Becoming the Most Ethical Law Firm in Aotearoa

Ethical Approach to Business and Law

What are Ethics?

Ethics are a set of behaviours accepted by others as 'the right way to behave'. Often there are sets of formal ethics that members of certain professions must uphold. Lawyers, managers, engineers, doctors... many professions and careers will have strict ethics.

There are also informal ethics - expectations that are so obvious that they are unwritten. An obvious ethic is integrity: often described as 'doing the right thing even when nobody is looking'. Another informal ethic might be doing something for the right reason.

Lawyers have a very strict set of formal ethics and the profession has high expectations of informal ethics. Law firms are also business, and business managers also have ethics they must abide by.

Lawyer Ethics

The Lawyers and Conveyancer's Act 2006 provide strong guidance around formal ethics for lawyers. These ethics are stringently upheld by the New Zealand Law Society.

Privacy Policy

We Respect Your Right To Privacy

When you visit this website we collect information about your computer or network using something called a ‘cookie’. This is your personal information and you have a right to know why we collect it. We collect your personal information in order to assist us with marketing solutions to you that you might find helpful.

A “cookie” is a small summary file containing a unique ID number which is stored on your computer by your browser. When you log in, the cookie tells Portia whether you've visited the website before or if you are a new visitor. The cookie doesn't obtain any personal information about you or provide Portia with any way to contact you, and the cookie doesn't extract any information from your computer. Portia uses the cookie to help it identify the relevant website features in which you have the greatest interest, so that it may better personalise your access to the website.

Portia also uses the cookie to collect anonymous data from and about users of the website, including for digital advertising purposes, for example, in respect of remarketing activities which also employ user tagging technology such as Floodlight tag. Platforms used by Mint for collecting such data include

include DoubleClick Campaign Manager, DoubleClick Bid Manager, Facebook Business Manager, and Google AdWords. The data collected is encrypted and does not include any personally identifiable information.

If you do not wish to receive cookies, you can set your browser so that your computer does not accept them.

To be clear, this information does not identify you: only the device you use. We share this information with Mint Design Limited (they are the people who do our marketing for us). Like us, Mint are also very ethical and understand your rights under the Privacy Act.

You have the right to ask for a copy of any personal information we hold about you, and to ask for it to be corrected if you think it is wrong. If you’d like to ask for a copy of your information, or to have it corrected, please contact us at support@portia.law, or 03 339 223, or DX WX33342. Please be patient. We might have to ask you some questions or seek other proof: obviously we will need to be certain that it is really you who is asking!

For more information on your rights to privacy in New Zealand go to www.Privacy.org.nz.

Portia: Part of the Solution

Acting With Ethics

Portia (Ebborn Law) is committed to helping people get access to justice. We do this in a number of ways and assist over 1,000 people a year in many areas of the law.

In 2019 we were the fifth largest provider of legal aid in New Zealand. In addition, we have been this country's biggest family legal aid provider since 2014.

We work extensively with Women's Refuge and a number of other social and community services to ensure pathways to justice are available, using technology where possible.

We give many aspiring young lawyers their first experience in law, with a high standard of training, flexible work hours and other benefits.

Our management and lawyers participate at events such as the Child Matters course, LawFest, the Future Firm Forum and many others.

Our firm is set up to use money efficiently and effectively. Wastage is reduced where possible. We operate a paperless office; re-purposing technology where possible.

Portia is a strong proponent of alternative dispute resolution such as mediation and arbitration. We work closely with FairWay Resolution to help people access justice quickly.

We provide a wealth of information online and use our legal knowledge to support or influence the making of laws, through submissions to Parliament.