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I finally managed to meet up with the girl here in Queenstown who went to law school at Virginia and is now practicing for a law firm in town. She had a lot to say about the practice of law in New Zealand compared to the US and almost all of it revolved around the difference in lifestyle of the attorneys. Lawyers in New Zealand, in general, do not get paid as well as layers in the US but the trade off is that you might actually get to have a life and see the sun if you are a first year associate in New Zealand. She has been with this firm now for a year and a half and has never worked a weekend and has never been in the office past 7pm. In fact, most days she heads home around 5pm and she is still on the partnership track. Incredible.
We discussed the process of getting qualifications assessed and she suggested that I should go ahead and find a firm that I want to work with before I start the process because they will be able to help get me out of certain prerequisites that I might otherwise need to meet, like taking another property class (although with the Property Prof that I had it might not be a bad idea to take property again anyway). The exam itself is apparently not anymore difficult than taking the bar in the US and she said that she would be happy to loan me all of her study materials so that I don’t have to purchase them, which would save me a fortune. All in all it was a very informative and very positive conversation.
So now the hard part begins. Trying to figure out if this is something that I really want to pursue. If I am only going to stay in New Zealand for another year or two then its not really worth the initial investment to become a qualified lawyer here. However, if I am going to consider making New Zealand my permanent home then it is a path that I should venture down. There is no reason to live here and not practice law if it is really as cruisy as she makes it sound and seeing as she is not trying to sell me a job she really doesn’t have any reason to be anything other than completely honest about the legal market here. The debate in my head and in my heart rages on as I try to decide if I think that I might want to become a Kiwi someday. Then the answer to this blogs central question would be answered… right here!