Immigration has long been a quiet enabler of regional growth. Increasingly, it is becoming a strategic issue for businesses that rely on skilled people to grow, compete, and plan for the future.

For Hawke’s Bay employers navigating an evolving immigration landscape, Luscombe Legal has become a trusted partner, helping them think beyond visas and focus on long-term workforce resilience.

From its Queen Street office in Hastings, Luscombe Legal has built a reputation as the region’s leading immigration law firm, supporting businesses, families, and migrants through one of the most complex and fast-changing areas of law in New Zealand. While immigration is its core speciality, the firm’s real strength lies in its understanding of how policy plays out on the ground, particularly in regional New Zealand.

Founded by Mark Luscombe, the firm marked its 21st anniversary earlier this year, a milestone that reflects both longevity and evolution. The business began modestly, with Mark and his wife Pip sharing a desk in a one-room office in the Scinde Building in Napier.

“It was very humble,” Mark recalls. “Just the two of us, staring at each other across a shared desk.”

In 2009, the firm made a deliberate decision to relocate to Hastings, positioning itself as a Hawke’s Bay business rather than a Napier-based one. That regional focus has remained central ever since.

“We wanted to be part of the wider Hawke’s Bay business community,” Mark says. “That decision shaped everything that followed.”

By the time Covid arrived, Luscombe Legal had grown into a 10-person operation offering a broader range of legal services. Just before the pandemic, the firm made a strategic decision to narrow its focus exclusively to immigration.

“In hindsight, it could not have been better timed,” Mark says. “We became leaner, more efficient, and more focused, just as the immigration eco-system became incredibly complex.”

When borders closed, the firm pivoted quickly, supporting employers with border exceptions, managed isolation placements, and critical worker visas. Luscombe Legal worked closely with essential industries to keep operations running, often while policy settings were changing at pace.

“That period forced everyone to be resourceful,” Mark says. “Employers were under huge strain, and our role was to help them navigate a system that was shifting almost weekly.”

A defining feature of the firm’s approach is its commitment to fixed-fee, transactional pricing rather than traditional hourly billing. For employers already facing operational uncertainty, clarity matters.

“We don’t want clients afraid to pick up the phone,” Mark explains. “Our focus is on outcomes and value, not time sheets.”

Today, around 60 percent of Luscombe Legal’s work is with employers across sectors including engineering, forestry, manufacturing, horticulture, farming, hospitality, sport, and healthcare. Education plays a major role, particularly for migrant-owned businesses or employers unfamiliar with New Zealand’s regulatory expectations.

“We spend a lot of time helping employers understand what good compliance actually looks like,” Mark says. “That’s better for the business, better for migrants, and better for the system.”

Supporting Mark is a diverse team with backgrounds spanning industry training, employer engagement, and migrant support. That breadth allows the firm to develop tailored solutions when standard immigration pathways fall short, often considering training, family circumstances, and long-term settlement options alongside visa strategy.

That capability is becoming increasingly important as immigration policy continues to evolve. Changes to skilled migrant residence pathways, including greater emphasis on work experience and remuneration thresholds, are sharpening the need for early planning, particularly in the regions.

For Luscombe Legal, the response has been to think further ahead. The firm now supports a growing number of provincial businesses beyond Hawke’s Bay, including clients in the Bay of Plenty and Southland, across horticulture, forestry, and farming. To support that growth, the firm is planning to add one to two additional staff.

“We’re parochially provincial about our work,” Mark says. “Our clients face different realities to Auckland businesses, and our advice reflects that.

“Overstayers, exploited workers and foreign landowners may be click-bait, but we see little of it. We have some special migrant outcomes in the regions. Even kiwis returning home from overseas with new skills and wealth to invest may require visas for foreign partners and family.

People don’t think of that as immigration, but it is, and when done well it’s immensely satisfying. Charlotte’s team have become experts at reversing our region’s brain drain”.

That regional mindset is also evident in some of the firm’s more distinctive work. Earlier this year, Luscombe Legal organised visas for national shearing teams from France, South Africa, Wales, Scotland, and Mongolia, who have worked for Hawke’s Bay and Southland contractors in preparation for the Golden Shears World Championship in Masterton.

“It’s a great example of how immigration, done well, supports industry, skills, and events that matter to the regions,” Mark says, noting with a laugh that he had promised the current Welsh team captain he would wear their team shirt if he attended.

As the firm enters its third decade, Luscombe Legal is rolling out a refreshed brand, reflecting both its maturity and focus.

Two taglines sit at the heart of that evolution: “Immigration Done Well” and “In the regions, for the regions.”

Together, they capture the firm’s philosophy and purpose.

For Luscombe Legal, immigration is not simply about crossing borders. It is about securing skills, strengthening businesses, and supporting communities across regional New Zealand, one carefully considered decision at a time.

luscombelegal.co.nz

Meet the Team

• 15+ years practice (Auckland, Gisborne & HB)
• Born & raised in the other Bay. Leads to lively rugby related office banter about which is the “real Bay” – currently its Hawke’s Bay.
• Expertise – Family Unification (Parents, Partners & Children)
• Fun facts: Former BOP Basketball age-group rep.
• Juggling & conflict resolution. Mother of 4 school-age children. Enough said.
• Favourite cases: Partnerships. “We love love”.
• Favourite Movie: Love Actually, of course.

Rachel Robinson-Ledwith — Relationship Manager

• 5+ years working with employers.
• UK born. Experience in education & training with Primary ITO
• Expertise – Employer Compliance, Job Checks, Art Director.
• Fun facts: An insatiable fan of K-Pop & closet street artist (see office window)
• Super-power: Can recite large tracts of vintage UK comedy & deadly pub-quiz musicologist
• Favourite cases: Anything requiring staff upskilling or training plans
• Favourite Movie: Snatch.

Adela Hitchcock — Office Manager

• 13+ years organising 1200+ group visas p.a. for RSE Companies
• Czech born & raised. Marketing & Economics graduate (EU)
• Expertise – RSE Compliance & recruitment, spreadsheets.
• Fun fact: A homebrew master & tunnel house gardener
• Superpower: Languages & Sudoku
• Favourite cases: Anything needing an excel pivot table.
• Favourite Movie: A Beautiful Mind.

Isabella Symmans-Bosley — Case Assistant & Office Concierge

• 2+ years with Luscombe Legal. 3+ years in hospitality
• Kapiti Coast raised. Bachelor of Arts (Anthropology)
• Expertise – Family cases & document creation
• Fun fact: A passionate potter & weekend stall-owner (Lemon syrup & pottery)
• Superpower: Ability to decipher legal handwriting and create relationship montages
• Favourite cases: Like Charlotte, it’s partnership cases. “Yes. We do love love”
• Favourite Movie: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.