👮‍♂️ WHO POLICES THE ADVOCATE? 🚨

🧐 In Aotearoa’s unregulated employment advocacy landscape, the most vulnerable clients are often the most exploited - and no one is watching closely enough

🫷 Following my last week’s posting on predatory advocacy, I’ve been flooded with messages from people who’ve had eerily similar experiences: being pressured into murky “no win, no fee” agreements, ghosted when things got hard, or even bullied by the very person they trusted to help them

🤔 One message stood out. A woman wrote:

“I thought I was hiring someone to protect me. Instead, she made everything worse. She took my money, left me with nothing, and said I was lucky she didn’t charge more.”

Let’s call this what it is: predatory advocacy

❌ Misrepresenting credentials is not advocacy

❌ Threatening vulnerable clients is not advocacy

❌ Extracting a third of someone's compensation after doing the bare minimum is not advocacy

It’s grifting. It’s intimidation. It’s unethical - and it’s far too common

👮 SO… WHO POLICES THE ADVOCATE in New Zealand?

In short? No one really

Unlike lawyers, most employment advocates in New Zealand are unregulated. Anyone can call themselves an “advocate” and start charging fees. There’s no required training. No oversight. No compulsory code of conduct. And, when things go wrong, clients are often left with no real avenue for redress.

And that’s the problem

Because when advocacy turns rogue, it doesn't just harm individuals, it undermines trust in the entire employment dispute resolution system

A PROFESSION IN NEED OF STANDARDS

There are advocates out there doing excellent, principled work. Many are pushing for higher standards and increased protections for clients

But good intent isn’t enough. We need structure. We need accountability. We need a clear line between those who act ethically and those who exploit

✨ELINZ – The Employment Law Institute of New Zealand

If you're an employment advocate, consultant, or even a lawyer practising in this space, get behind a professional body that stands for ethics and accountability

ELINZ was founded to promote high standards in employment advocacy. Its members include experienced professionals - barristers, solicitors, consultants and advocates - who represent both employers and employees before the ERA, Employment Court and MBIE Mediation

✅ Members of ELINZ are bound by a Code of Conduct

 ✅ ELINZ encourages ongoing professional development

 ✅ ELINZ promotes fair, ethical and transparent advocacy

I'm proudly a Board member of ELINZ and I throw down the gauntlet - 

🛡️ Clients: Ask if your advocate is a member of ELINZ

🤝 Practitioners: If you care about lifting the standard, join us

💬 Because if we don’t police ourselves - who will?

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