The first steps in law and the transition from partnership at a large firm to sole ownership
This article was produced in partnership with LexisNexis
Caroline Rieger believes employment law has the power to transform.
"Employment law has the ability to really change communities, both in positive and negative ways," the founder and managing director of Black Door Law told New Zealand Lawyer. "That's the big driver for me – transforming workplaces to better people's lives," says Rieger at the Wellington-based firm.
From navigating the legal world as a single parent during the Global Financial Crisis to building her own forward-thinking firm, Rieger’s journey is defined by a deep commitment to people, a fierce embrace of technology, and a vision for kinder, healthier workplaces. Now, with Black Door Law celebrating its fourth year, Rieger continues to challenge conventions, mentor the next generation, and push for a more thoughtful approach to employment law and the law profession as a whole in New Zealand.
Her journey into employment law began at a place many high school students first cut their teeth in the working world – McDonald's. Those early workplace encounters helped form her understanding of how employment relationships impact individuals.
"I am a specialist employment lawyer who also deals with human rights in the context of employment relationships," said Rieger. "You may be dealing with one individual's discrimination issue, but if they are being discriminated against, then that indicates potential cultural unwellness in a workplace, and that has ripple effects."
Rieger's path to launching her own practice wasn't straightforward. Hailing from rural Feilding in the heart of Manawatu, Rieger finished law school as a single parent to a young child and graduated during the Global Financial Crisis. She then landed a role at a provincial law firm in Hawke's Bay, where her supervising partner made a lasting impression.
"That for me, I think, is the foundation of my entire career, because if I had had a different supervising partner, I probably wouldn't still be in the law," said Rieger. "That is the reason why I started Black Door Law – because I wanted to create a firm that I would have wanted to work in as a junior and I still want to work in now almost two decades into my career."
As her skills and family grew, she picked up work in Wellington, making partner in 2019 at a major firm. In 2021, Rieger made the transition to sole ownership.
"It's a lot busier. It's completely different being a business owner, especially sole business owner. I was in partnership with 14 other partners before but going from having a marketing team and an accounts team to being the accounts department, the people and culture department, the marketing team all in one hit – that was significant," said Rieger.
Even more remarkable, Rieger started her firm while juggling life with a newborn, her third child.
"I had a three-month-old when I started the firm," said Rieger. "She’s sort of the personification of the growth of the firm in lots of ways – as she's growing, the firm's growing, as she is maturing the firm is maturing."
Despite the difficulties involved, Reiger says she wouldn’t do anything differently if she had her time over again.
For aspiring legal entrepreneurs, Rieger emphasises the importance of technology adoption.
"You absolutely have to consider technology and how you're going to leverage technology. The landscape even in the last 18 months has changed," said Rieger.
Front-footing technology as a general strategy has been fundamental to her business model from day one.
"When I started the firm, technology was a huge driver in terms of how I approached the firm. The theory was always, if you've got a laptop and you've got a cell phone, you can be 'in the office'," said Rieger.
Her team regularly explores new digital solutions to improve efficiency and client service.
"We constantly iterate our technology. We experiment with things. We've got an experiment happening at the moment within the team around a productivity tool," said Rieger. "We've got what we call a 'fail fast, fail safe' culture and ‘failure’ is viewed as a lesson, and we experiment with technology as much as we can."
She noted that the stakes are almost higher now for staying ahead of the curve.
“I think if you are opening a firm now or even if you already have a highly established firm now, you have to be trialling and experimenting with technology constantly because otherwise you just you're not going to keep up.”
Beyond running her practice, Rieger contributes regularly to the Employment Law Bulletin, a LexisNexis publication that connects legal professionals working in employment law.
"I was originally asked to contribute to the bulletin by the editor Susan Hornsby-Geluk,” she recalled. “The reason I love receiving it as a lawyer, is because it is other employment specialist lawyers talking about topical issues. The articles are always really interesting and the topics and insights cutting-edge and up to date developments in case law coming out of the Authority or the Court or internationally. Susan has done a really good job," said Rieger.
