The New Zealand Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa will hold the practising certificate fee for lawyers for the 2020-21 year at $1,040, the same rate as for the past two years.

This practising certificate fee is used solely to enable the Law Society to meet its regulatory obligations. The Law Society’s representative membership fee will remain at zero.

The process to agree the fee for the upcoming practising year has involved a recommendation from the Law Society Board to the Law Society Council for a decision and then final approval by the Minister of Justice.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Law Society Board intended to recommend a modest $50 increase in the practising certificate fee for the 2020-21 year. In response to the pandemic, the Board reversed its decision to increase the fee at its meeting on 8 April 2020 and, after careful consideration and examination of the options available, it decided to recommend there be no change, which was accepted by the Council and the Minister.

The Law Society Board did give very careful consideration as to whether the practising fee could be reduced but concluded this would have fundamentally compromised the ability of the New Zealand Law Society to carry out its statutory functions and regulatory obligations.

While practising fees must be paid by 1 July, this information is being shared now to enable practising lawyers to take this into account for their planning for the year ahead.

Every year some lawyers use one of the established external providers to assist them in making instalment payments. We cannot recommend providers but if you need information about this contact our Registry team.