This annual snapshot of the legal profession in Aotearoa New Zealand provides valuable insights and trends into the legal profession based on practising certificate holders in New Zealand. Our snapshot charts shifts and trends across ethnicity, as well as linguistic and gender diversity of the profession. We cover both the general makeup of the profession and zero in on practice areas.
This snapshot draws on information held by the New Zealand Law Society Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa as regulator of the practice of law. As at 30 June 2024, there were 17,009 lawyers (lawyers who hold a current practising certifi cate), 15,769 in New Zealand and 1,240 overseas. This equates to 314 New Zealanders per lawyer.¹ Last year there were 312 New Zealanders per lawyer. With overseas lawyers removed from the calculation, there are 339 New Zealanders per lawyer in the 2024 reporting year, compared with 331 New Zealanders per lawyer last year.
This year’s snapshot statistics are similar to reporting-year 2023 but there are some notable changes.
There is a 19% increase in the number of 0-7 years post-admission lawyers working for overseas organisations, compared with last year, and there has also been a decline (5.5%) in the number of 07-year lawyers working in the main centres² in this group. Since reporting year 2022, there has been a 43% increase in the number of 07-year lawyers working for overseas organisations. Most lawyers who work for an overseas organisation also live overseas.
There has been an increase (6.4%) in the number of lawyers speaking languages other than English.
The group of 0-7 years post admission has contracted slightly compared with last year. In FY 2024 they made up 33.2% of the profession, compared with 33.5% in FY 2023. There has only been a net increase of 51 lawyers in this group compared with last year. There is a reduction in the number of lawyers identifying as Māori, Pacific, and Asian lawyers in the 0-7 years post admission range. This is due to fewer people in these ethnic groups obtaining a practising certificate (368) while at the same time more 0-7-year lawyers in these ethnic groups either moving into the next post-admission category or ceasing to hold a practising certificate in FY 2024 (667).