The community of expertise behind Westlaw NZ’s success
It’s often said that it takes a village to raise a child – a community where every member, from the blacksmith to the baker, plays a role in shaping the next generation. For more than a century, the ‘village’ behind Westlaw NZ has worked in much the same way.
Instead of cobblers and farmers, it’s hundreds of practitioners, academics and specialist experts who each lend their unique perspective to the ongoing task of building and maintaining New Zealand’s most trusted legal research platform. Their collective wisdom, passed down and refined through generations of legal change, ensures that Westlaw NZ remains both a living archive and a vital tool for the country’s legal community.
“Westlaw NZ stands out as New Zealand’s leading legal research platform, trusted by law firms, courts, government organisations, in-house legal teams, academic institutions and students across the country,” says Matthew Heaphy, head of New Zealand legal business at Thomson Reuters.
Westlaw NZ’s authority and reliability are the result of this enduring collaboration among legal professionals. By drawing on the practical insights of working lawyers, the analytical depth of academics and the focused expertise of specialists, the platform offers a comprehensive and ever-evolving resource. Just as a village thrives when each member contributes their strengths, Westlaw NZ’s expert network ensures the database stays relevant, authoritative and indispensable for those navigating New Zealand’s legal landscape.
Academic depth meets practical application
The academic perspective brings a different but complementary strength to Westlaw NZ’s content. Warren Brookbanks, a professor of criminal law and justice studies at Auckland University of Technology, has been contributing to Thomson Reuters’ publications since the early 1990s. His journey began with an invitation to join the author team for Adams on Criminal Law, a collaboration that has spanned decades.
“Initially I was invited to join the author team for Adams on Criminal Law when that major revision was first undertaken in the early 1990s under the general editorship of Sir Bruce Robertson,” Brookbanks recalls. His extensive portfolio now includes contributions to criminal law, mental health law and privacy law publications, reflecting the interconnected nature of legal specialisation.
Brookbanks’ academic background provides a unique lens for legal commentary. “I have been a legal academic for 42 years. My practical experience has largely been as a teacher and researcher, which involves the use of a different set of skills than might typically be used in legal practice,” he says. This perspective allows for deeper research into specific aspects of law, contributing to both teaching and the broader development of legal understanding.
The criminal law field that Brookbanks navigates presents constant challenges. Recent government initiatives include reintroducing ‘three strikes’ sentencing legislation and addressing foreign intelligence activities through changes to the Crimes Act 1961. “Of particular interest to me is a recently announced proposal for major reform of the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003, to be undertaken by the Law Commission,” he says, highlighting how academic expertise helps identify and contextualise significant legal developments.
Environmental law’s practical complexity
Matt Conway, a partner at Simpson Grierson, represents another facet of Westlaw NZ’s expert network. His environmental planning and consenting practice serves clients ranging from councils to developers, with a particular focus on water management and urban development. “I like the fact that it’s all very practical, and interrelated, and inseparable from the people who call Aotearoa home,” Conway explains, describing the human element that underlies technical legal frameworks.
Environmental law presents unique challenges that demonstrate the value of expert commentary. “Resource Management Act reform has been a constant theme for several years now, with multiple changes of direction,” Conway observes. The complexity of environmental law, while intellectually stimulating, creates uncertainty that affects all stakeholders in the planning system.
Conway’s motivation for contributing to Westlaw NZ reflects the circular relationship between users and authors. “I find the Resource Management commentary an excellent resource, and I rely on it on a daily basis,” he says. His goal is to distil complex court decisions into practical guidance that speeds up research for other practitioners.
“My practice involves a lot of advisory work as well as advocacy. So the interpretation and application challenges arising out of our legislation are on my radar a lot,” Conway explains. This dual perspective allows him to identify the most relevant aspects of court decisions and express key points through a practical lens that benefits future users.
Spotlight
The practitioner’s perspective
Among these expert contributors is Scott Worthy, a partner at Kiely Thompson Caisley who specialises in employment law. His daily practice encompasses everything from union negotiations to workplace restructuring, reflecting the breadth that modern employment lawyers must master. “You have to be an all-rounder,” Worthy observes, describing the variety and range of challenges that define his practice.
