Tauranga’s legal firms are grappling with a persistent shortage of experienced lawyers, as attractive overseas offers and a competitive national market draw mid-career professionals away from the region.
The issue has prompted three of the city’s major law firms, Cooney Lees Morgan, HollandBeckett, and Sharp Tudhope, to partner with local economic development agency Priority One on a new marketing campaign called Redefining Legal. The campaign aims to attract legal talent to the Bay of Plenty by highlighting the complex, high-calibre work and lifestyle advantages the region offers.
Project manager Meg Davis said the initiative was conceived after reports of skilled staff moving between local firms, indicating a shallow talent pool. “Our role has been to bring employers together and tell a stronger regional story about the opportunities available here,” she says. Davis adds that attracting skilled professionals is crucial for lifting productivity, supporting local business growth, and strengthening the region’s ability to retain top talent.
The recruitment drive comes as the latest data from Seek shows job advertisements for legal services in the North Island, excluding Auckland and Wellington, grew by 20.4 per cent between February 2025 and February 2026, indicating a widespread demand for legal expertise outside the main centres.
Challenging career misconceptions
A common hurdle for local recruiters is the misconception that regional firms cannot offer the same quality of work as their big city or international counterparts. However, lawyers who have made the move to Tauranga say the reality is quite different.
Cooney Lees Morgan associate Jasmine Daroch, 33, relocated from Auckland in 2024 for family and lifestyle reasons. She says that not only were Tauranga firms willing to match her Auckland salary, but the quality of work was a significant drawcard. Daroch notes that many partners at her firm have returned from overseas and brought their international clients with them. “Moving here was an easy decision,” she says.
Her colleague, senior solicitor Georgia Thompson, 28, joined the firm at the end of 2024 after working in Sydney. She found Tauranga offered a better work-life balance than the long hours culture of the Australian city, without compromising on the quality of legal work.
People don’t realise how much of a hub Tauranga actually is. You get to enjoy complex work at a junior level.
Thompson points to the Western Bay of Plenty’s thriving horticulture industry as a source of a “huge amount” of commercial legal work. The city's status as a major port and logistics hub also generates significant and complex legal projects, from commercial contracts to environmental law. This environment allows junior lawyers to gain experience on substantial cases much earlier in their careers than they might in larger firms. The Tauranga City Council has also been a source of significant legal work, recently hiring four law firms for an inquiry into the Mauao landslide.
The mid-career drain
Despite success in attracting graduates, firms are finding it particularly difficult to recruit and retain lawyers at the mid-to-senior level. Holland Beckett people and culture manager Danielle Brownlie says a high demand for experienced practitioners and a limited local talent pool has created a highly competitive market. “When people tend to hit that range, they start thinking about spending some time overseas,” she says. He says lawyers with two or more years of experience are frequently moving to Australia or the United Kingdom. While there was a wave of Kiwis returning home in 2022 and 2023 following the pandemic, Davidson says those numbers have now levelled out, and roles for lawyers with five or more years’ experience are taking longer to fill. This trend echoes wider economic concerns, such as when pre-construction buyers faced financial ruin as condo prices fell.
He notes that the primary drivers for candidates choosing Tauranga are often lifestyle and family connections. “Perhaps Mum and Dad live down here, and the lawyer has got married, has young children, and wants to move closer to the grandparents,” Davidson says. He adds that regional firms can also offer lawyers more direct client interaction than they might get at a global firm.
A nationwide problem with international pressures
The recruitment challenge is not unique to Tauranga. According to the New Zealand Law Society, all 13 of its branches across the country report similar difficulties. Chief executive Katie Rusbatch says that of the 450 practising certificates issued to new lawyers between July 2025 and mid-February 2026, only 7.2 per cent were working in regional New Zealand. “There is competition for that talent not only from the larger cities, but also from overseas,” Rusbatch says.
However, she points out the benefits for those who do start their careers regionally. “Often, they will be in court much sooner than their city-based counterparts and will accumulate a range of experience at a fast rate,” Rusbatch said, alongside more affordable housing and lifestyle advantages.
Experts from the University of Waikato’s law faculty, Dr Rachel Tan and Dr Amanda Turnbull, said in a joint statement that long-term retention remains a tough challenge, with a noticeable drop-off at the mid-level stage. “Lawyers have gained a few years of experience and are driven to look for higher salaries, more specialised work, or international opportunities,” they stated.
This is exacerbated by a significant salary gap with international markets. According to recruitment firm Robert Walters, legal salaries in Tauranga are typically 10 to 15 per cent below Auckland levels. For example, a solicitor with two-to-four years' experience earns an average of $90,000 in the Bay of Plenty, compared to $102,500 in Auckland. This gap widens further when compared to Australia, which senior manager Kate Williams says is attracting junior lawyers from New Zealand at unprecedented rates. The ongoing growth in the region, including in the local property market, continues to fuel demand for legal services, intensifying the competition for talent.
Williams concludes that the issue is a national talent shortage, meaning regional and metropolitan firms are all competing for the same limited pool of candidates. This competition is expected to continue as New Zealand's salary packages struggle to keep pace with those offered in larger overseas markets, particularly Australia, which continues to be a major drawcard for skilled professionals, including those in the legal field such as New Zealand's only fulltime female rugby referee.
