The Corporate Lawyers Association of New Zealand (CLANZ) has changed its name to In-house Lawyers Association of New Zealand (ILANZ).

One of the New Zealand Law Society’s three sections, ILANZ agreed on the name change at the CLANZ annual meeting on 22 May. The new name was ratified by the Law Society’s Board at its meeting on 5 June.

For some time now, members have commented that no one really refers to in-house lawyers as “corporate lawyers” any more.

Some members have expressed a degree of concern that including the word "corporate" in name doesn’t necessarily reflect the fact that a large number of the in-house legal profession work in the government, academic or not-for-profit sectors. In addition, “corporate” can refer to lawyers working in private practice as well as those in-house roles.

The practice type used for lawyers working within their client organisations is “in-house lawyer” and this is consistent around the globe.

The CLANZ Committee reached out to its members in the 2014 Member Survey and the results confirmed the committee’s view that members would support a change. Many members who responded to the survey thought the inclusion of the words “in-house” in the name would be a good idea.

“While the committee accepts there is significant goodwill in the current name, we are keen to embrace the entire membership with a more inclusive name,” new ILANZ President Dr Katie Elkin says.

“We hope the change of one word in the name and one letter in the acronym will be easy for our membership and the wider profession to adapt to.”

CLANZ, now known as ILANZ, was established more than 28 years ago.