Senior Associate Lawyer

Best Practice Lawyers | Foxton (flexibility available) | General Practice areas: Commercial, Property, Wills, Trusts & Estate, Relationship Property, Family Law

The Work

This is a genuine senior caseload across a broad generalist practice. You'll carry direct responsibility for your files from instruction through to completion, for clients who expect (and get) a lawyer who knows their file inside out.

The mix is varied enough to keep you sharp, and there's real trust placed in how you run your matters.

Your caseload could cover

• Residential and rural property transactions, subdivisions, cross-lease conversions and refinancing

• Commercial and business matters including sales and purchases, leases and advisory work for local operators

• Relationship property and separation matters, handled with the directness and care clients need

• Trusts, wills, enduring powers of attorney and estate administration

How the caseload works

You'll inherit an active set of files from day one. Alongside that, you'll build and grow your own client base over time. Your own clients or referral relationships are welcome here, and there's real support for growing them. You will have maximum support available to you at Best Practice, too!

You're the lawyer clients deal with directly. You make the calls on how a matter is run.

The hours

The hours are typically 8:30am to 5:30pm. There is no culture of staying late to look busy, no weekend emails expected.

The work is serious and the standard is high. But the firm is built on the belief that lawyers do better work when they have a life outside of it.

About Best Practice Lawyers

Best Practice Lawyers is an eleven-person practice firm founded and led by Trish Amor-Davy, who brings over 20 years of experience across property, relationship property, dispute resolution and general practice. The firm operates across two offices in Foxton and Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast.

It is small enough that everyone knows what is going on and large enough to handle genuinely complex and varied matters. The culture is collaborative without being precious. If you have a view on how something should be done, it gets heard.

The firm is woman-owned, community-rooted and a close-knit team, where the quality of the work and the quality of life outside work both matter.

What autonomy looks like in practice

• You manage your own files and client relationships

• Decisions about how to run a matter are yours to make

• You are visible to the principal and your input carries weight in how the firm operates

• There are no unnecessary layers between you and the work

The team

The firm includes senior lawyers, legal executives with decades of experience and support staff who take quality seriously. The firm has a strong reputation in its community, built carefully over time. The person stepping into this role helps carry that forward.

Trish leads the firm with a practical, solutions-focused approach and a genuine belief that lawyers do better work when they are trusted to get on with it.

The Pathway to Partnership

Most firms either do not offer a partnership pathway or they offer one that moves so slowly it is barely worth mentioning. This one is real, structured and being offered deliberately because the firm is actively planning its future leadership.

Associate or Senior Associate

Your entry point into the firm. From day one you have full ownership of your files and your client relationships. You decide how matters are run, you manage the client directly, and you make the calls. The expectation is that you get on with it, and the trust is there from the outset. Nobody is looking over your shoulder.

Salaried Partner

As your client base grows and your contribution to the firm deepens, the next step is salaried partnership. This is not just a title change. It is a formal shift in how you are recognised within the firm, reflecting your role in its leadership, your standing with clients, and the genuine part you play in shaping how the practice operates. You are no longer simply working within the firm. You are helping to lead it.

Equity Partner or Ownership

For the right person, the conversation goes further still. Equity partnership and potential ownership of the firm is a real possibility, not an aspiration held at arm's length or a conversation deferred indefinitely. The financial structure of any buy-in would be worked through together, in a way that makes genuine sense for both parties. This step is for someone who is not simply looking for a better role, but who wants to build something of their own and be part of the firm's future at the highest level.

The entry point is Senior Associate. What happens after that depends on your contribution, your clients and the relationship you build with the firm. But the conversation is on the table from the start, and it is meant sincerely.

About You

You're probably not actively job hunting. You're good at what you do, and your clients rate you. But something isn't sitting right, whether that's the variety of work, the lack of a client base to call your own, or the sense that you'd like more say in how things run.

What we're looking for

• Minimum 7 years PQE, with solid, demonstrable senior-level experience across Property, Relationship Property, Dispute Resolution, Commercial or Family Law, Litigation

• A track record (or clear potential) for building and growing your own client base

• Strong people skills, someone clients trust and want to keep coming back to

• Good commercial judgement and sharp problem-solving instincts

• Client-focused, with the ability to explain complex matters simply and reassuringly

• Motivated and self-directed, comfortable with autonomy rather than needing direction

• An existing client base or referral network is a genuine advantage, though not a requirement

Hours & Location

Based in Foxton, with flexibility around how and where you work, including hybrid or remote days, flexible hours, and the option to work from the Kapiti Coast office from time to time. We are very open to have conversations around how this may look. So if you are based further out, we are still keen to chat.

The location

Foxton sits in Manawatu with Foxton Beach on the doorstep and easy access to the wider Horowhenua and Kapiti region. The Ōtaki to North of Levin (Ō2NL) expressway, alongside the SH1 Levin to Foxton safety improvements, is set to make the Wellington connection faster and easier in the years ahead, with the 4-lane Ō2NL expressway due for completion around 2029.

How to Apply

If this sounds like the role for you, we would love to talk to you. Please reach out to our Talent Partner Clare, at recruitment@bestlaw.co.nz for an informal conversation.