Simpson Grierson has four legal departments and one Business Services department, which houses all of our essential support staff in HR, Finance, IT, Word Processing and Facilities. The legal departments include:

• Banking & Finance.
• Commercial.
• Litigation.
• Resources & Infrastructure.

Within each of these departments, the legal work group is structured as follows:

• Legal Administrator
• Summer Clerk
• Law Graduate
• Legal Executive
• Solicitor
• Legal Executive-Associate
• Associate
• Senior Legal Executive
• Senior Associate
• Partner

Legal Administrators provide vital daily support to the legal teams, in terms of billing, typing and general administration. Summer Clerks are law students between their second and last year of a law degree. They join the firm for a 12 week period over the summer. Most Summer Clerks rejoin the firm as law graduates the following year. Law Graduates are law students who have just completed their law degree. Once they have completed professionals studies, they are admitted as Barristers & Solicitors of the High Court of New Zealand. They usually complete their professional studies during their Law Graduate year.

Legal Executives are skilled assistants to lawyers, who have completed the New Zealand Legal Executive Certificate. Legal Executive – Associates are qualified legal executives with at least three years' experience in his/her practice area. Solicitors are lawyers in their first or second year of practice.

Associates are lawyers with three years' post admission experience. Senior Legal Executives are qualified legal executives with more than five years' experience and a specialist in his/her practice area. Senior Associates are lawyers with five or more years' post admission experience and considered to be a specialist in his/her practice area. Partners are the owners of the firm. Each partner leads a work group of legal and administrative employees in his or her particular practice area.