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Millennials soon to make up half of NZ’s practising lawyers

New data from the New Zealand Law Society shows that legal professionals from the Millennial generation will be a majority demographic among the nation’s practitioners.

user iconJerome Doraisamy 05 March 2019 Big Law
Auckland, New Zealand
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As at 1 February 2019, members of the Millennial generation contributes 44 per cent of all New Zealand-based practising lawyers, according to the NZ Law Society.

Furthermore, Millennials are already in a majority among women lawyers, making up 51 per cent.

For the purposes of segmenting the generations, the Law Society’s data analysis deemed those born before 1946 as the Silent Generation, those born between 1946 and 1964 as Baby Boomers, those born between 1965 and 1980 as Generation X, and those born between 1981 and 1995 as Millennials.

“While generational labels are often discredited and have rather vague boundaries, they are still commonly used to make generalised observations,” the Law Society said.

The data indicates that the Silent Generation only makes up one per cent of the nation’s legal profession at present, while Baby Boomers make up just under one in five (19 per cent) and Gen X amounts for 36 per cent of the profession.

However, despite making up just 36 per cent of the profession, Gen X accounts for 52 per cent of partners and directors of legal institutions. Boomers make up 33 per cent of partners and directors, while Millennials are at just 14 per cent.

Elsewhere, the society noted that another generation is just starting to emerge in the legal profession: the Gen Z (or iGen or Centennials) demographic, who were born from 1996 onwards. So far, the Society said, they make up just 0.1 per cent of lawyers, “but they’re on their way”.

“Millennials easily dominate the lawyers working in law firms who are not partners or directors. However, Generation X (also known sometimes as the ‘latchkey kids’) dominates when it comes to partners and directors”.

Jerome Doraisamy

Jerome Doraisamy

Jerome Doraisamy is the managing editor of Lawyers Weekly and HR Leader. He is also the author of The Wellness Doctrines book series, an admitted solicitor in New South Wales, and a board director of the Minds Count Foundation.

You can email Jerome at: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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