The 2026 ALPMA / Fluid Legal Recruitment New Zealand HR Issues & Salary Survey is now open, launching at a time when many firms are still grappling with the pressures highlighted in last year’s results. The annual study remains the most comprehensive source of remuneration and workforce intelligence for the country’s legal sector, capturing salary data for more than 55 legal, management and support roles.
The survey will run from 13 January to 6 February 2026, with updated salary tables due for release at the end of February and the full report in March.
All New Zealand law firms are invited to take part for complimentary access to the salary data and report.
Last year’s findings set the context for 2026
In 2025, 151 New Zealand law offices contributed their actual salary data. The results painted a picture of a profession navigating rising salary expectations, persistent recruitment challenges, and continual pressure to offer flexible working arrangements.
Key findings from the 2025 report included:
- Wage increases within New Zealand’s legal sector averaged 2.0%, significantly lower than the national average of 3.3%.
- Employment in New Zealand’s legal sector showed resilience, with 44% of firms increasing their staffing numbers in 2024 despite broader economic uncertainty.
- Although 71% of firms reported successful recruitment, nearly three in five (59%) remain concerned about difficulties in securing skilled staff in 2025.
- Female representation among salaried partners rose to 56%, surpassing male representation for the first time.
These trends are expected to shape participation in the 2026 survey, as firms look for clarity on whether last year’s pressures have stabilised or intensified.
Increased Headcount
Decreased Headcount
Recruitment harder than last year
Concerned about Recruitment
Results from the 2025 ALPMA New Zealand Legal Industry HR Issues & Salary Survey.
What’s new this year
The 2026 New Zealand Salary Survey includes two crucial changes that will impact participants.
Improved Format
Most participants will be able to complete the 2026 survey faster than ever, benefiting from three major improvements to the format:
- A faster registration process using a simple Return Access Link sent to the inbox.
- Gender Pay Gap questions replaced with real salary averages by gender, meaning the latest report will indicate true gender pay disparities across the country regardless of firms’ own perceptions within their own firm and the industry as a whole.
- Firms with multiple offices can submit all their salary data in just one submission, without needing to repeat any questions. For larger firms, this will be a considerable time saver!
Overall, the number of survey questions has reduced by 10% while improving the quality of data captured.
Fixed Deadline
This improved format for 2026 is poised to make submissions faster and easier, so we’ve aimed to release the salary tables earlier than ever before! To meet this goal to release salary data by the end of February, the deadline for participation will not be extended beyond Friday, 6 February 2026.
Firms who have registered by the deadline will receive a small grace period into Monday, 9 February to finalise their data.
This year’s survey continues to collect detailed salary information, including lowest, highest and average salaries for each role. It also examines employment benefits, bonuses, recruitment expectations and salary projections for the coming year.
The survey takes around 30–60 minutes to complete, depending on firm size, and participating firms receive the full report and interactive salary tables free of charge—a resource valued at NZD $2,200.
Why the data matters
With the legal employment market remaining competitive, accurate benchmarking has become essential for firms trying to retain staff and plan for growth. What makes participating in this survey so attractive is the quality of the salary data provided within the final report. Salary data for each position is segmented by firm size and location, allowing firms to consider the salaries they are offering employees based on actual market data and other relevant criteria. In a candidate-short market with retention of top talent high on the agenda, this survey allows firms to benchmark themselves against the entire industry, as well as firms with similar characteristics.
Fluid Legal Recruitment, ALPMA’s long‑standing partner on the project, has previously noted that firms increasingly rely on the survey to validate remuneration decisions and to understand shifting candidate expectations.
The HR Issues & Salary Survey report will provide up-to-date information on the state of the NZ legal industry, its people and remuneration, including:
- current salary data – from Graduates to Equity Partners (and everything in between);
- salary data shown by firm size and region;
- insights into anticipated salary increases & bonus structures;
- insight into current & future issues in HR;
- defined staffing profiles & roles (55+ positions);
- Firm & individual benefits;
- staffing ratio benchmarks;
- recruitment intentions for the coming year; and
- other entitlements on offer at firms.
The confidential online survey takes 30-60 minutes to complete once you’ve gathered your data. You do not want to miss out on the opportunity to benchmark your firm against 150+ firms across New Zealand!
