Talk through employee share scheme options with a lawyer

The consult usually covers the type of scheme you are considering, who it is intended for, what rights or incentives may be offered, and what legal issues are likely to matter before you proceed. We can also discuss the documents commonly involved, how the arrangement may interact with employment terms, and where businesses often need more detailed drafting later. This is not a full implementation service, but it is a useful first step if you want to test options and understand the legal landscape before spending more on setup work.

It is often useful for founders, directors and leadership teams who want to reward or retain staff with an equity-linked incentive but are not yet sure what structure makes sense. It can also help if you have seen another business use a scheme and want to understand whether that approach is suitable for your own company. The main value is early clarity. Rather than assuming one model will fit, you can discuss your goals, workforce setup and current documents with a lawyer before moving into drafting.

A common issue is treating the scheme as a commercial idea only, without checking how it fits with your company structure, employment arrangements and supporting documents. Problems can arise if eligibility is unclear, vesting or exit events are poorly described, or staff expectations are not aligned with the legal terms. The practical working model can be just as important as the contract wording. This consultation helps identify those pressure points early, but it does not replace the separate drafting work that may be needed to properly implement a scheme.

No, this service is for advice rather than document production. You will receive a one-off consultation and guidance on the legal issues, likely next steps and whether further drafting is recommended. If you decide to proceed, we can separately scope work such as scheme rules, offer documents, board resolutions or related employment document updates. Keeping this service limited to advice makes it a lower-commitment option for businesses that are still deciding whether an employee share scheme is the right move.

No. The fixed-fee covers the legal consultation described on this page, not tax structuring, accounting advice, filings, dispute work or ongoing support after the call. It also does not include managing the entire launch process with staff communications and implementation steps. If your proposed scheme raises issues outside the consult scope, we will flag that so you know what other advice may be worth obtaining. That way, you get a clearer picture of the legal work involved without assuming the consult covers every part of the project.

Just submit an enquiry via this page or click the 'get started' button on our website to submit an enquiry. After you've submitted an enquiry, one of our legal consultants will review your enquiry within 1 business day and get in touch to get a better idea of exactly what you are looking for.

Then your legal consultant will send through an email with a bit more information about the services you need, along with a fixed fee quote setting out costs, scope of the service and timing. Have a read through it, and if you're happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online - easy!

Once you've formally accepted, we'll connect you with a specialist lawyer and they will work with you to complete your project. They will contact you by email or phone if they need to get in touch.

Sprintlaw works on fixed-fee pricing wherever possible, so you can review the scope and cost before you decide whether to proceed. For the Employee share scheme legal advice service, pricing starts from $200.00.

After you enquire, a legal consultant will confirm what is included, the expected timing and whether any extra work is needed before you engage us.

We operate completely online, which means we can help you wherever you are in New Zealand. We have office spaces in Sydney, and in Melbourne, but our use of technology allows our team members to work remotely from around the world. Our legal team are 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 working remotely from Australia via our 'legal consultancy' model, through which (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 a bit more about our 'legal consultancy' model.

Given the strong similarities between Australian and New Zealand law, and the areas of law in which we practice (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 ensuring that we provide high quality, affordable legal services to all our New Zealand clients.

Our legal team have all trained at leading firms, but have 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.