IP Health Checkwith expert lawyers

Sprintlaw operates in Australia, New Zealand and the UK. In Australia, Sprintlaw is a regulated law firm and 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 rather than a traditionally regulated law firm. We chose this model in New Zealand because it made our expansion into the New Zealand market faster and easier, reduced our compliance burden, and lowered our overheads when performing legal work. We can then pass those cost savings on to clients, helping us provide high quality legal services at a fraction of the cost of traditional firms.

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

However, there are some important differences and limitations to be aware of. In our view, the benefits of engaging a legal consultancy outweigh these limitations, which is why we have chosen to operate this way in New Zealand. If you have any questions, our team would be happy to discuss them.

Our lawyers: The legal services we provide in New Zealand are not provided by New Zealand-qualified lawyers. Our lawyers are Australian-qualified or UK-qualified lawyers who are familiar with New Zealand 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 of law in which we practise, being small business and startup law, we do not view the fact that our lawyers are not qualified in New Zealand as having any substantive impact on the quality of our service.

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 small business clients seeking commercial legal advisory services.

Privilege: When working with traditional law firms, advice provided is considered privileged. This means 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. Because Sprintlaw operates as a legal consultancy, some advice we provide may not be privileged, and may instead be treated in the same way as advice from an accountant or another adviser who is not a regulated 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. Because Sprintlaw does not operate in court-related or litigious matters, we find that privilege is rarely an issue for the kind of legal work we do.

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 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 need.

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 cost, scope of the service, and timing. If you are happy with the scope, you can accept and sign our engagement letter online.

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

We support clients across New Zealand through our online-first model. Because we work remotely by phone, email and video call, you can use Sprintlaw from anywhere in New Zealand. Where relevant, we can also support businesses operating across Australia, the UK and other Sprintlaw markets.

Our legal team is made up of experienced commercial lawyers with strong backgrounds in contracts, privacy, employment, intellectual property, corporate, and general business law. For Sprintlaw NZ, legal services are provided by Australian- and UK-qualified lawyers who are familiar with the New Zealand legal requirements relevant to the business matters we support.