About the Research
About the Legal Industry HR Issues & Salary Survey
The 2026 ALPMA/Fluid Legal Recruitment New Zealand HR Issues & Salary Survey report will be the most comprehensive, independent report on salaries for all roles at New Zealand law firms. This is the eleventh year the research has been conducted in New Zealand.
Over 150 law offices from across New Zealand provide comprehensive information about salaries, benefits and bonuses they pay for lawyers, management and administrative staff. The report uses actual salaries paid to employees to describe the ‘typical’ salary for more than 60 roles at law firms. Salaries for each role are also broken down by size of firm and by location, allowing companies to benchmark their remuneration strategy for each role with similar firms.
The report also offers insight into the critical HR issues and challenges facing law firms, as well as anticipated salary movements, recruitment plans and staff employment arrangements. Since 2019, the survey has been extended to include questions about staff gender by roles and gender pay gap perceptions. In 2026, we have simplified these questions to focus more on capturing actual average salaries by gender after many years of observing minimal change in perceptions and attitudes towards gender pay gaps in firms and the wider industry.
The ALPMA HR Issues & Salary Survey reports are provided free of charge to all participating firms. Non-participating firms can purchase a copy of the New Zealand report online for NZD2,200 (or NZD550 for ALPMA members and Fluid Legal Recruitment clients).
The research is conducted for ALPMA by Survey Matters, an independent research consultancy, to the highest standards.
Find out more: www.alpma.com.au/salary-survey
About ALPMA
The Australasian Legal Practice Management Association (ALPMA) is the peak body representing managers and leaders working within law firms, legal departments or government agencies. ALPMA provides an authoritative voice on issues relevant to legal practice management across the industry. Members of ALPMA provide professional management services to legal practices (et al) in areas of financial management, strategic management, technology, human resources, facilities and operational management, marketing and information services and technology.
ALPMA’s learning and development framework includes pillars covering finance, operations, information technology, human resources, knowledge management, business development, marketing, project management to name just a few. They also regularly provide content on topical challenges facing the industry today including legal technology, cyber security, anti-money laundering, regulatory updates, ESG and sustainability.
ALPMA also produces benchmarking reports for members including the various Salary Surveys conducted across Australia, New Zealand and for the Intellectual Property & Trademark sector, Financial Performance Benchmarking surveys (AU and NZ), annual Changing Legal Landscape report, Cyber Security report and our first State of Sustainability Priorities in the Legal Industry report.
ALPMA has over 3,000 members which includes individuals and corporate subscribers (law firms, legal departments and government agencies) across Australia, New Zealand and various other countries.
For more information about ALPMA, visit www.alpma.com.au
Stay up to date by following ALPMA on LinkedIn.
Media Contact
Emma Elliott
Chief Executive Officer
Australasian Legal Practice Management Association
M 0402 471 659
E e.elliott@alpma.com.au
W www.alpma.com.au
About Legal Fluid Recruitment
Looking for a role within the Legal sector? At Fluid Recruitment we work with top tier law firms as well as mid-sized and boutique Practices throughout New Zealand both in the main centres and the wider regions. We also work legal opportunities in-house and within the Government sector.
Fluid Legal is a specialist division of Fluid Recruitment New Zealand Ltd. We recruit nationwide, solely in the legal industry. If you are considering a change, or want to chat confidentially about your options, please get in touch.
Our legal division has one of the largest and most up-to-date databases in the country. We enjoy close relationships with partners throughout New Zealand, from top-tier and mid-tier to small regional practices. We take a consultative approach to recruitment and we will never sell a role that we don’t believe is a great fit. Our consultants are superbly placed to give candidates an accurate and honest appraisal of the market conditions, tailoring a strategy to give individuals the best possible chance at landing their dream role.
Our point of difference – Fluid Legal is a tight-knit specialist team with access to the resources of an established wider agency. You get the personable service of an industry expert while also having piece of mind that you are dealing with a market-leading and highly reputable recruitment firm.
Visit: https://www.fluidrecruitment.co.nz/
Phone: 03 467 7220
Email: Jobs@fluidrecruitment.co.nz
