Lawyers in New Zealand: 2026 Statistics
By Xabi Errotabehere, founder of Find A Lawyer
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Key figures
Lawyers by region
Lawyers counted by the office location on the register, against Stats NZ population estimates. Wellington and Auckland are high because government, in-house and large-firm lawyers concentrate there; their clients are nationwide.
| Region | Lawyers | Population | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wellington | 3,269 | 543,400 | 601.6 |
| Auckland | 7,215 | 1,816,000 | 397.3 |
| Canterbury | 1,931 | 698,200 | 276.6 |
| Otago | 577 | 253,900 | 227.3 |
| Nelson–Tasman | 233 | 114,200 | 204 |
| Bay of Plenty | 704 | 351,500 | 200.3 |
| Waikato | 930 | 532,100 | 174.8 |
| Hawke's Bay | 273 | 179,700 | 151.9 |
| Gisborne | 76 | 52,700 | 144.2 |
| Northland | 258 | 201,100 | 128.3 |
| Southland | 131 | 104,800 | 125 |
| Taranaki | 159 | 130,300 | 122 |
| Marlborough | 58 | 50,800 | 114.2 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | 239 | 260,700 | 91.7 |
| West Coast | 25 | 34,700 | 72 |
Nelson and Tasman are shown together as they share one urban area. 1,501 lawyers have no location on the register and are counted in the national total only.
Legal aid lawyers
Lawyers approved by the Ministry of Justice to take legal aid cases. Legal aid pays for a lawyer when someone can't afford one, so these figures show where free legal help is thin on the ground. Find a legal aid lawyer near you on our legal aid pages.
| Region | Legal aid lawyers | Per 100,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Bay of Plenty | 181 | 51.5 |
| Wellington | 274 | 50.4 |
| Gisborne | 23 | 43.6 |
| Northland | 82 | 40.8 |
| Nelson–Tasman | 46 | 40.3 |
| Auckland | 713 | 39.3 |
| Waikato | 200 | 37.6 |
| Hawke's Bay | 62 | 34.5 |
| Canterbury | 228 | 32.7 |
| Taranaki | 41 | 31.5 |
| Otago | 70 | 27.6 |
| Manawatū-Whanganui | 67 | 25.7 |
| Southland | 26 | 24.8 |
| Marlborough | 9 | 17.7 |
| West Coast | 6 | 17.3 |
| Type of legal aid | Lawyers |
|---|---|
| Criminal, PAL 1 (least serious charges) | 1,124 |
| Family | 967 |
| Duty Lawyer | 856 |
| Criminal, PAL 2 | 792 |
| Parole | 772 |
| Family legal advice service | 687 |
| Criminal, PAL 3 | 488 |
| Police detention legal assistance | 484 |
| Civil | 416 |
| Court of Appeal and Supreme Court | 337 |
| Criminal, PAL 4 (most serious charges) | 332 |
| Mental Health | 200 |
| Waitangi Tribunal | 93 |
| Refugee & Immigration | 39 |
| Māori Land/Māori Appellate Court | 28 |
Where lawyers work
The role each lawyer holds on the register. Nearly a third work in-house, for a company, council or government agency.
| Role | Lawyers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Employed lawyer in a practice | 6,195 | 35.9% |
| In-house lawyer | 5,272 | 30.5% |
| Director of an incorporated practice | 1,730 | 10% |
| Barrister sole | 1,684 | 9.8% |
| Partner | 1,571 | 9.1% |
| Sole practitioner | 753 | 4.4% |
| Shareholder | 59 | 0.3% |
Years of experience
Years since each lawyer was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the High Court. The median practising lawyer was admitted 14.1 years ago; 22.2% were admitted in the last five years.
| Years since admission | Lawyers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under 2 years | 1,725 | 10% |
| 2–5 years | 2,104 | 12.2% |
| 5–10 years | 2,825 | 16.4% |
| 10–20 years | 4,348 | 25.2% |
| 20–30 years | 3,342 | 19.4% |
| 30–40 years | 1,806 | 10.5% |
| 40 years or more | 1,114 | 6.5% |
| Admitted | Still practising |
|---|---|
| 2011 | 415 |
| 2012 | 466 |
| 2013 | 435 |
| 2014 | 448 |
| 2015 | 516 |
| 2016 | 514 |
| 2017 | 530 |
| 2018 | 561 |
| 2019 | 539 |
| 2020 | 567 |
| 2021 | 630 |
| 2022 | 629 |
| 2023 | 683 |
| 2024 | 834 |
| 2025 | 951 |
| 2026 | 595 |
Practice size
Private practice only: partners, directors, employed lawyers and sole practitioners, grouped by the practice they work at. 56.2% of the 2,392 practices have a single lawyer.
| Practice size | Practices | Lawyers | Share of lawyers |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lawyer | 1,344 | 1,344 | 13% |
| 2–5 lawyers | 693 | 2,031 | 19.7% |
| 6–20 lawyers | 288 | 2,803 | 27.2% |
| 21–50 lawyers | 45 | 1,403 | 13.6% |
| 51–100 lawyers | 11 | 824 | 8% |
| More than 100 lawyers | 11 | 1,903 | 18.5% |
| Practice | Lawyers |
|---|---|
| Russell McVeagh | 225 |
| Chapman Tripp | 219 |
| Duncan Cotterill | 209 |
| MinterEllisonRuddWatts | 203 |
| Buddle Findlay | 198 |
| Bell Gully | 181 |
| Simpson Grierson | 179 |
| Dentons Kensington Swan | 137 |
| Meredith Connell | 134 |
| Anderson Lloyd | 114 |
Practice areas
Listing practice areas on the register is optional, and 4,435 lawyers do. Shares are of those lawyers, not the whole profession.
| Practice area | Lawyers | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Property | 1,898 | 42.8% |
| Family | 1,503 | 33.9% |
| Company/Commercial | 998 | 22.5% |
| Trusts and Estates | 804 | 18.1% |
| Civil Litigation | 773 | 17.4% |
| Employment | 568 | 12.8% |
| Criminal | 514 | 11.6% |
| Bank/Finance | 346 | 7.8% |
| Administrative/Public | 281 | 6.3% |
| Mediation | 258 | 5.8% |
| Immigration | 243 | 5.5% |
| Intellectual Property | 230 | 5.2% |
| Resource Management | 209 | 4.7% |
| Arbitration | 179 | 4% |
| Privacy Law | 168 | 3.8% |
How we count
- Lawyers: everyone on the NZ Law Society register with a current practising certificate. Register entries were checked between 2 October 2026 and 25 October 2026.
- Population: Stats NZ, Subnational population estimates: At 30 June 2025 (provisional), New Zealand total 5,324,700.
- Region: the office location shown on the register, mapped to its regional council area.
- Legal aid: lawyers with a Ministry of Justice legal aid provider approval, matched to their register entry.
- Practices: branch offices of the same practice are counted together. Barristers sole and in-house lawyers are excluded from practice sizes.
- Find A Lawyer is not affiliated with the NZ Law Society. We refresh these figures every month.
Cite and reuse
You're welcome to use these figures in articles, research and submissions. They are licensed CC BY 4.0: please credit Find A Lawyer with a link to this page.
Find A Lawyer, Lawyers in New Zealand: 2026 Statistics, NZ Law Society register data as at 30 October 2026, https://findalawyer.co.nz/research/lawyers-in-new-zealand
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- Questions about the method, or after a figure we don't publish? Email hi@findalawyer.co.nz.