Legal Services (Quality Assurance) Amendment Regulations 2026
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2026/198
Legal Services (Quality Assurance) Amendment Regulations 2026
Cindy Kiro, Governor-General
Order in Council
At Wellington this 29th day of June 2026
Present:
Her Excellency the Governor-General in Council
These regulations are made under section 114 of the Legal Services Act 2011 on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council.
Contents
Regulations
1 Title
These regulations are the Legal Services (Quality Assurance) Amendment Regulations 2026.
2 Commencement
These regulations come into force on 7 August 2026.
3 Principal regulations
These regulations amend the Legal Services (Quality Assurance) Regulations 2011.
4 New regulation 6C inserted (Waiver of experience and competence requirements for equivalent experience)
After regulation 6B, insert:
6C Waiver of experience and competence requirements for equivalent experience
(1)
This regulation applies to an applicant who—
(a)
is a lawyer and is applying to be a lead provider or to provide specified legal services; but
(b)
does not satisfy 1 or more of the relevant experience and competence requirements referred to in regulation 6(2)(a) and set out in the Schedule (including the requirement that the applicant’s relevant experience be recent experience).
(2)
The Secretary may waive 1 or more relevant experience and competence requirements if the Secretary is satisfied that the applicant—
(a)
has equivalent experience; and
(b)
meets the relevant experience and competence requirements in all other respects.
(3)
In this regulation, equivalent experience—
(a)
means experience (that may or may not be recent experience) that the Secretary considers involves skills that are the same or similar to the 1 or more relevant experience and competence requirements that the applicant does not satisfy:
(b)
does not need to be in the same area of law as the area of law for which the applicant is applying for approval.
(4)
The Secretary may require the applicant to provide proof (in addition to that required by any other provision of these regulations) of the applicant’s current legal knowledge and experience.
5 Updating gender references in principal regulations
Amend the principal regulations as set out in the Schedule.
Schedule Updating gender references in principal regulations
Regulation 5
In regulation 5(2), replace “his or her”
with “the applicant’s”
.
Regulation 6
In regulation 6(1), replace “he or she”
with “the applicant”
in each place.
Regulation 6A
In regulation 6A(1)(b), replace “his or her”
with “the applicant’s”
.
Regulation 6B
In regulation 6B(1)(b), replace “his or her”
with “the applicant’s”
.
Regulation 9C
In regulation 9C(1), replace “he or she”
with “the applicant”
.
Regulation 14
In regulation 14(2), replace “his or her”
with “the chairperson’s”
.
Regulation 16
In regulation 16(1), replace “he or she has”
with “they have”
.
Regulation 23
In regulation 23(1), replace “he or she has”
with “they have”
.
Rachel Hayward,
Clerk of the Executive Council.
Explanatory note
This note is not part of the regulations but is intended to indicate their general effect.
These regulations, which come into force on 7 August 2026, amend the Legal Services (Quality Assurance) Regulations 2011 (the principal regulations), which set out matters relating to the quality assurance system under the Legal Services Act 2011 for legal services provided by lawyers.
The main change made by these regulations is to insert new regulation 6C into the principal regulations. New regulation 6C allows the Secretary for Justice to waive 1 or more of the relevant experience and competence requirements set out in the Schedule of the principal regulations in relation to an applicant who is applying to be a lead provider or to provide specified legal services if they are satisfied that the applicant has equivalent experience and meets the relevant requirements in all other respects.
These regulations also modernise the principal regulations by replacing gender references throughout the principal regulations with gender-neutral references.
Date of notification in Gazette: 2 July 2026.
These regulations are administered by the Ministry of Justice.
Versions
Legal Services (Quality Assurance) Amendment Regulations 2026
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