Job Introduction

Are you a practising clinician looking to broaden your impact beyond the bedside or clinic room?

We are seeking a confident and credible Medicolegal Consultant to join our established team in New Zealand to play a key role in guiding members through complex medico-legal challenges. This is a unique opportunity to combine your clinical expertise with medico-legal insight; supporting colleagues across the profession while helping to protect their careers, reputations, and wellbeing.

In this role, you will continue to practise clinically alongside your medico-legal work, ensuring your knowledge remains current, relevant, and grounded in real-world practice. We are looking for someone who is not only clinically strong, but also confident, personable, and comfortable sharing their expertise; whether advising members, presenting at conferences, or talking on podcasts.

If you are someone who communicates with ease, builds trust quickly, and can distil complex problems and think on their feet to give safe advice on possible solutions, this could be an exciting next step in your career.

Role Responsibility

• Provide expert medico-legal advice to members across a range of issues including complaints, privacy concerns, inquests, and regulatory matters 
• Manage a personal caseload, including more complex or high-profile cases, ensuring fair and balanced outcomes
• Use your clinical expertise to support colleagues, offer guidance, escalation support, and liaise with lawyers where needed
• Deliver presentations, and educational content to members and stakeholders 
• Build trusted relationships with internal teams and external partners, advocating for high-quality member support 
• Contribute to performance, quality, and continuous improvement initiatives within the division
• Ensure clear, accurate, and empathetic communication with members across all interactions
• Identify risks and emerging trends, supporting proactive improvements to protect members and the organisation

The Ideal Candidate

• A currently practising and confident clinician with a strong grounding in real-world clinical practice 
• Fully registered and licensed in New Zealand, with an unblemished professional record.
• Comfortable and engaging when speaking in public, delivering presentations, or leading discussions 
• A natural communicator; able to explain complex issues clearly, calmly, and with credibility 
• Demonstrable interest in medico-legal, ethical, and professional practice issues affecting clinicians 
• Has some legal qualification or is willing to work towards gaining this while in role.
• Able to build strong relationships and influence across a wide range of stakeholders 
• Brings sound judgement, professionalism, and a balanced, fair approach to decision-making 
• Motivated to support, coach, and develop others while contributing to a high-performing team culture

A couple of our MLC colleagues share their journey to transitioning into a new and exciting career:

Dr Sam King

I had worked as a GP for around 20 years when I felt I needed a fresh challenge.  I was working part-time in General Practice and it had definitely lost its lustre so I was considering an MBA or Law.  When the opportunity came up to work for MPS I jumped at it. I completed a Masters of Health Care Law and Ethics whilst starting work with MPS and maintaining clinical work. The learning curve was very steep in the first two years and you have to be OK with being the ‘House Officer’ again, but fourteen years later am still loving it. I feel very fortunate to be in a role where I use both my clinical and legal knowledge, it is the perfect hybrid role. I won’t lie, the workload is high and at times demanding, you need to be able to think on your feet and communicate well to provide sound practical medicolegal advice mixed with empathy. Does this sound like you?

Dr Mark Burns

I was mid-career as a public Consultant Psychiatrist. My role had led me to become interested in psychiatry’s interface with the law. I commenced a Bachelor of Laws studying part-time. An opportunity later arose to join MPS as a medico-legal consultant, and although not my original planned pathway for using my legal training, it has been a stimulating and satisfying role. MPS supported me to complete my Law degree over the first few years with them. The work is diverse, particularly the rostered telephone advice line. With a team of MLCs from different backgrounds, the casework can be distributed according to MLC strengths, and not surprisingly most psychiatry cases come my way. I have found being able to support my psychiatrist colleagues, for example in Coronial processes or mental health law dilemmas, very rewarding. The transition from being a specialist in a narrow field, to working more broadly as a medico-legal consultant was difficult, certainly for the first year. I have been at MPS ten years now, and I remain very pleased to have made that transition.

Package Description

• Up to 20% discretionary annual bonus
• Pension: superannuation paid of 14%
• 25 days annual leave plus flexible bank holidays (option to buy/sell 5 days)
• Private Medical Cover
• 6x salary death in service
• Employee Assistance Programme

About the Company

Medical Protection Society (MPS) is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We protect and support the professional interests of almost 300,000 members around the world, in countries as diverse as the United Kingdom, South Africa and Hong Kong.

Our philosophy is to support safe practice in medicine and dentistry by helping to avert problems in the first place. We also actively campaign for regulatory and legal reforms that benefit members and the wider healthcare professions. Membership provides access to expert advice and support together with the right to request indemnity for complaints or claims arising from professional practice.

We continue to invest in our team to ensure that we are delivering the best possible service for members. This was recognised in 2016 when we were awarded an Investors in People Silver award.

Medical Protection Society