Worthy’s contribution to Westlaw NZ stems from both necessity and opportunity. “Westlaw NZ commentary has always been my first source, so it was a great honour to be asked to contribute,” he says. His motivation reflects a common theme across the platform’s authors: practitioners who rely on the service naturally want to contribute to its quality and comprehensiveness.
The value of practitioner-authored content becomes apparent when considering the speed at which employment law changes. “Employment law is intensely dynamic,” Worthy says, pointing to ongoing government reforms affecting personal grievance procedures and the anticipated new Holidays Act. This constant evolution demands commentary that can keep pace with legislative changes while addressing the practical implications for workplace relationships.
“The advantage of being a practitioner writing the commentary is that through your own experience, the experience of the whole team at Kiely Thompson Caisley and contact with other practitioners, you are fully aware of the issues which are being litigated and raised in the workplace,” Worthy explains. This real-world insight allows authors to identify significant cases immediately and understand where gaps in the law may exist.
Thomson Reuters is an AI and technology company empowering legal professionals with deep subject-matter expertise and content that New Zealand has trusted for over 120 years – giving legal professionals the confidence to know today, navigate tomorrow and lead in a fast-evolving world. We empower lawyers to reduce inefficiencies so they can do more of the work that matters, act decisively to add greater value for critical stakeholders and anticipate future challenges to face the unexpected. As the future arrives faster than ever, we’re standing alongside legal professionals to help inform the way forward.
Company Profile
350+
LEGAL MINDS IN NZ CONTRIBUTING TO WESTLAW
30
LEGAL PRACTICE AREAS WESTLAW NZ COVERS
200+
NEW ZEALAND LEGAL DATABASES
115+
YEARS OF INNOVATION AND RELIABILITY
2,800+
PRECEDENTS, PRACTICAL TOOLS AND WORKFLOWS
Bio
Spotlight
Milestones
Media
Accolades
Company Profile
“Westlaw NZ commentary has always been my first source, so it was a great honour to be asked to contribute”
SCOTT WORTHY, KIELY THOMPSON CAISLEY
“My practical experience has largely been as a teacher and researcher, which involves the use of a different set of skills than might typically be used in legal practice”
Warren Brookbanks, Auckland University of Technology
Share
Karen Adams
Read on
Share
Share
Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
1910
2012
2025
John Friend develops the Legislation Annotations Service in Whanganui, solving the problem of how to keep physical legislation books up to date
1910
Launch of Brookers Online, the company’s first New Zealand online legal research platform
2000
Milestones
Published 02 Sep 2025
Find out more
Find out more
Being picked to lead ORDE's distribution team
career highlight
3 years
tenure at current position
25
Years of experience
More
Scott Worthy
Warren Brookbanks
Matthew Heaphy
Read on
Thomson Reuters’ legal research platform, Westlaw NZ, is built by a diverse group of practitioners, academics and specialists – each helping to balance constant change with knowledge that shapes New Zealand’s legal future
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
Expert contributors
“I find the Resource Management commentary an excellent resource, and I rely on it on a daily basis”
MATT CONWAY, SIMPSON GRIERSON
The technology integration challenge
As artificial intelligence reshapes professional services, Thomson Reuters faces the challenge of integrating advanced technologies while maintaining the authority and reliability that defines Westlaw NZ. “In the world of AI, experience is paramount. Thomson Reuters has been in the AI and machine learning game for more than 30 years,” Heaphy says, positioning the company’s technological development within a broader historical context.
The introduction of CoCounsel to New Zealand in 2024 represents a significant step in this integration. “CoCounsel, designed specifically for the needs of legal professionals, is a game changer, delivering significant productivity boosts for users, allowing more time to focus on higher-value tasks,” Heaphy explains.
Thomson Reuters
Unlike general AI tools, CoCounsel is legally trained to complete legal-specific tasks such as document interrogation, comparison, and summarisation and chronologies. CoCounsel will be further enhanced with agentic AI workflows in 2026.
Westlaw NZ’s evolution continues with the advent of generative AI technologies. “We look forward to introducing AI-assisted research capabilities to Westlaw NZ in October 2025, with integration with CoCounsel to follow, allowing users an integrated AI experience,” Heaphy says. This development represents the company’s vision of creating connected ecosystems that work seamlessly with existing legal workflows.
