Janette Campbell KC

LLB (Hons) – University of Auckland – 1995

LLM – University of Berkeley, California – 1999

Making Good Decisions Foundation course – 2020

Making Good Decisions Chairs course – 2020

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Additional Credentials

Commonwealth Scholarship for study in India

Fulbright Scholarship

Philanthropic Educational Organization Scholarship

Ethel Benjamin Prize in Law

Spencer Mason Travelling Scholarship

Leadership New Zealand participant – 2011

Janette has specialised in all aspects of resource management law for over 30 years. Her depth of experience means she is highly regarded as one of New Zealand’s leading experts on the topic.

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Throughout this time Janette has represented clients in resource management matters in front of councils, parliamentary select committees, the Environment Court, District Court, High Court, and the Court of Appeal, as well as in mediations and direct negotiation. She has acted for both prosecuting agencies and for defendants in criminal prosecutions of environmental offending.

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Janette is known for her ability to cut through bureaucracy to get straight to the core of the matter. She is respected for her sound, strategic counsel and is adept at devising effective, sustainable solutions that reduce the potential for conflict and litigation.

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She holds long-standing, respectful relationships with many of New Zealand’s preeminent experts who provide expert opinion on the natural environment, economic matters, conservation management, and resource use.

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A qualified Independent Commissioner with a Chair’s endorsement, Janette is able to chair, sit on, and determine resource consent applications, or the content of planning documents, for councils. She has also brought and defended applications for judicial review, primarily challenging the grant of resource consents without notice. This strengthens her decision making skills, knowing well what makes a defensible decision.  

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Janette is regularly sought after to speak at education seminars, including for members of the resource management community.

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Before joining Bankside Chambers, Janette was a partner at Meredith Connell, leading the Environment and Resource Management group for almost eight years. Prior to that Janette was a partner in boutique resource management firm Cowper Campbell.

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From 1999 to 2004, Janette was Director of the Environmental Defence Society.

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Janette has substantial experience in the mining and quarrying sector, advising in relation to mineral extraction activities in Northland, Auckland, Waikato and the West Coast, including acting in relation to a number of reverse sensitivity cases.

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In September 2024 Janette was announced as Chair of an Expert Advisory Group set up by the Government, tasked with advising on one of the most significant public projects in a generation: transforming New Zealand’s resource management system. The EAG delivered its recommendations to the Government in December 2024, with the Group's recommendations being largely confirmed by the Minister for RMA reform as the basis for new legislation.

Ardmore Business Park

• Secured fast-track entry for a 511 hectare industrial and employment hub near Ardmore Airport. The Minister referred the project into the fast-track regime in April 2026; the substantive application is still to come.

Queenstown Cable Car

• Secured fast-track entry for a gondola linking Queenstown with its airport and a new area of development, which would be New Zealand's first public transport gondola. Referred in April 2026.

ECHO Inc v Whangārei District Council

• Acted low bono for residents suffering serious sleep disturbance after Northland's rescue helicopter base moved to Whangārei Airport. The Environment Court accepted ECHO's reading of the noise rule, held that district plan provisions could not alter a designation condition, and directed that the rule be corrected.

Friends of Pākiri Beach v Auckland Council

• Successfully opposed the continuation of sand mining at Pākiri.

Burnham Quarry, Canterbury

• Secured consent for a greenfield 362 ha aggregate quarry, expected to operate for up to 60 years.

Laminex redevelopment, Taupō

• Non-notified changes and new consents for a $230 million plant.

Summerset Waikanae Retirement Village

• Chaired the Expert Consenting Panel under the COVID-19 fast-track consenting legislation that approved the substantial retirement village.

Stellan Trust v Auckland Council

• Judicial review of a non-notified subdivision consent, turning on the interpretation of complex provisions of the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management. Resolved after argument in the High Court.

Higgins asphalt plant

• Secured an air discharge permit in a polluted airshed.

Janette is recognised as a leading Environment and Resource Management Barrister in New Zealand in Doyle's Guide 2016–2022 and 2025–2026.

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