Posted on 10 August 2020
A new agreement signed between Open Polytechnic and the New Zealand Law Society will see the two organisations working together to upskill legal executives, paralegals and legal assistants throughout the country.
Under the terms of the agreement, Open Polytechnic and the New Zealand Law Society are working closely together to develop the New Zealand Diploma in Legal Executive Studies programme which will be on offer in early 2018.
“The relationship between Open Polytechnic and the New Zealand Law Society goes back many years”, says Jane Needham, Head of School for Business and Enterprise at Open Polytechnic.
“Every year Open Polytechnic students have received prizes from the New Zealand Law Society for receiving the top marks in the nationwide legal executive examinations.
“This new agreement takes our relationship to the next level, working more collaboratively together to benefit the legal profession in New Zealand.”
The New Zealand Law Society will also be involved in moderating assessments in the new qualification. Thanks to the new agreement, the Open Polytechnic qualification will be endorsed by the New Zealand Law Society.
Transitional arrangements will also enable students who have passed at least one course at the end of 2017, and registered with the New Zealand Law Society, to achieve an additional benefit of also being awarded the New Zealand Law Society Legal Executive Diploma upon completion of the New Zealand Diploma in Legal Executive Studies.
“Legal executives play a very important role in the legal profession, and the Law Society is happy to be working with the Open Polytechnic to ensure that students continue to receive a quality education,” said Tim Jones, New Zealand Law Society Vice President (Auckland).
Open Polytechnic, New Zealand’s specialist provider of online and distance education, will begin taking enrolments in the New Zealand Diploma in Legal Executive Studies later in 2017.