has given me a great career and I had reached a point where I knew some things, even though I was still learning, and I was keen to contribute to growing the profession and sharing the knowledge I had gained. It was supposed to be a short stint, but I carried on as an evening instructor for over five years.”
… Law and leadership
In May 2016, Belinda became Chief Executive at the Broadcasting Standards Authority (BSA). “It was a great opportunity in a small agency, where I gained executive experience but remained connected to the law. The BSA is the conduct regulator of all NZ broadcasters and works hard to promote and protect the balance between the right to freedom of expression and not causing harm. I really enjoyed the human rights part of that role, working for an agency that served all of New Zealand, maintaining high professional standards that lifted the public’s trust and confidence in the sector, and working with media entities that play an important role in our society.”
During her time at the BSA, Belinda became a member of the Independent Expert Advisory Panel for the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act Review and held that role for three years.
In 2020, Belinda moved into her current role as the Chief Executive/Registrar at the Real Estate Authority (REA) where she leads a team of 60 people who work to deliver the REA’s dual roles as conduct regulator of the real estate profession and consumer protection agency. “New Zealanders have a love affair with property. Yet home ownership can involve one of the biggest and most stressful transactions many people will ever undertake. I love that I have a role in helping ensure the process is fair for everyone, protecting the interests of consumers across the diversity of New Zealand’s community, and helping lift the trust and confidence in New Zealand’s real estate sector. I see this role as supporting a fantastic team of people to deliver great services to New Zealand and to encourage, influence and sometimes direct high standards of integrity and conduct in NZ."
A moment’s reflection
With her rich legal experience gained working on 'both sides of the fence’, Belinda is passionate about encouraging others to use the law “as a really important tool for upholding integrity and fairness in corporates and in the community”. As she says, “You can achieve that through enforcement or through influence in a way that’s not harmful to others.”
Belinda also has some excellent advice for younger lawyers who are keen to make a positive difference in their communities: “Do what you are really interested in because you will spend a lot of time doing it, and be brave and trusting enough to step through the doors that you open - or that are opened for you.” She added, “I often think about that train ride from Cambridge, and I'm thankful for the incredible foundation that my time in London, and at Ashurst, provided for my career.”
As a parting thought, Belinda suggests that her willingness to learn from others, as well as having the courage to do the right thing and to stand out from the crowd have been key to her career. She also thinks resilience and the ability to ask for help are important attributes for success. Belinda encourages young lawyers to be strategic about having a family, based on her own experience. “I put my nose down and was committed to my career, so by the time I was ready to have children I was in my early 40s. Despite trying IVF, I wasn’t able to have kids, largely because I left my run too late. However, I am now fortunate to have a fantastic family, with three wonderful stepkids who absolutely keep me on my toes. Being open to opportunities, and taking a chance, has made all the difference for me."
