He shares the most important thing he learned about leadership while he was president
In the past few weeks, NZ Lawyer has been sharing the details of an insightful discussion with outgoing New Zealand Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa president Frazer Barton, where we covered everything from his feelings on stepping down to Te Ao Mārama and current threats to the rule of law. In the final part of this interview, Barton tells us what’s on the horizon for him in 2026, and what’s the most important thing he learned about leadership.
What would you say was the most important thing you learned about being a leader while helming the Law Society?
It's important to engage with everyone at every level and to listen to them. Often my conversation will be like, “I'm really interested to hear your point of view. I want to discuss it. We may not agree at the end, but I do wanna hear what you’ve got to say”. It's being open to listening to suggestions – what they started with, and what I started with, and we get something together that's workable. Even when people are on opposite sides, there are certain values that we hold dear.
As you prepare to step away from the leadership of the Law Society, what's on the horizon for you?
In March, I retired from the partnership in Anderson Lloyd – I've been a partner there for 37 years, and I reached the retirement age so I am now practising as a barrister. And I enjoy that work – I'm looking forward to getting back to doing that full time.
So that's my goal and I'll continue practising from Dunedin here. My area is civil litigation, insurance, Treaty-related litigation. It'll be good not having to juggle that between multiple meetings and trips. That's what I'm looking forward to, in addition to having a bit more time at home with my family rather than being on planes and hotels and other cities.
I'm confident David will do a great job. The profession’s in good hands going forward.
