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What a difference a few months makes to
everyone’s view of the world. There was a great deal of optimism in the
Waikato and amongst clients in late 2007. That optimism flowed largely
from the prediction of a high dairy payout, which did eventuate, but
has been tempered by a serious one-in-a-hundred year drought. Even if
the drought did have a significant impact on dairy production, it
appears anecdotally that farmers will receive around the same income as
the previous season. The drought did have a silver lining, delivering a
very good summer, cheering everyone up as they faced higher interest
rates and a stratospheric exchange rate that is gnawing away at
exporter’s incomes.
As with all businesses, in our practice we continue to look
forward. In Hamilton we have consolidated the practices of Ryan Law and
Betty Bethune. Judy Putt continues to do an excellent job managing the
office under Matt Hanna’s guidance. Betty Bethune has now retired and
moved to Tairua. Jessie Yang, a solicitor in our Hamilton office, will
for the next few months be overseas carrying out research for her PhD.
In Cambridge Simon Makgill continues to diligently work for
his clients. Matt Hanna has been engaged by Talkingtech Limited with
offices in Auckland, Sydney and London to provide business and legal
advice. Matt also advises Startup, which operates from the Auckland
Icehouse Incubator and provides media and television promotion to start
up businesses. Lisa Ware over the past year has been heavily involved
in the registration of retirement villages under the Retirement Villages
Act. She also continues to grow her commercial practice with several
recent sales and purchases of larger businesses.
Lesley Nielsen
continues her studies with Massey University and has qualified for the
University’s Dean’s List for 2007.
We have also assisted the New Zealand Organic Dairy Farmers
Co-operative with its purchase of a dairy plant site and the development
of the cheese plant in Okato, Taranaki. The location is the original
Okato Cheese Factory site and it is great to be involved in a positive
project benefiting that local community and the dairy sector as a whole.
We continue to enjoy the support of a very wide range of
clients and their interests and we are also realistic, as you will be,
about the current breather in the hectic traffic of the past five years.
Pandemonium will again break out, it always does. We are very grateful
for the personal relationships we have with our clients and we look
forward to a continued improvement in the economy, later this year, as
we are sure you do.
If you would like us to contact you about a particular issue you
need help with please
click here and we will give you a call.
Best regards
The Team at Lewis'
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refer to our
disclaimer.
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