Prominent Wellington lawyer Mai Chen is full of anecdotes on the perils of the private sector squaring up against the might of government.
"Business is used to being a bit of a Goliath - but when you're up against the Government, everybody's David," Chen said.
But given the ever present risk of policy change and regulation, businesses have no choice but to engage with those in public office.
"Quite often clients come and say 'we're unhappy with how the Commerce Commission's behaved' or how some other regulatory body has behaved: the FMA, the Securities Commission or whoever, and I just say 'sorry, they've got the bazooka - they're the regulator'. They say jump, we say 'how high?"'
Chen's new book, The Public Law Toolbox, provides something of a map through the maze of government to help combat "the huge deficit" in the business community about how government actually works.