New Zealand Law Society 1869–2019

On 3 September 1869 Parliament passed the New Zealand Law Society’s Act 1869, for all barristers and solicitors of the Supreme Court lawfully practising within the Colony of New Zealand to “for ever hereafter be and be called one body politic and corporate in deed and in law by the name of style of ‘The New Zealand Law Society’”.

The New Zealand Law Society is the second lawyers’ organisation to come into existence. On 16 October 1868 the Canterbury District Law Society was established at a meeting in Christchurch

Through a timeline and photos we chart the development of the profession over the past 150 years (download PDF).