Position Description
Position Description Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel
6/06/2025 Page 1 of 7
Role Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel
Reports To Pou Ngārahu | General Counsel
Job Band 7
Direct Reports N/A
Tenure Permanent
Location Te Whanganui-a-Tara | Wellington
About Te Tumu Paeroa E totoka ai te tumu o te papatipu hei oranga mō Te Iwi Maori, o mua, o naianei, o anamata hoki. Ko Te Tumu Paeroa tēnei, te kaitiaki, kaitaunaki, kaiwhakawhanake i te mana o ngā whenua Māori, huri noa. | So that the foundations of ancestral lands may be solid, benefitting Māori from our past, present and future alike. This is Te Tumu Paeroa, guardian, support and advancer of the mana of Māori land everywhere. Our role is to provide professional trustee services for Māori. We do this by carrying out the terms of trusts and ensuring the whenua is protected and enhanced for future generations.
Our Values Ngā Mātāpono, Ngā Uara Whai o Te Tumu Paeroa Keeping our values close at hand, top of mind and always in the heart. Kia Mau! Tōtika Te tika o te tū | Professionalism Being great at our job is how we make the most difference for whenua and whanau. Kotahitanga Te raranga i te tira | Unity We work as one, we trust each other, and value our differences. Manaakitanga Te akiaki i te mana | Respect We treat everyone with dignity, fairness and empathy. Mana Te ihi, te wehi, te wana | Integrity Integrity is the heart of everything we do.
Role Purpose The Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel is primarily responsible for:
• Assisting the General Counsel of the Māori Trustee and Senior Legal Counsel to manage the legal issues of the Māori Trustee.
• Working directly with the business in all aspects of the legal work of the Māori Trustee including Māori land law, trusts law, estates, landlord and tenant, conveyancing and general property, commercial and contract, resource management, legislative compliance, opinion work, litigation and dispute management including appearances a counsel.
• Together with other senior lawyers in the team, day to day supervision of Law Graduates and Legal Counsel, overseeing their workloads, priorities and work outputs.
Position Description Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel
6/06/2025 Page 2 of 7
Key Accountabilities Culture and Strategy
• Contribute to and promote the vision, values and culture of Te Tumu Paeroa. • Contribute to and promote a culture within Te Tumu Paeroa that values openness, mutual
respect, ownership, collaboration and both individual and shared accountability/responsibility.
• Actively seek an understanding of the services that Te Tumu Paeroa deliver and how the Legal team can positively influence organisational impacts and associated risks.
• Demonstrate an understanding of (internal and external) factors impacting the Māori Trustee, Te Tumu Paeroa, whenua and owners; so that sound strategic responses can be identified and implemented, with positive impacts for the whenua and past, present and future owners.
• Build and strengthen effective relationships with stakeholders across Government departments, the Māori Land Court, industries/disciplines and suppliers.
• Contribute to the identification of positive change and innovation for the Māori Trustee, Te Tumu Paeroa, whenua and owners.
• Provide expert advice and guidance associated with your team’s functions and deliverables to the Māori Trustee and the Business.
• Contribute to building a culture within the Legal Team that values the importance of adherence to policies, processes and procedures and strives for continuous learning, development and improvement.
Leadership
• Work with other members of the Legal Team, to ensure the priorities and goals of General Counsel and the Senior Leadership Team are understood and delivered.
• Escalate complex issues impacting the Legal team, and the business to General Counsel at the earliest opportunity, then manage and monitor agreed resolutions.
• Promote and support individual and team behaviours that demonstrate the positive benefits of Health and Safety, compliance, risk management and quality assurance.
• Actively work to identify opportunities and log requests targeting better ways of working. Contribute to the implementation, monitoring and management of new ways of working.
• Ensure internal and external risks impacting the Legal Team and the business are raised and contribute to the implementation of controls to eliminate or mitigate impacts.
• Ensure internal and external issues impacting the Legal Team and the business are raised with General Counsel at the earliest opportunity.
