Are you located in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, Dunedin, Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Whanganui, or one of the hundreds of delightful rural locations of New Zealand in between?

It used to be thought that your lawyer must live locally to you, for meeting up with them, signing documentation, and attending court. 

Whilst this might still seem to be normal and convenient - especially when matters are urgent - it is increasingly common for people to instruct a trusted lawyer from anywhere in the country, or, in our regular experience at Rainey Collins, anywhere in the world. 

Since the COVID-19 pandemic the use of remote conferencing has increased dramatically.  Its use has now become commonplace for effective solicitor/client meetings. 

This is the case whether the client is simply seeking to use their lunch hour meeting slot to best effect, without the hassle of travelling and parking, whether they are at the other end of the country, or living and working in one of our wonderful rural areas. 

Audio-visual meetings aren’t just useful for providing you promptly with quality advice so you know what your options are.  New Zealand law now recognises that most documents can be signed and witnessed remotely. 

All this takes is for you and your solicitor to agree to it, and an additional provision is added to the document being signed.  It doesn’t remove the signing formalities, which should still occur as if both the signatory and witness were in the same room, but it makes the process a lot easier, particularly if you live rurally. 

When it comes to Court attendances, the Court has also moved with the times.  It will routinely grant permission for shorter Court events to be attended remotely: by telephone, or audio-visual link.  It will also recognise that a remotely instructed lawyer is more likely to need to attend remotely, keeping costs down.

Although it is true that a substantive hearing involving people giving oral evidence should be attended in person, in practise these types of hearings are very few and far between. 

Chances are that you will get better value by instructing your lawyer of choice, wherever they are, and for them simply to travel to the hearing, or to instruct a local lawyer specifically for that hearing.

You may also have concerns in a location with very few lawyers that, along with lack of choice, you may feel uncomfortable about your privacy. Instructing the best lawyer remotely will ease your mind.

The bottom line is that you need not feel restricted in your choice of legal advisor.  If a lawyer anywhere in New Zealand has your trust you can have the confidence to instruct them from anywhere in the world.

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