New Zealand has recorded a slight increase in the number of lawyers practicing in the 12 months to October 31 compared to the previous 12. According to the nation’s law society, there are 11,737 lawyers currently holding a practising certificate, and a further 601 associate members, compared to 11,511 members in October 2011.

As at August 1 2012, the majority of practitioners are based in Auckland (43.7 percent) followed by Wellington (22.4 percent) and Canterbury-Westland (9.8 percent). Three percent of practising certificates were allocated to lawyers outside of the country.  There were 2,325 in-house counsels registered, 2015 partners, 1,095 sole practitioners and 1,392 barristers. The majority of practising certificates were held by males (55.6 percent).

There were nine firms in New Zealand with more than 100 lawyers and four firms with 50 to 99 lawyers registered. The majority of firms however had less than 20 practicing certificates. There were 11 firms with more than 20 principals, 15 firms with 11 to 19 principals and 54 firms with six to 10 principals. The majority however fell into the one to five principals category.

The Law Society received 17 complaints against incorporated law firms during the 2012 financial year, and 1,536 complaints against lawyers. This represents an increase of 21 percent and 8.2 percent respectfully. In 1,140 of those cases the decision was made to take no action (74 percent), 67 were withdrawn, discontinued or settled and 207 resulted in orders being made by the Lawyers Standards Committee or the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal. There were five orders made for the publication of a legal practitioners name as a result of a complaint.

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