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Useful experience for court registry officers includes:

• work as a legal secretary or law clerk, or other work in a law office
• court work
• administration work
• work with the public.

Court registry officers may do some or all of the following:

• process documents, such as marriage certificates, for the public
• answer questions from the public about court sittings and legal documents
• process court orders, court summons (when you are called to come to court), warrants to arrest and notices
• schedule court hearings
• swear in witnesses and read out charges
• document court proceedings for transcriptionists (people who record what is said in court)
• prepare and maintain case files
• liaise with police, judges and lawyers.

Fewer vacancies due to less turnover and declining job numbers

The number of people working as court registry officers in New Zealand is expected to decline slowly because courts are modernising and computers are taking over many administrative tasks.

In addition, court registry officers are staying in the job for longer, which means fewer vacancies.

According to the Census, 783 court registry officers worked in New Zealand in 2018.

Chances best if you have customer service and administration experience

Chances of getting a job as a court registry officer are best if you have:

• customer service and administration experience
• a tertiary qualification.

You are also more likely to find a job in the main centres of Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch, where most courthouses are located.

One employer of court registry officers

All court registry officers are employed by The Ministry of Justice.

Ministry of Justice

04 918 8800 - recruitment@justice.govt.nz - www.justice.govt.nz

Court registry officers can specialise as collections registry officers.

Collections Registry Officer

Collections registry officers advise people how to pay their fines, and negotiate with the public to collect overdue fines.

Court registry officers need to be:

• accurate
• organised
• able to work well under pressure
• able to relate to people from a range of cultures
• able to understand complex information and explain it clearly to members of the public
• confident and capable in front of a large audience
• reliable and able to keep information confidential.