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Our History
We've come a long way. From a progressive firm in 1920's Wellington to a leading firm today.
In the early 1920s the forerunners of the legal firms of Smyth Johnston & Stevens and O & R Beere & Riddiford were practising at opposite ends of Wellington.
The firm that became Smyth Johnston & Stevens was practising in Courtenay Place, and was the first business customer of the new Courtenay Place branch of the Bank of New South Wales, now Westpac. The firm had a wide range of commercial and personal clients, including many of the Chinese market gardeners who conducted their business daily in the adjoining fruit and vegetable markets. At the other end of town in Lambton Quay, O & R Beere & Riddiford was a firm with strong connections to the Wairarapa and to Māori landowning interests. The firm had branch offices right through to Otorohanga, with the late Rawdon Beere travelling through on the overnight train to Auckland and stopping off for a day or more in each locality. The connections with the Wairarapa and with Māori landowning interests continue today.
In 1970 the two firms merged to form Riddiford Smyth Johnston Stevens, of which former director now special counsel John Stevens was a partner. The firm practiced on The Terrace until 1988 when it merged with Lawrence Elder & Co. The new firm then became established in Wool House on the Wellington waterfront. Johnston Lawrence has continued its involvement with the specialist land work undertaken in earlier days, including acting for Maori Trusts and the real estate agency industry.
The firm of Lawrence Elder & Co had emerged from Lawrence Brill & Co which Ian Lawrence, a long-time partner and now consultant, formed when he left the firm of Sladden Stuart Joseph & Lawrence in 1966. The firm has always had a strong connection with property development and investments. Ian served as Mayor of Wellington, was a long standing member of the Wellington City and Regional Councils, and more recently he has served as Chairman of the Local Government Commission. Ian has had a specialist involvement in local government planning and resource management issues, which the firm maintains through its current crop of legal professionals.
In 1990 litigation partner Roger Chapman joined the firm. Roger became well known for his work in the area of group claims in the medical and personal injury area of litigation, and was regularly engaged as a mediator by other parties / lawyers.
Richard Perry, who leads our commercial property team, joined the firm in 1993. Richard chaired the Wellington District Law Society’s Property Law Committee for a number of years and is involved with a number of community organisations which depend on his commercial advice and business experience.
The firm incorporated in 2009, when that option became available to law firms under the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act 2009. Since that time the firm has been joined by three new directors in Peter Barrett, Nicholas Burley and Phil Shannon.
Our new directors have a collective 50 plus years of experience in legal practice and with Richard Perry and the rest of the team are planning to take the company beyond the 100 year milestone and into its second century of providing quality legal services to the Wellington private client, business and government sectors.
“They are very professional, approachable and have integrity.”