South Island firm Duncan Cotterill is on the search for new premises following damage to its offices in Christchurch’s Clarendon Tower – but high rise buildings are off the agenda. “We are  looking at low rise buildings,” said CEO Janice Fredric. However, she added that the availability of suitable premises was proving to be a challenge. “The search for premises has been brutal,” she said. “Everything that is undamaged is going quickly.”

Currently the firm has staff working out of partner homes and their own homes. Senior management are currently working out of the Commodore Hotel and expect to be there the whole week. “We all know that this quake is so much worse than the September quake – and our response to it is totally different,” said Fredric. “This is going to be a long slow jog, rather than a race.”

Fredic said that partners at the firm had decided against returning to Clarendon Tower; many of the company's staff were trapped in the building for hours following the quake because the emergency stairwell had collapsed. “We made the decision we would not be asking our staff to go back to Clarendon Tower because it would not be fair,” she told ALB.

The firm will be holding a picnic on Tuesday (March 1) where staff can all come together for the first time since the event and hold a two minute silence with the rest of the nation at the time the quake struck (12.51pm NZ time).

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Christchurch firms taking stock after quake 23 February 2011 

Christchurch law firms rocked by earthquake 23 February 2011