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About Us

WHERE IT BEGAN: OUR RURAL ROOTS

Our rural roots have always been in serving provincial areas. It began in 1935, with what was described at the time as a ‘very distinguished’ Buller practice founded by Michael Scully. It evolved through various partnerships with highly respected lawyers who went on to become Senior Magistrates and District Court Judges (Scully & Sullivan and DJ Sullivan & Smith).

David Orchard ran the Westport law firm for four decades from 1966. Bravely in 2001, during a regional downturn, David opened the Nelson law office (Stoke). In 2007, Lee James (previously Stevens) took over the management of the Nelson and Westport law offices, and in 2012, the firm was incorporated as Stevens Orchard Lawyers Limited. Margot Harkness and Jane Duncan joined Lee as Co-Directors. Driven by the same community values and desire to do good – all are highly experienced lawyers with a reputation for being tenacious in support of their clients. Meet all Stevens Orchard, Westport and Nelson lawyers, solicitors, registered legal executives and support staff here.

WHERE IT’S HEADING: FIRST CHOICE

We are proud of how our provincial law firm has grown from a small local Westport law firm to providing legal services to the wider regions of Nelson, Tasman, Marlborough, and the West Coast. We are active members of Law Alliance New Zealand. We will remain provincial in our provision of legal services as it allows us to specialise and be hands-on “involved” in the way we know works best for people. We have developed a structure that allows us to be more agile and responsive to clients’ legal needs, and run our practice as a caring efficient business. This means clients can enjoy senior lawyer attention for good fair value. Our specialist legal areas are Rural Law, Property Law and Commercial Law – and we offer the full range of legal services in Asset Protection and Planning, Civil Dispute and Family Law.

GENUINE CARE: THE CORE OF OUR APPROACH

Best outcomes are our focus and empathy is our point of difference. We are smart professional lawyers who genuinely care for our clients – offering excellent advice and rock solid support.

Let us do the worrying. That is what we are here for: to make it easy and get it sorted.

LEE JAMES

TESTIMONIALS

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