WCM LEGAL : ABOUT US
WCM LEGAL handles a full range of legal requirements for clients in Wairarapa,
Wellington
and beyond, with offices in Carterton, Greytown and Featherston.
Between the three offices its partners and solicitors assist clients in buying and selling houses, farms and businesses; setting up trusts, wills and estates; asset planning; resource management; commercial work; family matters; local government issues; criminal matters; civil litigation; dispute resolution; mediation; employment; and more. Where specialist advice is required, the firm has established contacts in all areas of the law and other relevant professions.
We currently have three partners, one consultant, two associates,
three staff solicitors and a full complement of administration
and support staff covering all our offices. Learn more about
our
people.
The firm now called WCM LEGAL is the amalgamation of three firms. In 1981 Major Gooding & Wollerman in Carterton and Thompson Tate Cullinane & Cooke in Greytown merged their practices and also took over the practice of HW Banks in Featherston, to become Wollerman Cooke & McClure. It was renamed WCM LEGAL in December 2006.
The Greytown office is the oldest, and can trace its links back to W.G. Beard who set up in Greytown in 1874 and then sold the practice to Colonel RW Tate in 1886. In the firm’s early days Mr Tate acted for the Small Farms Association, the Greytown Trust Lands Trust and many early settler families whose descendants have used the firm as their lawyers since its beginning and continue to do so.
The Greytown office has been classed a
Heritage
Building
and bears a plaque reading as follows:
"The age of this building is unknown, but it belonged to a Mrs Webster in 1881 and was the office of A. Webster, Commission Agent. Webster became Town Clerk in 1881. The building became the Borough Council Chambers in 1882 until the council moved to the Wairarapa Institute building in 1891. Mrs. Webster sold the building to R.W. Tate, who bought the practice in 1886 from W.G. Beard, who moved to Masterton. Beard was regarded as the founder of the present firm occupying the building, which has been continually in use as a legal office to the present day."
The Carterton office traces its roots back to the 1890s and the practice of Hart Tucker and Daniell, continuing as a branch office of a Masterton practice until 1955 when Ian Wollerman took up the position of resident partner; he retired in 1997 and is now living in Melbourne. In December 2006 the office moved into the totally refurbished former Wairarapa Electric Power Board building in
Memorial Square
. WCM LEGAL is pleased to have been involved in the restoration of this magnificent
Heritage
Building
.