Quality and authority in the digital age
Maintaining content quality across such a comprehensive platform requires sophisticated systems and processes. Thomson Reuters achieves this through what Heaphy describes as long-standing relationships with top legal minds, combined with expert editorial teams and robust tracking systems. “Many of our processes allow content updates to be released quickly, with further enhancement or enrichment over time,” he explains.
The practical impact of this approach becomes clear when considering citation patterns in New Zealand courts. Key titles like McGechan on Procedure and Adams on Criminal Law are cited 16 times more frequently than comparative works, while Todd on Torts appears in more than 1,000 New Zealand court decisions. These statistics reflect not just popularity but judicial confidence in the authority and reliability of Westlaw NZ’s content.
“For busy legal professionals, having access to reliable, trusted analysis saves time and mitigates risk, supporting better decision-making and client outcomes,” Heaphy says. This efficiency becomes particularly important as legal practice faces increasing time pressures and client expectations for rapid, accurate advice.
The editorial relationship
The relationship between authors and Thomson Reuters’ editorial team emerges as a consistent strength across all contributor experiences. Worthy describes his experience as “very positive with great feedback”, while Conway praises the team’s responsiveness and future focus. Brookbanks, with decades of experience across multiple publishers, offers particularly strong endorsement: “I have worked with a number of major international publishers and have always found that the Thomson Reuters local editorial team compares with the best of the other publishing teams I have encountered.”
This editorial relationship proves essential for maintaining content quality while managing the practical challenges of legal publishing. The team must balance the need for rapid updates with thorough review processes, ensuring that new content meets the platform’s reliability standards while remaining accessible to practitioners under time pressure.
The broader impact
Westlaw NZ’s influence extends beyond individual legal research, shaping how New Zealand’s legal profession approaches complex problems. With more than 200 legal databases and 2,800 precedents, practical tools and workflows, the platform serves as infrastructure for legal decision-making across the country.
“What I would like users to take from my contributions is a succinct but thorough understanding of the legal issues, with a focus on how the cases cited and commentary can help to win an argument outside or inside court,” Worthy explains, highlighting the practical orientation that defines the platform’s approach.
The long history of innovation that stands behind the platform reflects broader changes in how legal knowledge is created, organised and accessed. From John Friend’s original legislation annotation service to today’s AI-enhanced capabilities, Thomson Reuters has consistently anticipated and responded to the profession’s evolving needs.
As legal practice continues to evolve, Westlaw NZ’s combination of expert authorship, comprehensive content and technological innovation positions it as an essential tool for New Zealand’s legal community. The platform’s success reflects not just technological capability but the deeper understanding that effective legal research requires both authoritative content and practical insight from those who use the law daily.
In the end, the Westlaw NZ ‘village’ is more than a collection of experts – it’s a living community where every contributor’s perspective helps shape the legal knowledge that guides the nation. Worthy, Brookbanks and Conway represent the practitioner, the academic and the specialist in this story, but of course, this village contains far more voices, experiences and areas of expertise than just these three types – and, as with any true village, is far more than the sum of its constituents.
Under Thomson Reuters’ stewardship, the wisdom of the past and the demands of the present come together to serve the needs of every legal professional who calls on Westlaw NZ.
