The New Zealand Lawyer Register

How to use the official NZ Law Society register to verify any lawyer's current practising status — in under a minute.

Quick answer: The official New Zealand lawyer register is at registry.lawsociety.org.nz. It's free, public, and maintained by the New Zealand Law Society. Search by name or firm to confirm any lawyer holds a current practising certificate before you instruct them.

What is the lawyer register?

The New Zealand Law Society (NZLS) is the statutory body that regulates the legal profession under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006. Section 24 of that Act makes it an offence to act as a lawyer in New Zealand without a current practising certificate issued by the NZLS. The register — sometimes called the "lawyer registry" or "register of lawyers" — is the public-facing record of who holds one.

Every entry shows:

  • The lawyer's full name and any aliases on file
  • The firm they currently practise from (and historic firms)
  • Their admission date to the Bar
  • Current practising status: Practising, Non-Practising, Suspended, or Struck-Off
  • Whether they hold a barrister-and-solicitor certificate or barrister-sole certificate

How to verify a lawyer in three clicks

  1. Go to registry.lawsociety.org.nz — no sign-up, no fee.
  2. Search by name or firm. Names match on partial strings, so "Sarah Mitchell" will surface every match across all firms.
  3. Confirm "Practising" is shown as the current status, and the firm name matches who you're talking to. If the status is anything other than "Practising", do not engage them as a lawyer.

Barrister vs. barrister and solicitor

Most New Zealand lawyers hold a barrister and solicitor certificate and can act in either capacity. A smaller cohort practise as barrister sole — typically specialist courtroom advocates and opinion-only practitioners. Clients usually engage a barrister sole via an instructing solicitor rather than directly. The register tells you which certificate any given lawyer holds.

What the register does not show

Detailed disciplinary findings — fines, censures, prosecutions before the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal — are published separately by the Tribunal and by the Legal Complaints Review Officer. The register itself only shows whether current standing has been affected (Suspended / Struck-Off). For a lawyer's full disciplinary record, search the Tribunal's annual reports and decisions.

How LawyerFinder uses the register

Every lawyer profile on LawyerFinder is sourced from the NZLS register and carries a direct link back to that lawyer's register entry. We don't issue our own "verified" badges — verification on this site means presence on the official register at the time we snapshotted it. Because our snapshot is periodic, always click the register link on any profile before you instruct, to confirm the lawyer's current status.

Browse our directory of NZ Law Society-registered lawyers — every profile links back to the official register.

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