New Zealand Law Society - Snapshot of the Profession 2021

Snapshot of the Profession 2021

The 2021 edition of Snapshot of the Profession. This year’s Snapshot depicts an increase in the number of lawyers and the proportion of female lawyers. The data also shows room for more growth in the number of Māori and Pacific lawyers to be proportional to their communities.

This Snapshot draws on information held by the New Zealand Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa as regulator of the practice of law.

In 2021, there were 15,554 lawyers with a current practising certificate, 14,799 were in New Zealand and 755 were overseas. The remaining figures reflect only the lawyers in New Zealand for the purposes of comparison.

The data highlights the number of lawyers to New Zealanders has steadily increased since the 1970s. Likewise, the proportion of female lawyers has also increased; currently 53.9% of the profession.

More New Lawyers with 0-7 years post-qualified experience (PQE) are Māori 9.7%, compared to 6.9% of the profession overall. More growth is needed for Māori and Pacific lawyers to be proportional to their communities. Collectively they comprise 10.2% of the profession – compared with the 24.6% of the New Zealand population.

View the 2021 snapshot.

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