EMA Legal goes 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.
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.
Your outsourced legal solution
Investigations
Employment agreements
Performance management
Incapacity
Bullying and sexual harassment
Personal grievances and settlement agreements
Policies and governance support
Disciplinary processes
Restructures and redundancies
Legislative compliance
Investigations and disciplinary processes
Personal grievances and dispute resolution
Medical incapacity and performance management
Employment agreement and policies
Bullying and harassment
Legislative compliance
Did you know...
The EMA's Personal Grievance Cover
As an EMA Member, you’ve already got access to guidance and support from lawyers who are strictly on the side of employers.
Ready to put this dedication to the test? Introducing the EMA’s Personal Grievance Cover – a new Member benefit guaranteeing you no-cost representation at the Employment Relations Authority.
Our lawyers will represent you free of charge. How to get started:
Use EMA policy documents, or an EMA Legal review
Engage with EMA Legal throughout the process, including PG and mediation
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.
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.
Meet the Legal Team
We have a team of lawyers 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.
Matthew Dearing
Head of Legal and General Counsel
Matthew Dearing rejoins EMA having been at Edwards Sluiters Employment Lawyers where he was a Senior Associate and prior to that Employment Relations Legal Counsel for Wilson Group’s FIRST Security & Wilson Parking New Zealand. Matt is no stranger to the EMA and worked here as a lawyer between 2011 and 2022 and was Head of Legal and General Counsel from 2017 to 2022.
Matt graduated from the University of Waikato with a Bachelor of Laws in 2004, was admitted to the Bar in 2005 and then completed a Master of Laws at Victoria University of Wellington in 2010. He is an AMINZ-qualified mediator and been a sitting member of The Law Association’s Employment Law Committee for the past 14 years.
Matt has extensive experience in providing employment law advice to a range of clients from large multinationals to small business across all aspects of New Zealand employment law.
