Andrea Lane

Senior Associate
BMI, LLB, LLM (Distinction)

Andrea joined Claro in February 2018. Prior to practising law, Andrea worked as a radiographer in both public and private practice across New Zealand and Australia, so combining her heath sector background with her legal career was a natural step. During her undergraduate studies at the University of Canterbury, Andrea obtained top marks in the medical law paper and always aspired to practise in the health sector.

Andrea continued to pursue her interest in health law at the University of Edinburgh. Her LLM dissertation focussed on privacy in telemedicine and, in particular, the extraterritorial effect of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation on Australian and New Zealand teleradiology providers. In 2019, Andrea was awarded the McLagan Prize for best graduate in the LLM (Medical Law and Ethics).

Based in Christchurch, Andrea advises on a wide range of legal issues relevant to the health sector, including patient rights, health information privacy issues, ACC and treatment injuries, treatment issues including obtaining urgent treatment orders, complaints against health sector agencies and seeking orders under the Protection of Personal and Property Act 1988. Andrea has acted as junior counsel in the High Court and as sole counsel in the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, Family Court and the Coroner’s Court.

Andrea’s experience includes:

  • Advising healthcare providers on the disclosure of health information for research purposes.
  • Acting for healthcare providers and individual health practitioners in Coroner’s inquests.
  • Prosecuting and defending health professionals on professional misconduct charges before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.
  • Instructing and working with expert witnesses, often on involved and technical medical issues.
  • Advising on and preparing statements in response to Health and Disability Commissioner inquiries and investigations.
  • Assisting senior counsel in the judicial review of a decision of a responsible authority.
  • Advising on applications for treatment orders under the Protection of Personal and Property Rights Act 1998 and appearing as counsel for applicants for orders.
  • Advising a telehealth start up on legal and regulatory issues relevant to healthcare providers setting up and operating a business within New Zealand, including the Health and Disability Consumers’ Code of Rights, the Health Information Privacy Code, and the Fair Trading Act 1988.
  • Assisting senior counsel in statutory appeals in relation to cover under the Accident Compensation Act 2001.
  • Andrea Lane “Medical imaging and consent: when is an X-ray an assault?” J Med Radiat Sci 63 (2016) 133-137