09 Dec 2025

Did time slow down for the legal profession this year? (No, really)

Summary

There's a curious phenomenon about how we experience time. When our days are filled with routine, weeks seem to vanish. But pack those same weeks with significant events, steep learning curves, and genuine transformation, and suddenly each month feels substantial. Time slows down, each moment weighted with meaning.

For LexisNexis New Zealand, 2025 was decidedly one of those years where time expanded. A watershed year for both the company and the profession it serves, the beginning of January seems a long time ago for many. Joe Biden was still US President, nobody knew when IKEA would eventually open, and you could still find a block of butter at some supermarkets for less than $6.30. LexisNexis has come a long way over these 12 months - but none of it would have been possible without the voices, expertise, and contributions of New Zealand's legal community.

The year legal AI became real

A key development was the arrival of Lexis+ AI® with ProtégéTm on New Zealand shores. Representing more than just another product launch, it marked a shift in how legal professionals approach their daily work.

Suddenly, tasks that took days could now be done in hours or minutes both reliably and accurately. Beta testers for the platform and new users alike consistently provided feedback to LexisNexis about how the product went above and beyond expectations, marked an evolutionary leap forward for legal work, or changed their practice entirely.

Sceptics quickly became slack-jawed advocates and the pace of work constantly accelerated. Indeed, those riding the wave of AI-powered work sometimes find themselves holding on for dear life. The extra time gained seemed to get allocated to new tasks almost immediately, creating an almost whiplash effect. Because people can get through to-do lists at pace with AI, we have ended up demanding faster results, quicker conversions and KPI achievement levels of ourselves that unassisted humans would find impossible.

Of course, some parts of the legal world move more slowly and deliberately. Just ask the Criminal Bar Association of New Zealand, which is undergoing its own modernisation. Sumudu Thode, CBANZ vice president and principal of Thode Utting & Co. Barristers and Solicitors, along with Annabel Cresswell, CBANZ president and barrister at Pohutukawa Chambers, worked hard to bring the association up to the new speed one podcast and tech fix at a time. Their efforts to make the CBANZ more accessible and technologically savvy have shown how professional bodies can evolve while maintaining their core mission.

Barrister Chris Patterson found that non-specialists leaping in too quickly can have its drawbacks. Clients began arriving at meetings armed with AI-generated legal arguments and drafted documents, often from publicly available large language models. Usually, those documents needed significant correction. But Patterson's response was instructive: rather than dismissing the technology, he encouraged clients to learn how to use AI as a powerful multi-tool in their legal practice.

When the New Zealand Law Society Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa received a request from a lawyer to track down a case cited by an AI tool and discovered it didn't exist, the urgency became clear. The profession needed guidance, and it needed it fast. Amanda Woodbridge, the Law Society's general manager of representative services and strategy, helped launch the AI Research Project 2025 in partnership with LexisNexis. The initiative aimed to get a clear picture of how lawyers are using AI, what risks they're facing, and what support they need next.

The partnership extended beyond research. Throughout 2025, the Law Society and LexisNexis ran a series of workshops across New Zealand from July to August, offering legal professionals insights into streamlining workflows, improving productivity, and using AI responsibly.

Voices shaping the profession

The real measure of any technological shift isn't found in launch announcements or partnership agreements. It's in the voices of practitioners navigating daily realities and sharing their journeys with others.

Caroline Rieger, founder and managing director of Black Door Law, spent 2025 watching her practice transform in unexpected ways. Her Wellington-based firm celebrated its fourth year, earning excellence awardee status in the Employment Law Specialist Firm of the Year category at the New Zealand Law Awards for the second consecutive year.

Barrister Mai Chen brought decades of experience to the conversation in 2025. Converted to a Lexis+ AI with Protégé user within minutes of trying it, she also remains grounded in understanding key cultural contexts. Legal professionals need IQ and EQ, but they all need cultural intelligence if they want to advise successfully in New Zealand.

Eva Ho, principal at Focus Law, brought similar perspectives on adaptation and resilience, while Judge Aidan Warren of the Māori Land Court helped the profession remember what truly matters. Kirikiriroa hosted the world's first International Indigenous Judges Conference, bringing together indigenous legal perspectives from across the globe. The event underscored an important truth: technology ought to serve and augment tradition and justice, it doesn't replace them.

Greg Kelly and Chris Kelly, co-authors of Dobbie's Probate and Administration Practice, contributed another bestseller. Their expertise in probate law has helped countless practitioners navigate complex situations with confidence and is a microcosm of the quality control needed in the new era. With generative AI relying heavily on having up-to-date information, an academic focus on ensuring all content remains as current as possible has been essential to the success of LexisNexis's AI offerings.

A year worth remembering

As 2025 draws to a close, LexisNexis New Zealand finds itself grateful for a year that felt substantial, weighty, filled with meaning. We are all strangers in the still strange land of AI-assisted work, and the journey has only just begun. It's clear that decades from now sociologists will study the current era intently as we are left to hurtle forward in the present day. It can be disconcerting when the junior lawyers’ desks in the office are empty like the Christmas ghosts of some other legal future’s past, but LexisNexis has got your back. The conversations, partnerships, innovations, and challenges are all interconnected moments that, taken together, are creating milestones.

Time didn't speed up this year. It expanded. Each contribution mattered. Each voice added depth. Each partnership created new possibilities.

To everyone who shared their expertise, their stories, and their insights throughout 2025: thank you and happy holidays.

Contributors 2025

Legal Community Contributors:

LexisNexis Contributors:

  • Aya Riola, general manager at LexisNexis New Zealand
  • Katy Fixter, LexisNexis managing director for Asia Pacific
  • Alastair Fernandes, product manager at LexisNexis New Zealand, and Alex Wakelin, head of customer experience and learning at LexisNexis New Zealand

From all of us at LexisNexis New Zealand, we wish the legal industry a very Merry Christmas and season's greetings. Here's to well-earned rest, time with loved ones, and the exciting partnership that 2026 will bring.

The best years aren't the ones that fly by. They're the ones that matter enough to remember