New Zealand Law Society Signs MoU with Open Polytechnic
The New Zealand Law Society has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Open Polytechnic over a new qualification
for legal executives.
From 2018, the Open Polytechnic will offer the New Zealand Diploma in Legal Executive Studies. The MoU will see the Law
Society and the Open Polytechnic work together over the next three years to make sure the programme meets the
expectations of the legal profession.
The New Zealand Diploma in Legal Executive Studies will replace the NZLS Legal Executive Diploma, which is being phased
out.
“Legal executives play a very important role in the legal profession, and the Law Society is happy to be working with
the Open Polytechnic to ensure that students continue to receive a quality education,” said Tim Jones, New Zealand Law
Society Vice President (Auckland).
Students who had already begun their studies in the NZLS Legal Executive Diploma, and will have completed all six papers
in the diploma by the end of 2017, will be awarded this qualification by the Law Society. Students who have already
begun their studies in the NZLS Legal Executive Diploma, but will not finish all six papers by the end of 2017, will
transition, with cross-credits, into the new qualification, the New Zealand Diploma in Legal Executive Studies.
A legal executive is a person who works as a trained assistant to a lawyer in a legal or quasi-legal environment. The
work covers a wide range of activities including searching public registers, preparing and filing documents, preparing
estates, sale and purchase of real estate or a business, and debt recovery. A legal executive may interview clients on
behalf of a lawyer but does not appear in court.
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