By Melissa Higham - 22 Dec 2021
Angus Rogers retires as a lawyer on 24 December this year
after working in legal offices for over 50 years. So much has
changed in that time.
He studied for law at a time when, from 2nd year
study onwards students worked part time, and he was admitted to the
bar in February 1972. After working in what were then considered
larger firms for a few years he joined a smaller firm as a partner
until that firm dissolved in 1990. He set up practice as a sole
practitioner in September 1990. A wide range of clients instructed
him. He was joined by another partner in 2007 and increasingly from
then on his work involved estate planning for a number of his
clients who had been successful in business. He dissolved that
partnership in 2014 to join as a partner the private client team at
Martelli McKegg. He has enjoyed his 7½ years at Martellis latterly
as a consultant, working in a bigger team with a number of bright
young lawyers at the start of their careers. He retires confident
that his clients are in good hands for the future.
He started law when there were no couriers, law clerks delivered
documents to other offices. Property searches were obtained
personally by clerks who copied details out of the folios at the
Land Transfer Office and took tracings of the plan drawings on
titles. Photocopiers were rare, wordprocessing did not exist, fax
had yet to be discovered and mobile phones were a thing of science
fiction. When he went out on his own in 1990 he got one of the
early mobile phones, a "brick" which made a big difference to him
being able to keep in touch with clients. Also at that time laptops
were just coming into their own and digital printers had just
started so there were new opportunities to operate from a small
office using the rapidly changing technology.
That change is not slowing and, at 73, he has decided there are
too few summers left for him to actively enjoy on Centaurus, his
bridge decker launch, and to spend more time with young
grandchildren who live in New York.