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Going above and beyond to keep you above board

It’s easier to succeed when you’re compliant and in control of your business. Through EMA Legal you’ll receive cutting-edge employment law advice and representation, focusing on strategic solutions that are legally sound, cost-effective, practical – and minimise the risks of litigation. 

Our team will support you nationally with a range of employment relations resources including up-to-date policies, templates, and guides on everything from employment agreements, to leave and absenteeism, through to disciplinary issues. Contact Legal at legal@ema.co.nz and we’ll connect you with the solutions you need. 

Your outsourced
legal solution

EMA Legal can partner with your business and support you with the full range of employment law and employment relations issues.

We can help you with:

- Investigations

- Employment agreements

- Performance management

- Incapacity

- Bullying

- Sexual harassment

- Personal grievances
- Governance support

- Policies

- Disciplinary processes

- Restructuring

- Redundancy

- Legislative compliance

- Settlement agreements
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Legal - Mediation

End-to-end mediation

Our accredited EMA mediators offer an all-encompassing service. Wherever you find yourself in the life cycle of a dispute, our goal is to reach a sustainable resolution. 

We can mitigate conflicts before they escalate – we are your safety barrier to halt conflict in its tracks.

If prevention is no longer an option, we can facilitate resolution through constructive agreement in disputes, between both employee-employee, and with the employer.

Our mediation service also provides post-investigation relationship restoration.

Consultants for
the complex and contentious

Connect with our expert consultants and employment lawyers at Member-only rates. Investing upfront in expertise can prevent denting your reputation with the ERA.

Whatever your issue, call our AdviceLine team on 0800 300 362 and we’ll work with you to find the best solution.

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Legal

Meet the Legal Team

We have a team of advisors, lawyers and consultants who do more than take a case – they’ll help you solve problems and build your business and a future.

Give us a call on 0800 300 362 between 8am-8pm Mon-Thu and 8am-6pm Fri.

Mauro Barsi

Head of Legal, Consultancy and General Counsel

Mauro is an experienced advocate for businesses and employers and a trusted advisor when you need it most. He brings a powerful mix of practical knowledge in Employment Relations and Human Resources, litigation experience; and time spent as a senior leader in both the public and private sectors, all to help resolve your issues quickly and effectively. Having worked in-house with organisations to manage growth and transformation projects, his broad business management knowledge means he brings an overarching approach to issues. Mauro helps businesses shape their organisations through strategy, bargaining, restructuring and the implementation of new people structures, through to managing personal grievances, investigations, and employment disputes.

Senior Associate

Senior Solicitor

Solicitor

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Mauro Barsi

Head of Legal, Consultancy and General Counsel

Mauro is an experienced advocate for businesses and employers and a trusted advisor when you need it most. He brings a powerful mix of practical knowledge in Employment Relations and Human Resources, litigation experience; and time spent as a senior leader in both the public and private sectors, all to help resolve your issues quickly and effectively. 

Having worked in-house with organisations to manage growth and transformation projects, his broad business management knowledge means he brings an overarching approach to issues. Mauro helps businesses shape their organisations through strategy, bargaining, restructuring and the implementation of new people structures, through to managing personal grievances, investigations, and employment disputes.

Sarah Lim

Sarah is a senior employment lawyer who advises on all aspects of contentions and non-contentious employment matters. She is passionate about advocating for our members in employment matters and resolving the issues with a commercially pragmatic approach.

Sarah frequently advises her clients on restructures, employee vs contractor status risks, behavioural and performance issues, medical incapacity, and health and safety matters. She is confident in reviewing contracts and ensuring compliance and best practice and has represented clients at mediations and hearings in the Employment Relations Authority. Sarah also has experience in carrying out employment due diligence for high-value commercial transactions and ensuring that her clients meet all of the employer obligations throughout the sale and purchase process.

Beverley Edwards

Senior Solicitor

A self-confessed pragmatic problem solver, Beverley works collaboratively with businesses across the spectrum of contentious and non-contentious Employment Relations issues. A specialist in investigations, she assists members with the tricky processes of disciplinaries, performance, restructuring, and incapacity processes. Underpinning these contentious procedures, she drafts employment agreements and policies across many issues such as drug and alcohol testing, surveillance and social developments.

She frequently represents clients in dispute resolution matters, including mediations and in the Employment Relations Authority and the Employment Court. An admitted solicitor in New Zealand and South Africa, in her previous life Beverley has prosecuted on behalf of the South African State and worked as Legal Counsel for a multi-national music conglomerate. She has been a law lecturer the past decade and is an ardent community law supporter.

Tilly Smith

Solicitor

Tilly studied a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts at the University of Otago, and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in September 2024.

She began her career with EMA in June 2024 as an Employer Advisor on the AdviceLine, where she provided real-time advice to members on employment legislation, HR practices, and compliance matters. This role developed her ability to think on her feet and deliver practical solutions to a wide range of employment issues.

In July 2025, Tilly joined EMA Legal, where she often supports clients by drafting and reviewing employment agreements and workplace policies. She is passionate about building strong relationships with EMA members and applying her legal expertise to help them navigate workplace challenges.

Tilly has also assisted in editing the popular EMA Employer Bulletin, as well as providing members with video updates of recent case summaries.