Who Are The ‘Tier 1’ Top NZ Law Firms In The Legal500 For 2023?

The Legal 500 rankings for 2023 include a range of kiwi law firms that the organisation assessing law firms in over 150 jurisdictions with the major firms unsurprisingly dominating the Tier 1 rankings.

The report highlights the role of all the major firms maintaining a “strong presence in the market” in a catchall outline of the current market conditions.

But which firms were highlighted?

Among the smaller practices were LeeSalmonLong, HudsonGavinMartin and Wotton + Kearney and IP practice AJ Park.

Legal500 place firms into their tiered rankings. Among the Tier 1 rankings for different categories are:

Banking & Finance – Bell Gully, Buddle FIndlay, Chapman Tripp, MinterEllisonRuddWatts.

Competition Law – Bell Gully, Chapman Tripp, MinterEllisonRuddWatts.

Corporate & M&A – Bell Gully, Chapman Tripp, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Russell McVeagh.

Data Protection – Bell Gully, Buddle Findlay, Russell McVeagh

Dispute Resolution – Bell Gully, Chapman Tripp, LeeSalmonLong, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Simpson Grierson.

Insurance – Bell Gully, Duncan Cotterill, Fee Langstone, Wotton + Kearney.

Intellectual Property – AJ Park, Chapman Tripp, HudsonGavinMartin, Simpson Grierson

Investment Funds – DLA Piper, MinterEllisonRuddWatts

Labour & Employment – Bell Gully, Buddle Findlay, Dundas Street, LangdonHudsonButcher, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Simpson Grierson.

Resource Management & Environment – Bell Gully, Chapman Tripp, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Simpson Grierson.

Real Estate & Construction – Bell Gully, Chapman Tripp, Dentons Kensington Swan, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Russell McVeagh, Simpson Grierson.

Restructuring & Insolvency – Chapman Tripp, Buddle Findlay, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Russell McVeagh, Simpson Grierson.

Tax – Bell Gully, MinterEllisonRuddWatts.

TMT – Bell Gully, HudsonGavinMartin, Buddle Findlay, MinterEllisonRuddWatts, Russell McVeagh.

Transport – Buddle FIndlay, Dentons Kensington Swan, Russell McVeagh, Simpson Grierson.

The Top Tier 1 Firms

The law firms with the most Tier 1 rankings are Bell Gully and MinterEllisonRuddWatts who both share 11 tier 1 rankings from the survey.

But the continued strength of smaller law firms like HudsonGavinMartin and LeeSalmonLong is a trend that demonstrates the capacity of boutique law firms to continue to grow their market share in specific practice areas.