The Law Association’s Member Special Fund has been restructured, with changes designed to help more legal professionals and their families, and to ensure the fund is here for the long term. It’s also been renamed and will now be known as The Foundation of The Law Association of New Zealand (The Foundation).
The fund has already been providing financial assistance to lawyers facing hardship for many years. Its purpose has been to support members and their families when something unexpected knocks them off their feet. That could be illness, injury or a family crisis.
What is changing is how the fund is structured and how it will grow. The Member Special Fund is now registered as a charitable trust, with a formal trust deed, a trust board, and the governance framework that comes with charitable status. That means greater transparency, clearer accountability and a fund that operates on a sustainable footing rather than informally.
Clayton Kimpton, Chief Executive at The Law Association, says “the fund has always been there for members who need it, but it was operating without the structure it deserved. Registering as a charitable trust gives it a proper foundation, and the changes we are making mean it can grow and help more people over time. The legal profession looks after its own, and this fund is one of the ways we do that.”
To grow the fund, the Council of the Law Association has committed to an annual payment to the Foundation equivalent to $5 for every qualified member renewal). This meaningful contribution will ensure the Foundation’s funds remain sufficient to meet the need for grants and loans to members of the profession in need. The fund will also have a more structured investment approach, designed to ensure the capital base keeps pace with demand over time.
The eligibility criteria are broad. Current and former lawyers, people connected to the legal profession, and the spouses, partners and dependents of members can all access the fund.
The cases and the people the fund have helped are, by their nature, confidential. But they include a member who lost their home in a fire and needed urgent assistance, one who was injured and could no longer work, a cancer diagnosis that required extended specialist treatment and one who found themselves out of the family home following a relationship breakdown and needed help simply to keep their practising certificate current.
If you or someone you know needs support, contact The Law Association directly. All enquiries are handled with complete confidentiality.
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