Rural and Property lawyers.

Auckland

Henderson Reeves Lawyers Speak to a lawyer who understands agribusiness. Our rural lawyers can help with farm sales, purchases, leases, contracts and RMA issues.

We provide expert legal advice in this specialised area, with a solid understanding of agribusiness principles and law. As a Northland-based business, farming is our bread and butter. So you can count on us for high-quality legal advice for your agribusiness.

Taranaki

When two of Taranaki’s longstanding legal firms, RMY Legal and Billings Lawyers, joined forces in 2021 they not only merged teams and services, they combined a long, rich history supporting multi-generational families, businesses and organisations from right around the maunga. 

With this strong foundation and an excellent reputation for providing quality legal advice, the Connect Legal Taranaki team is focused on continuing to build rewarding relationships with our clients. 

We pride ourselves on promoting excellence within all areas of our practice and we continually develop our skills to provide outstanding legal representation.

We want the best result possible for you in any situation and we’ll go out of our way to ensure we provide the best client service we possibly can.  

Otago

New Zealand is the best country in the world at producing protein, and agribusiness continues to be the leading contributor to New Zealand’s export economy. We lead the world in innovation and productivity and ours is the envy of all our trading partners.

There is continuing scrutiny and concerns over water quality, access and rights, foreign ownership and the high levels of debt all have significant implications for how the agrisector does business into the future and also raises a range of legal issues.

We predict that the rural sector will find itself facing increasing regulation in the years ahead, not just around environmental issues, but also health and safety, employment and foreign ownership.

We see future implications for how farms are capitalised and for business structures and governance arrangements under which farms are managed, particularly as more rural property is offered in aggregated arrangements to groups of investors.

Our expertise and experience in this sector is unrivalled in New Zealand. We work with local and international clients throughout the supply chain including individual farmers, large scale corporate dairy farmers, agribusiness suppliers, listed agribusiness companies, corporate investors and banks involved in rural lending. We have a wealth of experience and knowledge across the dairy, forestry and meat industries.

So when you work with us on agribusiness issues, you have access to advice that spans every aspect of the sector. If you’re looking to secure a deal, we can break down every aspect of the transaction and offer you comprehensive and integrated assistance at every point – from purchase to intellectual property, financing to compliance structures, taxation, public listing and discussions over investment in this country. Because we act for both family-owned farms and corporate investors, we can connect parties in ways that others can’t.

Our understanding of rural property issues too is comprehensive. We have acted on more property transactions, sale and purchase and leasing agreements than any other firm in the South Island. We have a dedicated conveyancing system and team resourced to deliver a responsive and cost effective service to our clients.

We are a member of the New Zealand Institute of Primary Industry Management.

Waikato

Norris Ward McKinnon Our team of lawyers specialise in all areas of farming, forestry, livestock and environmental law.  We are committed to providing efficient, tailored advice in all aspects of rural law.  Our approach is practical, allowing our clients to maintain their focus on the job at hand, leaving us to dot the i’s and cross the t’s.

Whether you have a farm sale or purchase, lease, or a query on land use, easements, water rights, forestry rights or livestock  –  we can help.  We know that our rural clients’ needs are distinctive, which makes our team the perfect legal partners for your rural business.

Ashburton

The RMF Ashburton agribusiness team has extensive experience assisting the rural sector in Mid-Canterbury and elsewhere with a wide variety of legal matters.

Our clients in the farming sector range from individuals and families, to partnerships, companies and trusts,  right through to farming syndicates and large corporations. We provide tailored advice to all of these groups.

The legal work that we do for our rural clients covers many aspects of law. It is more than just buying and selling land (although we do that too). Leasing and grazing agreements, sharemilking and contract milking arrangements, dispute resolution, and health and safety and employment are just some of the matters that we are able to help with.

Southland

Cruickshank Pryde has a proud history of operating as a leading law firm servicing the southern region.

In 1926 Thomas Rewi Pryde commenced practice in Invercargill as a sole practitioner. In 1932 his close friend George Cooper Cruickshank also commenced practice in Invercargill on his own account.

In 1939 on the outbreak of World War II, Tom Pryde and George Cruickshank formed a partnership that endured for over 60 years until their respective retirements from active practice in the 1980s.

For a number of years the firm was known as Cruickshank Pryde and Hay until the departure in 1970 of Ian Hay when the original name of Cruickshank Pryde was resumed.

In 1970 the founders were joined by Tom Pryde Junior, now a senior partner. Subsequently the old established Invercargill firm of Hall-Jones and Sons merged with the firm in 1985 and Gerard Hall-Jones became a partner of Cruickshank Pryde and his older brother Geoff a consultant to the firm.

Other partners and staff have joined through the years as the firm has grown and the practice has continued to expand, making it now one of the largest provincial firms in New Zealand.

On the 1st April 2016, John Bannerman, based in Gore joined the partnership, taking the current partners in the firm to 9, and increasing our presence in Eastern Southland.

BOP

At WRMK Lawyers Our rural team knows what it means to run a farming business (most of them do it themselves too).

Whether you’re buying or selling a farm or horticulture business, thinking about subdividing, or planning ahead for the next generation, we can help. We work with your accountant to identify tax and commercial issues and can advise you on business structures, usual industry practice and common fishhooks.

We also offer practical, pragmatic advice on day-to-day matters like employment law, farm health and safety compliance, commercial contracts, sharemilking arrangments and supplier agreements.

If things have gone a bit pear-shaped, we know how to get the best outcome for you. Our team is highly experienced in resolving sharemilking and other farming disputes by using the best tool for the job, including arbitration or going to court if necessary.

We know that all farms and families are different; let us use our depth of experience to find the best solution for your situation.

Timaru

Timpany Walton Lawyers, whether cropping, pastoral or dairy, our Farming Law team have the experience, expertise and depth of resource to handle sales and purchases of farms; we’ve been involved in many of the largest transactions in the South Canterbury region. We offer advice at all stages from the formation of the contract, ownership structure, financing, dealing with taxation and GST issues through to settlement.

Our agricultural expertise and resources are unusual for a provincially-based firm of our size. Beyond your farming needs, you can access a full range of legal services for other areas of life and business; conveniently dealing with one firm ensuring all your wider interests are considered.