Carry out Legal work Relevant to the Business under the Direction and Supervision of the General Counsel
• Provide a full range of legal advice to business teams in support of their operational business functions and directly to the Senior Leadership Team, ensuring legal risk is identified and appropriately managed in support of optimum business outcomes.
• Negotiate, draft and review contracts and other legal documents to meet business needs.
Position Description Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel
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• Manage disputes and litigation including drafting of all court documentation. • Act as counsel for the Māori Trustee in the Māori Land Court, District Court, and other fora. • Secure outcomes that minimise legal, financial and reputation risk to the Māori Trustee and
result in commercially acceptable outcomes for the Māori Trustee. • Proactively work with the business to manage potential or threatened legal claims against the
Māori Trustee. • Work both independently of and with General Counsel and other members of the Legal Team
depending on nature and volume of workflows, and report in a timely and comprehensive manner to the General Counsel, and where appropriate Senior Leadership Team and Business Managers.
• Assist the General Counsel on any internal project that the Legal team is involved in within the Business.
Manage Legal Risks Associated with Legislative Compliance • Provide legal advice and opinions on legislation under which the Māori Trustee operates or is
subject to. • Assist the business to develop and embed organisational processes and practices that are
legally compliant and achieve desired business outcomes. • Oversee and review responses to client information requests, official information requests,
and requests under the Privacy Act. • Lead in-house training for the business that assists to strengthen a culture of legal compliance
and best practice. • Work collaboratively with the business to identify, establish and embed behaviour and
practices that contribute to minimisation and management of litigation risk or the risk of complaints that may lead to a claim, including through in-house training.
Develop and Maintain Key Precedents • Structure, develop, draft, revise and maintain template/precedent legal documents to
support core business functions ensuring legality and commercial effectiveness of business practices and transactions.
(Preferably) Maintain an in-house Conveyancing Capability • Meet the personal and professional requirements of LINZ to hold the e-dealing license to
undertake conveyancing and make alterations to the Land Titles Register for New Zealand. • Where applicable, provide training/assistance to qualified internal staff to enable them to
carry out conveyancing functions and transactions in accordance with professional guidelines. • Develop precedents, systems and documents as required for an e-dealing capability, oversee
Māori Trustee conveyancing transactions ranging from subdivisions, to title encumbrances of any nature, to transfers, leases and financing, for both general and Māori Land, and of both fee simple and leasehold estates, review all conveyancing documents and processes for each transaction and undertake all transaction certifications required by Land Information New Zealand in order to complete conveyancing transactions.
Complies to Professional Obligations
Position Description Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel
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• Comply with standards prescribed by the New Zealand Law Society and as set out in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act and relevant regulations.
• If applicable, meets the personal and experiential requirements specified by the Registrar General of Land and the duties, responsibilities and obligations imposed in respect of Land Register alterations from time to time by the RGL.
Organisational Obligations • Comply with all policies and procedures set by Te Tumu Paeroa. • Follow and promote all Health and Safety practices and instructions.
Professional and Career Development • In conjunction with your manager, identify areas for both personal and professional
development in line with your Individual Development Plan. Compliance and Quality Assurance
• Actively adhere to and promote policies, processes and procedures that provide positive outcomes in Health and Safety, compliance, risk management and quality assurance.
• Ensure that all outputs, deliverables and inputs into systems and applications, meet all legislative, regulatory and internal quality standards and measures; including outputs, deliverables and inputs provided to you by other staff.
• Actively work to identify risks, issues and obstacles impacting the Māori Trustee, Te Tumu Paeroa, whenua and owners and ensure these are raised with your Manager at the earliest opportunity. Contribute to the analysis and implementation of effective controls and resolutions.
• Following appropriate policies, process and procedures, while using all available information and considerations, ensure timely decisions are made in the best interests of the Māori Trustee and Te Tumu Paeroa; providing positive outcomes for whenua and owners.
Related Duties • Perform other related duties as requested/required.
