Lawyers have named just over 600 of their most well-respected peers for the title
The Best Lawyers in New Zealand has just released its 15th edition, which awards around 600 lawyers across the country as the best and most respected lawyers among their colleagues.
“By recognizing excellence in the legal industry through our Purely Peer Review research process, these awards provide a reliable guide for clients to identify lawyers who have demonstrated exceptional skill, knowledge, and commitment to their clients and profession,” said Best Lawyers CEO Phillip Greer.
Greer said Best Lawyers’ proprietary Purely Peer Review methodology was designed to reflect the consensus of leading lawyers on the professional abilities of their colleagues within the same geographical area and legal practice as accurately as possible. The methodology was built on the belief that lawyers themselves were the best persons to judge the calibre of work performed by their peers. It also aims to help those in need of legal services identify the lawyers best equipped to represent them in any given jurisdiction or specialty.
The 2024 edition of the Best Lawyers in New Zealand awarded 618 lawyers for their professional excellence in 72 practice areas and across four metropolitan areas.
Apart from individual lawyer recognitions, the Best Lawyers in New Zealand awarded 61 honourees “lawyer of the year” awards for garnering the highest overall peer-feedback for a specific practice area and geographic location, with more rural cities reasonably near larger cities merged into a single geographical region or “metro area” to collect as much feedback as possible.
Auckland was the metro area with the largest number of listed lawyers this year.
In a separate press release, local full-service law firm Wynn Williams announced that five of its partners (pictured) had been recognised among the Best Lawyers in New Zealand for 2024:
- Managing partner Ash Hill for corporate advisory & transactions,
- Stephen Lowe for corporate advisory & transactions,
- Amanda Douglas for dispute resolution and employment,
- Philip Maw for environment and planning and local government, and
- Richard Hern for dispute resolution and insurance.
“To have this number of our partners acknowledged by these awards across several of our core practice areas is an incredible achievement and demonstrates [Wynn Williams’] strong reputation in the market,” said Wynn Williams partner and board chair Hayley Buckley, who pointed out that the specific recognition of being among the Best Lawyers in New Zealand testified to the high regard in which the awarded lawyers were held by their peers.
Lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be listed among the Best Lawyers in New Zealand.
