Partners and staff are given a paid working day to support a community group or project
Lane Neave is celebrating its 150th anniversary by giving its 150 partners and staff a way to give back to the community.
The national firm has given its people a paid day to support any community group or project of their choice. It has also committed to providing 150 pro bono hours to charities it already supports, including the Stroke Foundation, Fallen Heroes Foundation, and the Emergency Care Foundation.
Lane Neave was established in Christchurch in 1868 by John Holmes as Thomson & Holmes. The firm has grown to have a national network, with offices in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Queenstown.
“When Holmes first opened the doors of the small office in Christchurch, he would not have imagined it was the beginning of a long history that would extend into the 21st Century,” said Andrew Shaw, Lane Neave managing partner. “While Lane Neave shows little resemblance in terms of size and national spread, in essence the same core values that have underpinned our firm’s success remain the same.”
He said that the firm continues to be externally focused and not inwardly looking, working daily to help clients solve problems and realise opportunities. This does not need to change, he said.
“As we reflect on our legacy and that of John Holmes, and subsequently Beauchamp Lane and Kenelm Neave, across a period that includes great depressions, pandemics, world wars, financial crises and natural disasters, it is with great pride that I speak on behalf a prosperous and growing national firm that is tightly woven into the fabric of New Zealand,” Shaw said. “Our, rather fittingly, 150 partners and staff remain as committed today as we were in 1868 to individuals and families, and more latterly corporates and multi-nationals, to who we have the pleasure of providing quality legal services.”
Shaw, who said 150 years is an impressive milestone, said that Lane Neave believes that helping enhance the communities in which its people work is the right way to celebrate.
Later this year, the firm will publish on the Internet a detailed history of the firm documented by John England, a retired partner.
