Rob Bryson - Senior Legal Counsel

BACKGROUND AND EXPERIENCE

I am originally from South Africa. I studied law at the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town. I completed my articles of clerkship (training contract) at a large commercial law firm in Johannesburg and qualified as an Attorney of the High Court of South Africa. My legal practice in South Africa was focused on corporate transactional work, mostly mergers & acquisitions. 

TRANSITION TO NEW ZEALAND

I have lived in New Zealand (NZ) since 2020. I had actually intended to move to Australia or the UK and not NZ at all!  However, the  Recruitment Agency I was working with asked if I had considered a move to NZ.  I really didn't know much about NZ at the time, but decided to interview at a few NZ law firms and get a feel for the market.

I ended up getting along really well with the partners at one of the NZ firms I interviewed with and they offered me a position in the Corporate Team in their Auckland office. It seemed like an adventure and a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I accepted the position, packed two bags and moved half-way across the world to start a new life in Auckland -  I had never been to NZ and didn't know a single person! 

Unfortunately, the Covid Pandemic kicked-off just as I moved to NZ. This obviously made transitioning to a new country more difficult and also delayed the process to qualify as a NZ lawyer. I have completed the academic requirements set by the NZ Council of Legal Education and now just need to write the practice examinations set by the Council.

CURRENT ROLE

My current role is in the in-house legal team of a large NZ bank where my work focuses on corporate and governance. Prior to this, I was a Senior Associate in the Corporate Team of a leading NZ law firm, where my practice was largely mergers & acquisitions work. 

CHALLENGES AND ADAPTATIONS

I actually found it relatively easy to adapt to working in the NZ legal industry! While there are differences in the substantive law, the legal systems of South Africa and NZ are very similar, so adapting to an NZ legal environment is relatively straightforward for South African qualified lawyers. 

This is especially true in transactional practice areas - while there are obviously local nuances in NZ deals, I found I was able to hit the ground running pretty quickly on M&A transactions. My legal and commercial experience from transactional work in South Africa carried across well to NZ, so I really never felt like it was a struggle to adapt to working in the NZ legal industry. 

SUCCESS AND ACHIEVEMENTS

Moving to NZ just as the Covid pandemic was sweeping the globe was incredibly  difficult! NZ shut its borders very soon after I arrived in the country, so I wasn't able to travel back to South Africa to visit family for almost three years. This was a really difficult time, and I feel like surviving the seemingly never ending Covid lock-downs and associated isolation was an achievement in itself! 

On the professional side, I had always intended to eventually move into an in-house legal role and I feel that successfully transitioning from legal practice to my current in-house position has been one of my greatest career achievements in NZ. 

ADVICE FOR OTHER FOREIGN LAWYERS

The legal industry in NZ is small but sophisticated. Lawyers qualified in other common law jurisdictions, especially those in transactional practice areas, generally transition well into the NZ legal industry. 

Moving to NZ and requalifying as an NZ lawyer is a process that takes time, a lot of documentation and involves high costs! If you want work in the NZ legal industry, my advice would be to first secure a job in NZ that aligns with your overseas skills and experience before incurring the substantial costs of moving to NZ. 

Taking professional immigration advice is also imperative - if the type of work visa you get does not offer a pathway to eventual residence, you will only have temporary status in NZ. Becoming a residence also has the added benefit of substantially reducing the cost of studying in NZ. 

WORK-LIFE BALANCE

Having worked in the legal industry in both South Africa and the UK, I would definitely say that there is a far greater emphasis on work-life balance in NZ. From my experience, employers in NZ generally understand the importance of work-life balance in maintaining good mental health and wellbeing, especially in high pressure industries like law. I have found that taking annual leave is encouraged and NZ basically completely shuts down for a few weeks over the summer Christmas break which is just fantastic!