Our purpose is to help shape New Zealand’s future.
We do this by working alongside our clients, our people, and our communities. We deliver value by listening to our clients to gain a deep understanding of their business and industry, and providing practical and innovative commercial solutions, so they can achieve their business goals.
Kia ora
At MinterEllisonRuddWatts we are proud to attract and develop exceptional talent. We are passionate about what we do and are always seeking to find better ways to do things. We believe that we have a fantastic bunch of people at our firm. We all share a mindset of working together, driving innovation and thinking collaboratively, while understanding our clients’ needs and providing them with technical and commercial solutions that meet those needs. This approach is reflected in our values and our strategy – and we look forward to sharing these with you. Our culture of equality and inclusion has been well known for a long time. We are focussed on being supportive, open-minded, and passionate about helping each other achieve success both professionally and personally. A world of opportunity awaits you, and we hope to see you soon.
Sarah Sinclair, Chair and Partner and Andrew Poole, Chief Executive
Who we are
Join a leading law firm
MinterEllisonRuddWatts is leading full-service, legal and business advisory firm with offices in Auckland and Wellington. We are a New Zealand owned and operated partnership with 47 partners and more than 180 other legal staff. Our New Zealand heritage, dating back 130 years, is a firm foundation on which we have built an established and strong brand in the market. In the Legal 500 Asia-Pacific rankings our firm is tied in top place for band rankings with 12 Tier 1 rankings. We are also in first place for the most ranked lawyers (47).
Our people
Our people are what makes us a leading New Zealand law firm, bringing diversity of thought and deep industry experience.
We were named amongst New Zealand’s best legal employers in the NZ Lawyer Employer of Choice 2022 list, recognising those that have responded to the changing market and are putting their employees first.
We were named as the Employer of Choice at the New Zealand Law Awards 2021, reflecting our continuing efforts to create a workplace where our collaborative culture and diversity of thought work together to deliver exceptional outcomes for our clients.
We also awarded excellence awards for Large Law Firm of the Year and Employer of Choice at the New Zealand Law Awards 2020, which our Chief Executive, Andrew Poole, says is a great acknowledgement of the value we create for our clients, and the commitment that everyone in our team brings to their work.
Work with us and you’ll discover it’s our approach that sets us apart from the other firms, as much as our expertise.
Innovation
Our firm has always been at the forefront, and unafraid to do something different – our value waka hourua (bring on the future) celebrates this stance. Our focus on innovation has created three legaltech products that benefit our clients and the wider legal profession.
We were awarded New Zealand Deal Firm of the Year in 2022 at the Australasian Law Awards for our work on some of the country’s most significant and iconic deals. We also won New Zealand Deal Firm of the Year in 2020.
We were voted by clients as ‘Best Provider to Financial and Insurance Services’ in Australasia in the prestigious Beaton Client Choice Awards 2022. The Client Choice Awards recognise best practice in the professional services sector throughout Australia and New Zealand. The awards are independently researched by Beaton with the results this year based on over 15,000 pieces of client feedback.
Learn more about innovation.
A truly international presence
We work to provide a seamless experience for our clients, here in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. As a member of the MinterEllison Legal Group, we offer our clients access to one of the largest full-service legal groups in the Asia-Pacific region – and can hand-pick a team of legal experts to fit our client’s business needs.
Find out more about our international experience.
For more information on our award-winning practices, employee benefits, inclusion and diversity, and corporate responsibility, visit minterellison.co.nz
Diversity and inclusion
Kia toitū te tangata – we care for our people, clients, and communities
Our firm’s culture is built on waka eke noa (respecting individuality and working as one). Empowerment, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) is at the center of this value and our EDI Committee of elected partners and staff focus on diversity in all its forms (e.g. age, background, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation) to enhance our unique and inclusive culture.
We champion diversity and inclusion within our firm, the legal profession and our wider communities.
Gender equality
A founding partner of the Global Women’s Champions for Change initiative, we support diversity in the workplace and lead the way with 34% of our partners and 69% of our senior lawyers identifying as female. We are also one of 15 New Zealand workplaces to sign the NZ Law Society’s (NZLS) Gender Equality Charter.
Our leadership of greater gender diversity and gender initiatives in the legal profession was again recognised at the Euromoney Legal Media Group Asia Women in Business Law Awards 2021, with the firm taking out the award for New Zealand Firm of the Year, along with National Firm of the Year for Gender Diversity and Talent Management.