“We look forward to introducing AI-assisted research capabilities to Westlaw NZ in October 2025, with integration with CoCounsel to follow, allowing users an integrated AI experience”
MATTHEW HEAPHY, THOMSON REUTERS
Matt Conway
Companies
About us
Authors
Policy
Terms of Use
RSS
People
Newsletter
External contributors
Copyright © 2025 KM Business Information NZ
Contact us
Westlaw NZ to be enhanced with AI-assisted research capabilities in October 2025
2025
News
Practice Areas
Surveys & Reports
Events
Best In Law
Resources
Subscribe
AU
NZ
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
News
Practice Areas
Surveys & Reports
Events
Best in Law
Resources
Subscribe
AU
NZ
Companies
About us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
RSS
People
Newsletter
Authors
External contributors
Copyright © 2024
KM Business Information NZ
Contact us
News
Practice Areas
Surveys & Reports
Events
Best in Law
Resources
Subscribe
AU
NZ
Companies
About us
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
RSS
People
Newsletter
Authors
External contributors
Copyright © 2024
KM Business Information NZ
Contact us
2000
Launch of Westlaw NZ, successor to Brookers Online; subsequently relaunched in 2020
2012
2024
CoCounsel, a professional-grade legal AI assistant, is launched in New Zealand
2024
2000
Launch of Westlaw NZ, successor to Brookers Online; subsequently relaunched in 2020
2012
What began in 1910 as John Friend’s ingenious solution to keeping physical legislation books current in Whanganui has evolved into New Zealand’s most trusted legal research platform. Its reach extends far beyond simple database access, representing what Heaphy describes as a comprehensive ecosystem built around the needs of New Zealand’s legal community.
The foundation of Westlaw NZ’s authority lies in its expert-authored content combined with New Zealand’s most extensive collection of primary law content. “Our commentary and analysis are written by more than 350 leading legal practitioners, academics and subject-matter experts within the New Zealand legal community,” Heaphy explains.
Matt Conway
Partner,
Simpson Grierson
Wellington
BASED IN
Warren Brookbanks
Professor of criminal law and justice studies,
Auckland University of Technology
“My artistic family is a tonic to what is often the ugliness and sadness of criminal/mental health law”
INTERESTING FACT
Scott Worthy
Partner, Kiely Thompson Caisley
Caisley is focused on building the next generation of legal talent
INTERESTING FACT
Matthew Heaphy
Head of New Zealand legal business,
Thomson Reuters
Wellington
BASED IN
Before becoming CEO of Fundserv, Karen Adams held a variety of leadership roles around the world – and she learned that listening and understanding are key to both providing service and developing talent
Matt Conway
The editorial relationship
The relationship between authors and Thomson Reuters’ editorial team emerges as a consistent strength across all contributor experiences. Worthy describes his experience as “very positive with great feedback”, while Conway praises the team’s responsiveness and future focus. Brookbanks, with decades of experience across multiple publishers, offers particularly strong endorsement: “I have worked with a number of major international publishers and have always found that the Thomson Reuters local editorial team compares with the best of the other publishing teams I have encountered.”
This editorial relationship proves essential for maintaining content quality while managing the practical challenges of legal publishing. The team must balance the need for rapid updates with thorough review processes, ensuring that new content meets the platform’s reliability standards while remaining accessible to practitioners under time pressure.
The broader impact
Westlaw NZ’s influence extends beyond individual legal research, shaping how New Zealand’s legal profession approaches complex problems. With more than 200 legal databases and 2,800 precedents, practical tools and workflows, the platform serves as infrastructure for legal decision-making across the country.
“What I would like users to take from my contributions is a succinct but thorough understanding of the legal issues, with a focus on how the cases cited and commentary can help to win an argument outside or inside court,” Worthy explains, highlighting the practical orientation that defines the platform’s approach.
The long history of innovation that stands behind the platform reflects broader changes in how legal knowledge is created, organised and accessed. From John Friend’s original legislation annotation service to today’s AI-enhanced capabilities, Thomson Reuters has consistently anticipated and responded to the profession’s evolving needs.
As legal practice continues to evolve, Westlaw NZ’s combination of expert authorship, comprehensive content and technological innovation positions it as an essential tool for New Zealand’s legal community. The platform’s success reflects not just technological capability but the deeper understanding that effective legal research requires both authoritative content and practical insight from those who use the law daily.
In the end, the Westlaw NZ ‘village’ is more than a collection of experts – it’s a living community where every contributor’s perspective helps shape the legal knowledge that guides the nation. Worthy, Brookbanks and Conway represent the practitioner, the academic and the specialist in this story, but of course, this village contains far more voices, experiences and areas of expertise than just these three types – and, as with any true village, is far more than the sum of its constituents.
Under Thomson Reuters’ stewardship, the wisdom of the past and the demands of the present come together to serve the needs of every legal professional who calls on Westlaw NZ.
