Law firms Buddle Findlay and Duncan Cotterill have continued to work through the latest round of earthquakes in Christchurch, despite the ongoing damage to the city.

Both firms were forced to evacuate their offices in the Clarendon Tower when a severe earthquake measuring 6.3 hit the city on February 22 and have been working out of temporary or semi permanent offices since then.

Officials from the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Authority (Cera) have advised that the 17-storey Clarendon Tower must be demolished. However, it is not yet clear whether the firms will be able to return to the building beforehand to retrieve items, said Buddle Findlay chairman of partners Christchurch, John Buchan. Some office building tenants have resorted to hiring cranes in order to retrieve valuable files according to local media reports.

The firm is in the process of relocating to a newer building in the CBD, after several months of working out of a smaller office in the suburbs. “We are still very much committed to the CBD,” said Buchan. “But we realise it will take time to rise again. There are still a lot of buildings in need of repair.” The firm has plans to move into a new building under construction in the future.

Duncan Cotterill CEO Janice Fredric said the firm and its staff were feeling very different following the two latest quakes as they were able to continue working immediately afterwards. “Normally we would have had to tell staff to stay at home or work from a remote location while we assessed the damage,” Frederic told ALB.  “This is the first time we have been able to stay in the office. It has brought a nice sense of stability to the staff and clients.” Fredric says the firm’s plan is also to ultimately return to the CBD. 

See the latest issue of ALB for more in-depth analysis on the New Zealand legal market. 

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