Christchurch, Queenstown, Dunedin

As recruiters, we have recently noticed that many of our candidates are seeking legal careers in the South Island. This is not surprising - besides the ski areas, resorts, fiords and glaciers, the South Island offers excellent legal opportunities with more diversity than in Auckland.

The feedback we have also received is that there is a focus on work-life balance and sensitivity to employees needs. For example, many Queenstown-based employers offer four days to accommodate the avid skiers amongst their employees. We have also placed individuals in firms offering accommodation support to attract up and coming lawyers to the regions.

There is a very diverse range of clients from rural to property and construction, litigation and commercial. As firms tend to be smaller, lawyers tend to get the opportunity to be proactive in many areas or specialise during their careers. Generalists tend to have more career opportunities than specialists due to the diversity of the firms.

Christchurch

Christchurch has a significant emphasis on construction - both advisory and litigation, RMA, land, structural, projects due to the rebuild and ongoing work within this area. There is also a strong appetite to hire in the transactional residential and property sector too for the same reasons.

Christchurch has a handful of large and mid-tier firms that offer a very close-knit, supportive work environment and offer a very clear pathway for their employees. The Christchurch market has a strong base of smaller general practice firms who have been in operation for over 60 years - these firms have solid and stable client bases and offer the very epitome of GP across both private client and SME commercial and smaller developers.

Queenstown

Even though the impact of Covid is visible in the tourism industry of Queenstown, the legal industry has not declined but has changed its skill base to accommodate this change in sector lead.

There are 2-3 multi-office mid-tiers in this area plus one large firm and these firms tend to dominate the legal jobs market in Queenstown, particularly the non-private client work. There is also a small range of general practices that have been established in the Queenstown market for years and normally splinter teams from the larger firms mentioned earlier.

Staff turnover tends to be very low in Queenstown, as individuals tend to stay and settle in the area for obvious reasons. Teams are familiar, friendly and roles secure and stable rather than a rapidly advancing career. The rockstar sector currently is within property due to ongoing development and new developments, both large and small, residential and commercial in Queenstown.

Dunedin

Dunedin is the second largest city in the South Island. Considering the rising housing prices in the major cities of New Zealand, lots of young lawyers who are first home buyers are now seeking legal opportunities in Dunedin.

Dunedin also has a mix of quality law firms that are involved in various areas of law. There are some mid to large firms, boutique firms and specialised law firms. There are a fair amount of legal opportunities available in Dunedin in commercial, property, general practice, resource management and litigation areas.

Recruitment in Dunedin is slower than Christchurch and Queenstown currently, but should you wish to discuss firms in more detail, please reach out.

Please review our website www.tylerwren.co.nz for more information about us and also review our latest news on the legal jobs market. Contact Lisa Gray on lgray@tylerwren.co.nz or call 09 973 5470 to speak confidentially on any of the above roles.