Expert contributors
Unlike general AI tools, CoCounsel is legally trained to complete legal-specific tasks such as document interrogation, comparison, and summarisation and chronologies. CoCounsel will be further enhanced with agentic AI workflows in 2026.
Westlaw NZ’s evolution continues with the advent of generative AI technologies. “We look forward to introducing AI-assisted research capabilities to Westlaw NZ in October 2025, with integration with CoCounsel to follow, allowing users an integrated AI experience,” Heaphy says. This development represents the company’s vision of creating connected ecosystems that work seamlessly with existing legal workflows.
Quality and authority in the digital age
Maintaining content quality across such a comprehensive platform requires sophisticated systems and processes. Thomson Reuters achieves this through what Heaphy describes as long-standing relationships with top legal minds, combined with expert editorial teams and robust tracking systems. “Many of our processes allow content updates to be released quickly, with further enhancement or enrichment over time,” he explains.
The practical impact of this approach becomes clear when considering citation patterns in New Zealand courts. Key titles like McGechan on Procedure and Adams on Criminal Law are cited 16 times more frequently than comparative works, while Todd on Torts appears in more than 1,000 New Zealand court decisions. These statistics reflect not just popularity but judicial confidence in the authority and reliability of Westlaw NZ’s content.
“For busy legal professionals, having access to reliable, trusted analysis saves time and mitigates risk, supporting better decision-making and client outcomes,” Heaphy says. This efficiency becomes particularly important as legal practice faces increasing time pressures and client expectations for rapid, accurate advice.
“We plan to introduce AI-assisted research capabilities to Westlaw NZ in 2025, including integration with CoCounsel, allowing users an integrated AI experience”
MATTHEW HEAPHY, THOMSON REUTERS
“I find the Resource Management commentary an excellent resource, and I rely on it on a daily basis”
MATT CONWAY, SIMPSON GRIERSON
Academic depth meets practical application
The academic perspective brings a different but complementary strength to Westlaw NZ’s content. Warren Brookbanks, a professor of criminal law and justice studies at Auckland University of Technology, has been contributing to Thomson Reuters’ publications since the early 1990s. His journey began with an invitation to join the author team for Adams on Criminal Law, a collaboration that has spanned decades.
“Initially I was invited to join the author team for Adams on Criminal Law when that major revision was first undertaken in the early 1990s under the general editorship of Sir Bruce Robertson,” Brookbanks recalls. His extensive portfolio now includes contributions to criminal law, mental health law and privacy law publications, reflecting the interconnected nature of legal specialisation.
“My practical experience has largely been as a teacher and researcher, which involves the use of a different set of skills than might typically be used in legal practice”
Warren Brookbanks, Auckland University of Technology
The practitioner’s perspective
Among these expert contributors is Scott Worthy, a partner at Kiely Thompson Caisley who specialises in employment law. His daily practice encompasses everything from union negotiations to workplace restructuring, reflecting the breadth that modern employment lawyers must master. “You have to be an all-rounder,” Worthy observes, describing the variety and range of challenges that define his practice.
Worthy’s contribution to Westlaw NZ stems from both necessity and opportunity. “Westlaw NZ commentary has always been my first source, so it was a great honour to be asked to contribute,” he says. His motivation reflects a common theme across the platform’s authors: practitioners who rely on the service naturally want to contribute to its quality and comprehensiveness.
The value of practitioner-authored content becomes apparent when considering the speed at which employment law changes. “Employment law is intensely dynamic,” Worthy says, pointing to ongoing government reforms affecting personal grievance procedures and the anticipated new Holidays Act. This constant evolution demands commentary that can keep pace with legislative changes while addressing the practical implications for workplace relationships.
“The advantage of being a practitioner writing the commentary is that through your own experience, the experience of the whole team at Kiely Thompson Caisley and contact with other practitioners, you are fully aware of the issues which are being litigated and raised in the workplace,” Worthy explains. This real-world insight allows authors to identify significant cases immediately and understand where gaps in the law may exist.
“Westlaw NZ commentary has always been my first source, so it was a great honour to be asked to contribute”
SCOTT WORTHY, KIELY THOMPSON CAISLEY
Published 02 Sep 2025