Tompkins Wake a rising star in Legal 500 rankings

3 February 2020

Jon Calder

A raft of rankings in the Asia Pacific Legal 500 is yet another feather in Tompkins Wake’s cap.

The Hamilton-based law firm gained rankings in six practice areas in The Legal 500 rankings (up on two the year prior) and now has 16 recommended lawyers – seven more than last year. And, it is the only law firm in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty to be ranked in The Legal 500 Asia Pacific this year.

The rankings and recommendations come on the back of a hugely successful year last year with the firm being named the mid-size Law Firm of the Year at the 2019 NZ Law Awards and chief executive Jon Calder named the Managing Partner (Chief Executive) of the Year (<100 lawyers). Tompkins Wake was also one of 15 law firms across the country recognised as being at the forefront of innovation by NZ Lawyer.

Tompkins Wake featured in the rankings for their work in dispute resolution, corporate and M&A (mergers and acquisitions), intellectual property, real estate and construction, banking and finance, and projects and resource management including environmental.

The Legal 500 is an independent, impartial organisation that analyses the capabilities of law firms around the world with a comprehensive research programme revised and updated every year. It assesses the strengths of law firms in more than 150 jurisdictions to highlight the practice teams providing the most cutting edge and innovative advice to corporate counsel.

The impartial commentary provided with each ranking was glowing, with several testimonials showcasing the firm’s strengths: “The firm has good trustworthy professionals. I have worked most recently with the IP lawyers who have been outstanding”, “All are responsive and trustworthy. You know that they understand their work intimately”.

In May 2018 the firm reset and refreshed its strategy with a vision to be the law firm at the centre of New Zealand’s economic and commercial heartland. Since then Tompkins Wake has doubled the size of its Auckland team and opened a Tauranga office. They also have an office in Rotorua.

“The Waikato and Bay of Plenty are the economic heartland and Auckland the commercial… those drive New Zealand’s economic engine and we’re incredibly proud to be playing an integral role in here… helping fuel our clients’ success and contributing to a stronger, more prosperous New Zealand,” chief executive Jon Calder said.

The firm’s focus for 2020 and beyond is to continue to invest in increasing and building capability to meet the needs of their growing client base by attracting and retaining great people.

“While the firm has continued to grow – more than 20 per cent over the past four years – we’ve maintained a complete focus on our culture and people. With a partnership group that now totals 22 and more than 115 staff we are still connected, collaborative and focused on delivering for our clients and on giving our people a great working environment and more importantly a great life outside the firm.”

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