Typical New Zealand Lawyer is Male – for Now

MEDIA RELEASE – For immediate use, 26 April 2011

Typical New Zealand Lawyer is Male – for Now

Statistical information from the New Zealand Law Society shows that 11,585 lawyers held practising certificates at 1 April 2011, with 56% of them male and 64% having practised for less than 20 years.

In a “snapshot of the legal profession” in the latest issue of the Law Society’s LawTalk magazine, the statistics also show that 41% of New Zealand lawyers work in the Auckland urban area, with a further 20% in Wellington City.

“Going by the numbers, the ‘typical’ New Zealand lawyer is male, has been in practice for less than 9 years, lives in Auckland, is not a partner, is a solicitor in an unincorporated firm with 1-3 partners, and works in company/commercial and/or property law,” LawTalk says.

“If the number of women in the legal profession continues to grow at the same rate, our typical lawyer will change gender in 2018.”

The Law Society says the proportion of women holding practising certificates has risen from 21% of all lawyers in 1990 to 44%. It says the changing gender balance is graphically illustrated by 82% of women having been in practice for less than 20 years, while only 50% of men have.

“At a high level, there have been three major changes in the demographic make-up of the New Zealand legal profession in the past two decades. These are the increasing number of women working as lawyers, the growth in barristers sole, and a fall in the proportion of lawyers who are principals (partners in law firms or sole practitioners),” the Law Society says.

Lawyers practising as barristers have risen from 4.5% of total practising certificates issued in 1990 to 13.8% this year. At the same time, the number of lawyers who are principals has dropped from 49.4% in 1990 to 30.1% at present.

The Law Society collects information on the legal profession in its regulatory role. Anyone practising as a lawyer is required to hold a current practising certificate, which is issued by the Law Society annually from 1 July.

ENDS

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