The bulletin offers valuable insights into trends and developments in employment law, both locally and internationally.
"A lot of the research at the moment is around looking at what other jurisdictions are doing. Chief Judge of the Employment Court, Christina Ingles mentioned at a conference that she may be looking at other jurisdictions for components of some of the things she was interested in, so it is important that lawyers take their cue from that and do the same" said Rieger.
This exemplifies how the bulletin has its finger on the pulse in this specialist area, sparking meaningful discussions within the legal community.
"It starts fantastic, robust debate at our collaborative meetings. The debates are often around whether we agree with what the authors said or not," said Rieger.
For Rieger, writing for the bulletin provides opportunities for deeper analysis of everyday legal issues.
"It really does get you thinking deeply about issues that you talk about every day, but in a new and interesting way," said Rieger.
One of Rieger's most impactful contributions to the Employment Law Bulletin challenged conventional wisdom about constructive dismissal cases.
"For me, constructive dismissal is a very interesting area of employment law. There is a narrative that it's a really hard personal grievance to satisfy," said Rieger. "We actually did a lot of research around whether that narrative is accurate and looked at the different decisions that had come out of the Authority and the Court."
The findings surprised many in the legal community.
"A lot of people were surprised by the results because that narrative that it is hard to satisfy is across the board and the advice given reflects that but while it's true that it's unsuccessful in the majority of cases, the margin of that majority has changed quite significantly in the last few years," said Rieger.
Throughout her career, Rieger has been particularly affected by cases with profound human impact.
"There are always cases that at a human level sit with you longer and on an ongoing basis. I've seen people really destroyed, at a psychological level and physical level [due to their employment]. I've seen some really poor health and safety practices… that have had long-lasting physical impacts and really bad behaviour that has had deep psychological effects."
These experiences have reinforced her approach to interpersonal interactions.
"Those cases always sit with you but also make you wiser as a human. It always reminds you that you have no idea what path other people have travelled when you have interactions with them. So always remember to start with kindness and presume good intent," said Rieger.
Her work now focuses primarily on independent investigations, which presents its own unique challenges.
"You've got a complainant, and you've got a respondent, and you're making the finding. It's very likely one of those people is not going to be happy with that finding," said Rieger.
As New Zealand's employment law landscape continues to develop, Rieger closely monitors proposed legislative changes that could significantly impact both employers and employees.
"Minister of Workplace Relations Brooke van Velden is making a lot of proposed changes. One of the significant changes is the proposal to limit personal grievances to employees who earn above $180,000 a year," said Rieger.
Such a change could shift how workplace disputes are addressed, potentially moving claims to different jurisdictions.
"In countries where these types of income thresholds have been [introduced], what happens is that the same amount of claims are raised, but they're raised in different jurisdictions – for example in New Zealand they may become framed as a discrimination claim in the Human Rights Review Tribunal rather than as a personal grievance in the Employment Relations Authority," said Rieger.
Staying up to date – indeed, ahead of such possibilities is only possible with robust and accessible data at your fingertips.
“Our team use LexisNexis daily, and multiple times a day… that is where the magic happens. We're lawyers and what we do is we find all the relevant and interesting cases and then we apply them to the fact scenario that we've got, and without LexisNexis, we just couldn’t do that.”
For those considering starting their own legal practice, Rieger offers straightforward advice:
"I would just go into it very much with your eyes open. The real challenges of business ownership, especially if you are in growth mode, are there," said Rieger. "But my other big piece of advice is if you think you have the skills, if you have the ability to move quickly between things and make decisions swiftly and the ability to build a practice, then just do it.”
Download the Free Issue of the Employment Law Bulletin by submitting the form HERE.
The Employment Law Bulletin keeps you up to date with the latest developments in employment law and is a must for any practitioner or professional dealing with employment law issues. The Bulletin is highly regarded among practitioners and stakeholders in the employment field, including the Courts. General Editor Susan Hornsby-Geluk, one of New Zealand’s leading employment lawyers, directs the Employment Law Bulletin content and ensures a practical focus.
