OUR HISTORY

PROUD OF OUR HERITAGE

The firm now called WCM Legal is the amalgamation of five firms. In 1981 Ian and Peter Wollerman of Major Gooding & Wollerman in Carterton, and Ed Cooke and Keith McClure of Thompson Tate Cullinane & Cooke in Greytown merged their practices, and also took over the practice of H W Banks in Featherston, to become Wollerman Cooke & McClure. It was renamed WCM Legal in December 2006.

In 2012 WCM Legal merged with Michael Bale and Kirsten Townsley, practising as Wilson & Co in Wellington. In 2016 Major Gooding & Partners, the Masterton "head office" of the former Major Gooding and Wollerman, merged with WCM Legal to bring that firm back to the WCM Legal family.

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 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. Sadly, he passed away in Melbourne, Australia early in 2015. 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.