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.
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