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Sprintlaw operates in Australia, New Zealand, and the UK. In Australia, Sprintlaw is a regulated law firm and is an incorporated legal practice with number 32845, regulated by the Law Society of New South Wales. In New Zealand and the UK, Sprintlaw operates as a legal consultancy and is not a traditionally regulated law firm.

We chose to set up as a legal consultancy, rather than a regulated law firm, in New Zealand because it made our expansion into the New Zealand market faster and easier. It has also meant a lower compliance burden and reduced overhead costs when performing legal work. We are then able to pass on these cost savings to our clients, allowing us to provide high quality legal services at a fraction of the cost of traditional firms.

So what’s the difference between Sprintlaw NZ’s consultancy model and a traditional NZ law firm? In many respects, we are similar. Like a law firm, we offer legal services to small business clients covering the majority of their regular legal needs, including drafting and reviewing contracts and providing legal and regulatory advice.

However, there are a few key differences and limitations to be aware of.

Our lawyers: The legal services we provide in New Zealand are not provided by New Zealand-qualified lawyers. Our lawyers are Australian-qualified lawyers or UK-qualified lawyers who are familiar with New Zealand’s laws and requirements, and are able to provide high quality legal services to New Zealand businesses. Given the strong similarities between Australian, English, and New Zealand law, and the areas in which we practise, being small business and startup law, we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to providing high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Reserved areas: We are not permitted to provide services in reserved areas of law under section 6 and section 35 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006 (see here). These include appearing in court or conducting litigation proceedings, managing conveyancing matters, or giving advice under the Property (Relationships) Act 1976. As such, Sprintlaw does not operate in these areas. We find these areas are rarely relevant to our small business clients seeking commercial legal advisory services.

Privilege: When working with traditional law firms, advice provided is considered “privileged”. This means that correspondence between a client and solicitor can, if made confidentially and for the purposes of legal advice, be withheld from a court or third party in connection with litigation proceedings. As Sprintlaw operates as a legal consultancy, certain advice we provide may not be “privileged” and may instead be treated in the same way as advice from your accountant or anyone else who is not a regulated adviser such as a solicitor or barrister. This does not affect our confidentiality obligations to you, and our engagement letter confirms that any advice or discussions we have will be kept confidential. Given that Sprintlaw does not operate in court-related or litigious matters, we find that privilege is rarely an issue relevant to our kind of legal work.

Insurance: Sprintlaw is not required to have professional indemnity insurance that meets the New Zealand Law Society’s minimum requirements. Regardless, Sprintlaw has chosen to maintain professional indemnity cover so our clients still benefit from insurance protection.

Submit an enquiry through this page or click the ‘get started’ button on our website. After you submit your enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review it within 1 business day and get in touch to better understand what you’re looking for.

Your legal consultant will then send you an email with more information about the services you need, along with a fixed-fee quote setting out the costs, scope of the service and timing. If you’re happy with it, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online.

Once you’ve formally accepted, we’ll connect you with a specialist lawyer who will work with you to complete your project. They’ll contact you by email or phone if needed.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney and Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team is mostly based in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth. We also have a London office for Sprintlaw UK.

Our legal team is made up of experienced lawyers who are specialists in various areas of law and hold an Australian legal practising certificate. None of our Sprintlaw lawyers are New Zealand qualified lawyers, and they do not currently hold a New Zealand practising certificate.

They provide legal services remotely from Australia through our ‘legal consultancy’ model. Under section 6 and section 35 of the New Zealand Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2006, our Australian legal team are permitted to provide legal services to New Zealand businesses, provided they do not provide services in certain ‘reserved’ areas of law. You can read our FAQ page to learn more about our ‘legal consultancy’ model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practise, being small business and startup law, we do not view the fact that our lawyers have not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service. We are committed to providing high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading Australian firms, but left the traditional corporate law world to join us on our mission to create a new and better way of delivering legal services. They have specialist expertise in technology law, intellectual property law, contract drafting and review, corporate law and commercial law.