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The Government Legal Network

The Government Legal Network (GLN) is a collaborative initiative of the Solicitor-General and departmental Chief Legal Advisors, on behalf of their Chief Executives. GLN membership encompasses all lawyers employed by Public Service departments (including Crown Law) plus the NZ Police, NZ Defence Force and the Parliamentary Counsel Office (around 850 lawyers). Crown entity lawyers currently participate in some GLN activities, to the extent that privilege and conflict considerations permit (another 400 lawyers).

The purpose of the GLN is to leverage the collective legal resources and expertise of the Crown to support the government in the lawful delivery of services to New Zealanders.

The GLN is governed by the GLN Governance Board and supported by the System Leadership Group within Crown Law. Included among the events/programmes and opportunities for participation in the GLN are the following:

  • Chief Legal Advisor Forum and Sub-Forum meetings
  • A Legal Leaders group
  • Practice Groups for particular areas of legal interest
  • Seminars and events on various legal and other topics
  • A Graduate programme
  • A Summer Clerk programme
  • An annual conference
  • An annual quiz night
  • A monthly newsletter
  • Regular jobs and secondment notifications

Lawyers within the GLN also have access to GLN Online. This is like an intranet for government lawyers that contains a variety of useful information and resources, including:

  • A lawyers' directory containing details of government lawyers
  • An events calendar outlining upcoming networking and professional development opportunities
  • A legal opinion database (only available to those in public service departments)
  • Training materials
  • Advertisements detailing job and secondment opportunities
  • Articles of interest
  • Links to relevant websites
  • Information about Practice Groups

To register for access to GLN Online email info@gln.govt.nz