The Women in Business Law Awards celebrate the advancement of women in the legal industry in the Asia-Pacific region, recognising the best initiatives for gender diversity, innovation, mentoring, work-life balance, pro bono work and talent management.
We have a longstanding commitment to progress gender equality and has several programmes that mentor and support women in law.
Ethnic and cultural diversity
Our staff come from a broad range of backgrounds and experiences and bring with them a unique mix of skills and expertise. As such, we foster a culture that embraces individual differences. We actively support cultural celebrations such as Matariki, Te Wiki o te reo Māori, Diwali and Lunar New Year and Te Reo language classes are offered to all staff. Additionally, we support TupuToa, an organisation that seeks to grow Māori and Pacific leaders, by offering students fully paid internships and employment opportunities.
Find out more about our diversity and inclusion programmes.
LGBTTQIA+ inclusion
It’s important to us that everyone of our staff feel the belong and are empowered to bring their whole self to work.
We are proud to be Rainbow Tick certified, demonstrating our commitment to a LGBTTQIA+ inclusive culture and systems, and showing that we are a safe and welcoming workplace for employees who are members of the Rainbow community. MinterEllisonRuddWatts Pride, our Pride and Allies network, supports a range of initiatives to ensure we continue to actively embed inclusive principles, including online modules for all new staff, workshops, use of pronouns, and celebrating Pride events such as Pink Shirt Day and Pride Month.
We aim for even greater diversity and inclusion throughout our firm by 2025, including a 40:40:20 (women: men: any gender) gender balance
The power of diversity
Diversity of thought drives innovative change and growth, with unique ways of thinking providing an enhanced ability to solve problems.
We are mindful of diversity and inclusion in everything we do, and this is embedded into everyday work.
We were the first law firm to publicly report our gender and ethnic pay gap information. Our Chair, Sarah Sinclair, highlights the importance of analysing pay gaps within organisations.
“We are proud of our work to encourage greater inclusion and diversity in the legal profession and creating a positive and sustainable impact remains a focus for our firm,” says Sarah Sinclair.
“As a partnership, we are committed to building an inclusive workforce that reflects the diverse communities of New Zealand.
“We understand the power of diversity in business and how it achieves better outcomes for our clients and our firm. Creating an inclusive culture supports diversity and better decision making and advice at all levels of organisations. We are reporting our results as it is, quite simply, the right thing to do.”
Sustainability
Our commitment to sustainability
Our firm is playing an active part in Aotearoa New Zealand’s sustainability journey, which is already underway. We are passionate about helping to shape New Zealand’s future, and we believe in using our collective skills, time and resources to make a positive impact for our people, our clients, our communities and our planet.
To create the sustainable future we want to see, we commit to three pillars built upon te taiao (environment), ngā tāngata (people) and ngā tikanga (practices). The three pillars see us playing our part in a low emission, circular economy; contributing to social empowerment; and using our position as strategic advisers to positively shape Aotearoa New Zealand’s future.
In 2021, the firm proudly became a Living Wage employer.
We are also proud to be the first New Zealand law firm to commit to climate conscious clause drafting, applying the approach taken in The Chancery Lane Project.
Learn more about our Sustainability Strategy and Partnerships.
Community investment
Investing in our communities is important to us
We want to make a positive impact for our communities because we are passionate about helping to shape Aotearoa New Zealand’s future.
Our Community Investment Programme (CIP) supports grassroots and community organisations in Aotearoa New Zealand so we can make a greater impact and help to shape our country’s future.
Pro bono
In our Sustainability Strategy we have committed to having 90% of all partners and staff involved in pro bono client work, regardless of their role at the firm.
We have also committed to providing at least $500,000 per year of in-kind support to our community investment partners. That is split between kia toitū te taio (our environment) and kia toitū te tāngata (our people) focused pillars and aligned with UN Sustainable Development goals: climate action, responsible consumption and production, poverty, gender equality, reduced inequality and rule of law.
We support a range of organisations through our pro bono programme. Examples include Waitematā Community Law Service – Community Te Korowai Ture o Waitematā and Community Law Wellington and Hutt Valley – Te Whare Ture Hapori o Te Whanganui-a-Tara me Te Awa Kairangi, Who Did You Help Today Trust and The Chancery Lane Project.
Read more about our community clients: