Every law firm we could find in New Zealand, town by town: what each one handles, who its lawyers are and how to book, checked against each firm's own website.
Law firms specialise. The firm that handled your house purchase is not always the one to see about a separation, an employment dispute or a criminal charge, and some firms do no court work at all. Pick your situation: each list shows the firms whose own websites say they do that work, ordered by the same published criteria.
Not every legal problem needs a law firm, and some problems need one and nothing else. The options below are the main ones in New Zealand, with where each fits.
Most legal work starts here: property, wills and estates, trusts, family, employment, business, disputes and criminal matters. A lawyer must hold a current practising certificate from the New Zealand Law Society, and you can check any lawyer on the Society's public register. Firms differ a lot in what they do, so choose one whose own website lists your kind of problem; that is what the lists above are built from. Source: New Zealand Law Society public register of lawyers
Barristers specialise in court work and advice on disputes. Under the Law Society's intervention rule a barrister is usually instructed through a solicitor rather than directly, unless the barrister holds Law Society approval to take instructions straight from clients. In practice, start with a firm; it will brief a barrister if your case needs one. Source: New Zealand Law Society: the intervention rule
For buying or selling property only. Conveyancing practitioners hold a practising certificate from the New Zealand Society of Conveyancers and may carry out conveyancing, but not other reserved legal work such as advising on or appearing in court proceedings. If your property matter also involves a dispute, a trust, relationship property or an estate, a law firm can cover all of it. Source: Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, sections 6, 24, 27 and 35
Free legal help, directed at people on low incomes or in a vulnerable situation. Community Law says it cannot help with problems that are about increasing your wealth, such as most property and business matters, and many centres do not advise on wills or trusts. Source: Community Law: who we help
Government help with a lawyer's fees if you cannot afford one, for certain kinds of case. Depending on the case, your income and your property, you may have to repay some or all of it. A Citizens Advice Bureau or Community Law Centre can tell you whether you are likely to qualify, and many firms on this site state that they take legal aid work. Source: Ministry of Justice: legal aid
Free legal advice on family matters for people who qualify, usually one or two meetings and available once in any 12 months. These lawyers cannot represent you in court. Source: Ministry of Justice: legal help for family matters
By law, anyone who gives New Zealand immigration advice must be licensed by the Immigration Advisers Authority unless they are exempt, and New Zealand lawyers are among the exempt groups. So for a visa, residence or an appeal you can use either a lawyer or a licensed adviser; the Authority's register lists licensed advisers. Source: Immigration Advisers Authority: who can give advice
1673 law firms in 94 towns and cities. Listed by a published score: one point for each of the 19 practice areas a firm lists on its own website, plus one point for each of 7 checkable facts. Badges mark facts, not opinions — how we score.
This guide lists 1673 law firms with an office in New Zealand, each checked against its own website on 18 October 2026.
Listed by a published score: one point for each of the 19 practice areas a firm lists on its own website, plus one point for each of 7 checkable facts. Badges mark facts, not opinions. No firm can pay for its position or a badge. Read the full method.
Reviews are easy to game and hard to verify, so this guide does not publish them. Instead every firm is scored on facts you can check on its own website: the practice areas it lists, whether it names its lawyers, whether it publishes its fees, and so on. The method is published and applied the same way to every firm. How we score.
Every lawyer practising in New Zealand must hold a current practising certificate from the New Zealand Law Society. You can check a lawyer's status on the Law Society register.
Some do and some don't. Where a firm's own website offers a free first meeting or publishes a fee, it shows on that firm's page here. Ask for the fee estimate before work starts; the Law Society's client care rules require lawyers to tell you how they charge.
For firm owners
Listings, scores and order are free and cannot be bought: every score comes only from the firm's own website. Separately, Backroom Ops, which publishes this guide, helps firms get found in Google and in AI search tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews. Working with us has no effect on your listing or score.