Taranaki Branch
The Taranaki branch of the New Zealand Law Society had its beginnings on 6 March 1879 when the Taranaki District Law Society was founded. This became the Taranaki branch on 1 February 2009.
Governance is by an elected Branch Council, consisting of the branch President and nine Council members. The President, Alex Laurenson, represents the branch on the New Zealand Law Society's Council.
The branch functions include:
- representing and serving the interests of local Law Society members;
- upholding the fundamental obligations imposed by the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 on lawyers who provide regulated services;
- attending to representative functions, including promoting collegiality within the branch;
- assisting and promoting law reform.
Location
The Taranaki branch includes the following centres: Eltham, Hawera, Inglewood, Kaponga, Manaia, New Plymouth, Opunake, Patea, Stratford, Waitara.
Lawyers in Practice
At 18 July 2016 there were 138 practising lawyers in the Taranaki branch area. This was 1.2% of all New Zealand-based lawyers.
| Barristers | Law Firm Employees | Directors/ Partners | Sole Practice | In-house | Total | |
| Men | 3 | 23 | 36 | 5 | 5 | 72 |
| Women | 5 | 27 | 20 | 2 | 12 | 66 |
| Total | 8 | 50 | 56 | 7 | 17 | 138 |
The average time in practice for Taranaki lawyers is 19 years and 8 months.
| Metric | Taranaki | National |
| Female Lawyers | 47.8% | 48.1% |
| Male Lawyers | 52.2% | 51.9% |
| In practice less than 5 years | 17.5% | 19.8% |
| In practice more than 40 years | 8.7% | 7.7% |
| Average time in practice | 19 yrs 8 months | 17 yrs 9 months |
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Last updated on the 25th July 2016