While many Australian lawyers dream of big city lights in distant lands, bigger isn’t always better. The New Zealand market has a surprising amount to offer Australian lawyers looking for a change of scenery.

A strong economy, good lifestyle, great work-life balance and steady demand for lawyers make it an attractive place to settle down.

Hays New Zealand head of legal recruitment Joshua Chapman says there is a high demand for good lawyers with experience in reputable firms.

In particular, he finds lawyers with an Australian background are often solid contenders.

“Our economy has been doing quite well and there have been good levels of confidence,” Mr Chapman says. “We haven’t had the downturn like Australia, which I think was partly because of the mining downturn. New Zealand has continued to perform really strongly.”

Lawyers specialising in construction, mergers and acquisitions, large scale transactions, and banking and finance are especially competitive, according to Mr Chapman.

Our next door neighbour is quite similar to us in many ways, meaning Aussie lawyers often have no trouble applying their skills to the New Zealand market.

“Banking and finance law is quite transferable because our banking systems are much intertwined. Basically all of our banks are owned by Australian banks or are actually the same – ASB is owned by Commonwealth, BNZ is owned by NAB and then we’ve got Westpac and ANZ too.”

Mr Chapman says the scale of transactions being done is growing as the New Zealand economy continues to track steadily upwards. Australian lawyers, who tend to have more experience in major deals, are able to transfer their skills and be very successful in New Zealand too.

Burgess Paluch Legal Recruitment director Paul Burgess says that the corporate and finance areas are performing well in their local markets.

In addition, he believes Australian lawyers are attractive as New Zealand is suffering a talent drain into London and other overseas markets.

“[Australians] offer good training, a strong work ethic, and experience dealing with relatively large transactions compared to the local New Zealand markets,” Mr Burgess says.

Opportunities far and wide

The most active legal centre in New Zealand is, by far, Auckland city. While not the country’s capital, it has the largest population and the largest number of law firms.

Often likened to Sydney, Auckland’s property market is currently in a boom and the infrastructure industry is going through the roof.

“Auckland has a ridiculously strong property market – one of the fastest growing in the world in terms of house price inflation – and what we’ve seen as a result is there’s definitely a demand for skilled lawyers in property and commercial property,” Mr Chapman says.

Tom Fail, a partner at New Zealand firm Minter Ellison Rudd Watts, says there are lots of PPPs happening in Auckland as well as across the country. He also suggests many housing developments and infrastructure projects are on the horizon. Transport projects, both road and rail, are set to grow in the near future too.

“Auckland is our biggest commercial centre and city, and there’s a lot of investment and infrastructure work for the foreseeable future,” Mr Fail says.

However, Auckland is not the be all and end all of the New Zealand market. Down in Wellington, the capital city, there is a constant need for government lawyers to service the needs of the iconic government Beehive building and all related matters.

Meanwhile, despite five years having passed, the devastating earthquake that hit Christchurch in September 2010 is still creating a massive legal workload.

“There is a skills shortage across the board in Christchurch because a lot of people left after the quake, and that definitely includes the legal space as well,” Mr Chapman says.

Mr Chapman said there is a lot of construction and property law to be done in regards to the rebuilding of the city, as well as insurance work on the thousands of claims put forward.

“I think it’s the highest amount of claims out of any earthquake that’s happened anywhere in the world for the last 10 years. Because we’re a western country, we’re very well insured; which means there are an awful lot of claims to be sorted.”

Mr Fail agrees that Christchurch remains a hub for legal work on the South Island, but says the region also has other locales on offer.

“There are lots of irrigation and water projects in the South Island too, and further down in Queenstown there’s a new convention centre being built,” he says.

“The airport is expanding and the population and tourism growth down there is resulting in new subdivisions and business centres.”

The grass is greener

“What would attract a lawyer to New Zealand? Well, New Zealand is a good place to live and to raise a family as well,” Mr Fail says.

If you’re a person who likes the big city buzz then Auckland is the place to be, but the rest of the country offers a slower pace of life.

“Living and working in New Zealand is great. While it’s not Sydney or Melbourne, and it’s certainly not London, what you get with that is an ease of moving around. Your wider life can be a bit simpler,” Mr Fail says.

Mr Chapman highlights that while Auckland’s property market is ‘pretty astronomical’, the rest of the country is reasonably priced and there are many great places to raise a family.

“In regional centres such as Tauranga or Napier, and in the South Island places like Queenstown, you can have an amazing quality of life and still a reasonable level of work, making for an incredibly good work-life balance.”

It’s quite common for New Zealanders who once left their homeland for Australia or beyond to return home when they are older, often with partners and children in tow to benefit from the lifestyle on offer, according to both Mr Chapman and Mr Burgess.

The ease of moving across the Tasman makes it a quick and painless shift – Australians are allowed to live and work in New Zealand without a visa. In terms of becoming qualified in the legal industry, in most situations there no retraining requirements.

The Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Admission Act 1997 outlines a simple two-step process for Australian lawyers seeking to practice in New Zealand.

Australian lawyers need to be admitted as both a barrister and a solicitor in the High Court, and then get issued with a practising certificate either as a barrister or as a barrister and solicitor by the New Zealand Law Society.

“We’re very alike. The reality is New Zealand lawyers and Australian lawyers are working together every day – we have a track record of working together,” Mr Fail says, emphasising the ease in which lawyers can swap between the two countries.

Mr Chapman adds: “The Australian lawyers who I have met that have moved over here certainly haven’t regretted it.”