Business Plan 2026
Growing Wellington's leading specialist employment and family law practice — through smart marketing, strategic positioning, and an exceptional team.
Executive Summary
Andy Bell's practice at Lane Neave is a specialist employment and family law team of seven lawyers across Wellington, Auckland, and Blenheim. Recognised in the Legal 500 Asia Pacific as a Recommended Lawyer, Andy leads a growing practice that combines deep technical expertise with a client-first approach.
The 2026 strategy focuses on two core markets: Wellington for employment law (both employee and employer sides) plus family and relationship property work, and Auckland for relationship property only — driven by Gabrielle Thompson.
This is a platform-building year. Growth is built on dominating Google search (organic and paid), building referral networks with mediators, counsellors and financial advisers, establishing a short-form video presence from the ground up, and creating AI-optimised content designed to be cited by Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.
Vision & Market Focus
Our Team
Growth Strategy
2026 is a platform-building year. The practice has strong legal capability and a growing reputation, but doesn't yet have the marketing infrastructure — the video platforms, the employer email list, the webinar rhythm — to drive consistent inbound at scale. This plan builds those foundations deliberately, starting lean and scaling what works.
Two-Track Client Model
Three Core Audience-Building Tactics
Quarterly Co-Branded Webinars
Partner with HR firms, accountants, financial advisers, and real estate agents to borrow their audiences. Target: 4 webinars (one per quarter) to keep it achievable and high-quality.
Referral Partner Network
Strengthen relationships with mediators, counsellors, accountants, and financial advisers who refer clients. Systematic outreach and co-branded webinars to build a reliable referral pipeline across Wellington and Auckland.
Short-Form Video Platform Build
Build video presence from scratch on short-form video. Andy leads with 2 videos/week on employment law. Target: 50 videos published as we establish the platforms.
Referral Pipeline
Build 5–10 mediator and counsellor relationships per market. Position at the point of crisis — when clients are referred to legal help.
🎥 Building the Short-Form Video Platform
We're starting from zero on short-form video — no existing audience, no posting history, no platform presence. This plan builds the platform deliberately, with Andy taking the lead and scaling based on what works.
Research Platforms & Establish Presence
Research short-form video platforms to find the best fit for a legal audience in NZ. Set up accounts on the chosen platforms with consistent branding — bios, profile images, links to bellandco.co — across the chosen platforms. Research trending formats and see what other NZ legal content creators are doing (and where the gaps are).
2 Videos Per Week — Employment Law Focus
Andy publishes 2 videos per week on employment law topics — covering both the employee and employer sides. Cross-post every video to the chosen platforms simultaneously. Use batch-recording sessions — film 4–6 videos in one sitting, release over 2–3 weeks. This keeps the cadence sustainable without constant production pressure.
Answer the Questions Clients Actually Ask
60–90 second clips, direct to camera, plain language. Topics like: "Can my employer make me redundant?", "What counts as a personal grievance?", "Do I need a lawyer for a disciplinary meeting?", "What are my rights if I'm dismissed?" Each video should feel like a quick, confident answer from a trusted expert — Andy's Legal 500 recognition gives immediate authority.
Review Analytics & Consider Adding Gabrielle
After 3 months of consistent posting, review the numbers: which platform gets the most traction? Which topics drive engagement? If the format is working, introduce Gabrielle for relationship property content (1–2 videos/week) alongside Andy's ongoing employment law videos. Engage actively with comments to build algorithm favour and community.
Double Down on What Works
By now the accounts should have organic traction. Double down on the best-performing platform rather than spreading effort equally. Consider paid promotion of top-performing videos to accelerate growth. Build a content bank of evergreen clips that can be reshared. The goal by month 12: established presence, consistent posting rhythm, and early audience growth that compounds into Year 2.
📩 Building the Employer Email List
The employer list is the foundation of Track 2 (Repeat Clients). Here's the infrastructure and approach to build it from scratch to 200+ subscribers over 12 months, with a checkpoint of 50 by month 6.
Create a Lead Magnet
Develop a downloadable resource valuable enough that HR managers and employers will exchange an email for it. Options: "The NZ Employer's Guide to Personal Grievances", "HR Compliance Checklist 2026", or "Restructuring Done Right — A Legal Guide for NZ Employers". This gives people a reason to sign up beyond just "join our list."
Build a Landing Page on bellandco.co
Create a dedicated signup page on the website promoting the lead magnet. Link to it from relevant blog posts (employer-side employment law content), LinkedIn posts, and email signatures. Make the value proposition clear and the form simple — name, email, company.
Cross-Promote at Webinars
Every quarterly co-branded webinar includes a signup CTA for the employer list. Webinars and the list reinforce each other — the webinar brings the audience, the list keeps them engaged afterwards. Include a post-webinar follow-up email offering the lead magnet to attendees who haven't subscribed yet.
LinkedIn as a Funnel
Andy's LinkedIn presence (1–2 employer-side posts per week) drives traffic to the signup page. When HR managers and employers engage with posts, send a warm direct message pointing them to the lead magnet. This isn't cold outreach — it's responding to demonstrated interest.
Tap the Existing Client Network
Ask current employer clients if they'd like to receive quarterly updates, and whether they can introduce you to their HR network or industry peers. Personal referrals from existing clients are the highest-converting source for list building. Beth to assist with systematic outreach to the existing client base.
Quarterly Employer Newsletter
Give people a reason to stay subscribed. Quarterly email covering: recent employment law changes, case summaries relevant to employers, practical HR tips, and upcoming webinar invitations. Keep it concise, valuable, and action-oriented — not a generic legal update dump.
Content Strategy
All content follows the AI-optimised format: question headline, TL;DR opening, FAQ section, and schema markup — designed to be cited by Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude.
Content is organised into clusters: employment law employee-side (10–15 articles), employer-side (8–10), relationship property (8–10), and family/custody (6–8). Target: 2–3 AI-optimised blog posts per month.
| Team Member | Content Focus | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Andy Bell | Employment (both sides) + strategy | 1 blog/month, 2 videos/week, 1–2x LinkedIn/week |
| Tanya Lavan | Custody, childcare, parenting | 1 blog/6 weeks |
| Gabrielle Thompson | Relationship property, Auckland | 1 blog/6 weeks |
| Sarah Wadworth | Employment + family (generalist) | 1 blog/quarter |
| Beth / Helena / Gabby | Case notes, legal updates | 1–2 posts/month each |
Key Performance Indicators
12-month targets. These reflect the reality that 2026 is a platform-building year — ambitious but achievable foundations to compound in Year 2.
Implementation Timeline
Action Items
Check off tasks as they're completed — progress is saved and shared across the team.
Research & Supporting Documents
Research papers, reports, and supporting materials that inform our strategy. Upload PDFs to the papers/ folder via Plesk File Manager — they'll appear here automatically.
Team Ideas & Contributions
Have an idea for growing the practice, improving a process, or something we should try? Drop it here. All ideas are saved and visible to the team for discussion.