Performance • Follow all instructions that promote the goals, outputs and deliverables of your role, team and
Te Tumu Paeroa. • Ensure you are well trained and impediments impacting your deliverables and targets are
raised with your Manager at the earliest opportunity. • Contribute to annual planning processes for your team. Where required, contribute to
organisation wide planning processes, ensuring continuity of services across Te Tumu Paeroa. • Actively strive to meet goals and targets. • Provide mentoring and support to your colleagues, contributing to a culture of continuous
learning, development and improvement.
Internal Relationships • General Counsel • Trust and Property Team
Position Description Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel
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• Senior Leadership Team • Business Managers • All other Te Tumu Paeroa Staff
External Relationships • Te Puni Kokiri Legal Team • Māori Land Court Registry Staff • Owners, Trustees or customers of land administered by Te Tumu Paeroa
Core Competencies Ngā Pae Mōhiotanga Reo Māori
• Pae Rua- Te Whakarongo | An ability to understand Te Reo Māori, a desire and ability to practice correct pronunciation of Te Reo Māori (desired).
Ngā Pae Mōhiotanga Tikanga Māori • Pae Tahi- Nō Ia Rā | An understanding and living of Tikanga Māori on a day-to-day level, for
example, the removing of shoes before entering a whare, washing hands at the urupa and not sitting on tables (essential)
Continuous Improvement • Actively work to identify opportunities and log requests for improving the way we work.
Contribute to and support the implementation of new ways of working. • Actively contribute to a culture of continuous learning, development and improvement. • Support others to improve the quality of work delivered by Te Tumu Paeroa.
Professional Development • In conjunction with your Manager, identify areas for both personal and professional
development (in line with your role and career progression), while keeping an up-to-date Learning and Development Plan.
• Complete all mandatory and agreed training.
Education and Experience • At least 4 years post-admission experience. • Holds a current practising certificate issued by NZLS • Proven experience in landlord and tenant law, conveyancing and general property law,
contract and commercial law . • Preferably experience in one or more of the following: Māori land law, trusts law, estates,
resource management litigation and dispute management • Demonstrable ability in the provision of quality legal advice and representation which is
strategic, legally accurate, solutions focused and well targeted. • Excellent legal analytical, problem-solving skills and attention to detail. Consistently
demonstrates well-structured and rational analysis and decision-making skills.
Position Description Kaitohutohu Ture Tauwaenga | Intermediate Legal Counsel
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• Work with an exceptional level of personal integrity, engender trust and credibility and always act ethically and consistently with professional obligations.
• Work with a high level of integrity, resilience and sets and maintains the highest standards • Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Certification to practise conveyancing (desirable). • Clearly expresses opinions, information, arguments and solutions in a variety of styles and
settings. • Consistently provides quality legal advice and representation which is strategic, legally
accurate, solutions focused and well-targeted. • Experience in conflict management mitigation essential. • Excellent skills in building and fostering strong internal and external relationships. • Excellent written and verbal communication skills. • Excellent time management and organisation skills, including the proven ability to manage
multiple competing priorities. • Experience mentoring/coaching or training team members is a plus. • Excellent working knowledge of Microsoft Office. • Experience with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Dynamics NAV, SharePoint and/or M365 is a plus. • Possesses exceptional personal integrity • Engenders trust and credibility • Is honest and hardworking • Maintains confidences • Always acts ethically and consistently with professional obligations • Acts as a role model for the organisation; consistently demonstrating the desired behaviours. • Respects personal boundaries of others and behaves in an appropriate manner • Acts in a manner which enhances the reputation of the Māori Trustee and Te Tumu Paeroa • Is highly resilient – able to work well in a high-pressure situation over sustained periods • Able to achieve outstanding results through sustained actions over time in the face of
obstacles. • Is tactful and diplomatic • Sets and maintains the highest standards. • With limited instruction acts independently and responsibly to reach desired outcomes • Is proactive and resourceful • Takes responsibility and is accountable • Assists colleagues to achieve their responsibilities and goals • Understands when to sound-out advice or assistance from others • Constantly wanting to improve and develop • Accepts and takes on the challenge of constructive feedback • Enjoys being part of a team and participates in team activities and events
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• Contributes to a collegial and cooperative Legal team • Respects Māori cultural values and customs