Working with you to help shape New Zealand’s future.

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 at MinterEllisonRuddWatts, and we hope to see you soon.

Sarah Sinclair, Chair and Partner and Andrew Poole, Chief Executive

About | Mō mātou

MinterEllisonRuddWatts is a 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 140 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 individually ranked lawyers (47). Find out more about our teams here.

Our firm has always been at the forefront, and unafraid to do something different.

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 were voted by clients as ‘Best Provider to Financial and Insurance Services’ in Australasia in the prestigious Beaton Client Choice Awards 2022.

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.

It was clear to me prior to applying that the firm has a strong culture of achieving excellence and success for their clients, yet also places great emphasis on encouraging and supporting their own people. Together, this makes them a truly phenomenal firm and I think it was the combination of these things that made me pursue MinterEllisonRuddWatts for my internship.

– Isabella Denholm, previous Intern

Valuing our people – helping you to be the best you can be

The start of your career requires a huge amount of learning as you switch from study to the workplace. In your first 18 months, our DevelopME programme will see you participating in training sessions to build your legal knowledge, technical skills, personal leadership and interpersonal skills, professional expertise and well-being. Your professional development will continue throughout your career at our firm.

Supporting you to be your best includes supporting your physical, mental and financial health.

Our health, safety and wellbeing programme provides a range of initiatives you can take advantage of. From free regular health checks and flu vaccinations to a mentoring programme and peer-to-peer support network, together with firm lunches and morning teas, you will be well supported to look after your wellbeing. We also make it fun – more than half our staff participate in our ‘Steptember’ challenge, an annual step challenge to help get us moving after the long winter.

Diversity and inclusion | Kanorau me te whakawhanaungatanga

Our firm’s culture is built on waka eke noa (respecting individuality and working as one). We champion diversity and inclusion within our firm, the legal profession and our wider communities.

Founding partner of Global Women’s Champions for Change initiative. Our leadership of greater gender diversity and gender initiatives in the legal profession was 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 at the Asia-Pacific Women in Business Law Awards.

Mind the Gap. We were the first law firm to publicly report our gender and ethnic pay gap information through Mind the Gap.

Ngā Karahipi Whakaeke. To help encourage greater diversity in the law profession, we established Ngā Karahipi Whakaeke – the MinterEllisonRuddWatts Awards Programme – providing financial assistance and mentoring support to Māori law students.

LGBTTQIA+. We are proud to be Rainbow Tick certified and a member of Pride Pledge, 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.

“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, our Board Chair.

“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.”

Sarah Sinclair, Chair and Partner

Sustainability | Tō mātou manawanui ki ngā take ukauka

Our commitment to sustainability

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.

We partner with Toitū Tahua, the Centre for Sustainable Finance, in its quest to leverage the power and resources of Aotearoa New Zealand’s financial industry for an equitable, inclusive and thriving low-emissions economy. Our firm helped establish Toitū Tahua and provides ongoing legal advice to the Centre and some of its implementation groups.

In 2021, our firm proudly became a Living Wage employer, a movement that emerged as a response to growing poverty and inequality holding back New Zealand workers and families.

Learn more about our Sustainability Strategy and Partnerships.

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.

Pro bono and CIP programme

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.

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 in our firm.

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, Tiritiri Matangi, and The Chancery Lane Project.