Hi all,
Another agenda item, and some background information (a report to the meeting!)
Sally McMillan, the principal of McMillan & Co, the law firm who have acted for us and in which Helen Davidson used to practise, rang me during the week.
She confirmed that Helen has left the firm, after some difficulties including a conviction. She wanted to assure us that we remain a valued client of McMillan & Co, if we wish to continue using them as our lawyers. Simon Milne, the partner who does a lot of conveyancing, and Katherine Neville-Lamb, a solicitor, have both worked extensively with Helen and are familiar with our files and our project.
So far as Sally knows, Helen is now practising with Anja Klinkert, a sole-person practice in Hope Street. Sally is not aware that there is any administrative or secretarial support there.
Looking to the future, there is a lot of legal work that lies ahead of us at the end of the build, when it comes to unit-titling and the completion of the purchase process. Sally believes that this will require a large amount of administrative support as well as lawyers who know what we have done and what we are wanting to achieve. She believes that McMillan and Co are well-equipped to provide what we need and would be delighted to continue to work with us.
I told Sally that I would convey all this to UCOL when we next met. I also said that I thought that someone from the budget control group will need to to sit down with McMillan & Co to discuss with them the budget we have set for the remaining legal work on the project and whether it is realistic - I don't want to discover as we come to settle that our legal expenses blow the budget (and the purchase price) out of the water. She encouraged such a discussion.
See you tomorrow night, Anne
Hi all,
Further to Anne’s email below, I have been talking to Helen directly, who is now extremely happy to be working with Anja Klinkert and will soon become partner in the practice. She remains committed to the Cohousing project and has already given many hours pro bono to it. Helen is in the process of hiring a good legal executive to get the administrative and clerical assistance she needs and which was not given to her at McMillan and Co and ironically was one of the main reasons for her leaving.
The next major amount of work will not be for some time and will involve a large amount of work for the unit titling. We will have time to discuss and weigh our options and gather more information, should we need it.
Catherine
On 13/03/2019, at 1:15 PM, Anne Thomson e.anne.thomson@gmail.com wrote:
Hi all,
Another agenda item, and some background information (a report to the meeting!)
Sally McMillan, the principal of McMillan & Co, the law firm who have acted for us and in which Helen Davidson used to practise, rang me during the week.
She confirmed that Helen has left the firm, after some difficulties including a conviction. She wanted to assure us that we remain a valued client of McMillan & Co, if we wish to continue using them as our lawyers. Simon Milne, the partner who does a lot of conveyancing, and Katherine Neville-Lamb, a solicitor, have both worked extensively with Helen and are familiar with our files and our project.
So far as Sally knows, Helen is now practising with Anja Klinkert, a sole-person practice in Hope Street. Sally is not aware that there is any administrative or secretarial support there.
Looking to the future, there is a lot of legal work that lies ahead of us at the end of the build, when it comes to unit-titling and the completion of the purchase process. Sally believes that this will require a large amount of administrative support as well as lawyers who know what we have done and what we are wanting to achieve. She believes that McMillan and Co are well-equipped to provide what we need and would be delighted to continue to work with us.
I told Sally that I would convey all this to UCOL when we next met. I also said that I thought that someone from the budget control group will need to to sit down with McMillan & Co to discuss with them the budget we have set for the remaining legal work on the project and whether it is realistic - I don't want to discover as we come to settle that our legal expenses blow the budget (and the purchase price) out of the water. She encouraged such a discussion.
See you tomorrow night, Anne _______________________________________________ Ucol-shareholders mailing list Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders
Would like to clarify, our understanding of helen’s conviction is that it was for drink driving. Not fraud or murder or anything like that. if it had been our thoughts on continuing to use helen would need to take that into consideration so can someone please confirm? Thanks roz
From: Ucol-shareholders ucol-shareholders-bounces@list.king.net.nz On Behalf Of Catherine Spencer via Ucol-shareholders Sent: Wednesday, 13 March 2019 2:43 p.m. To: Anne Thomson e.anne.thomson@gmail.com Cc: UCOL shareholders ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz Subject: Re: [Ucol-shareholders] Information regarding our lawyers
Hi all,
Further to Anne’s email below, I have been talking to Helen directly, who is now extremely happy to be working with Anja Klinkert and will soon become partner in the practice. She remains committed to the Cohousing project and has already given many hours pro bono to it. Helen is in the process of hiring a good legal executive to get the administrative and clerical assistance she needs and which was not given to her at McMillan and Co and ironically was one of the main reasons for her leaving.
The next major amount of work will not be for some time and will involve a large amount of work for the unit titling. We will have time to discuss and weigh our options and gather more information, should we need it.
Catherine
On 13/03/2019, at 1:15 PM, Anne Thomson <e.anne.thomson@gmail.com mailto:e.anne.thomson@gmail.com > wrote:
Hi all,
Another agenda item, and some background information (a report to the meeting!)
Sally McMillan, the principal of McMillan & Co, the law firm who have acted for us and in which Helen Davidson used to practise, rang me during the week.
She confirmed that Helen has left the firm, after some difficulties including a conviction. She wanted to assure us that we remain a valued client of McMillan & Co, if we wish to continue using them as our lawyers. Simon Milne, the partner who does a lot of conveyancing, and Katherine Neville-Lamb, a solicitor, have both worked extensively with Helen and are familiar with our files and our project.
So far as Sally knows, Helen is now practising with Anja Klinkert, a sole-person practice in Hope Street. Sally is not aware that there is any administrative or secretarial support there.
Looking to the future, there is a lot of legal work that lies ahead of us at the end of the build, when it comes to unit-titling and the completion of the purchase process. Sally believes that this will require a large amount of administrative support as well as lawyers who know what we have done and what we are wanting to achieve. She believes that McMillan and Co are well-equipped to provide what we need and would be delighted to continue to work with us.
I told Sally that I would convey all this to UCOL when we next met. I also said that I thought that someone from the budget control group will need to to sit down with McMillan & Co to discuss with them the budget we have set for the remaining legal work on the project and whether it is realistic - I don't want to discover as we come to settle that our legal expenses blow the budget (and the purchase price) out of the water. She encouraged such a discussion.
See you tomorrow night,
Anne
_______________________________________________ Ucol-shareholders mailing list Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz mailto:Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders
Yes, indeed, her conviction was drink driving. C.
On 13/03/2019, at 2:48 PM, michael.rosemary@xtra.co.nz michael.rosemary@xtra.co.nz wrote:
Would like to clarify, our understanding of helen’s conviction is that it was for drink driving. Not fraud or murder or anything like that. if it had been our thoughts on continuing to use helen would need to take that into consideration so can someone please confirm? Thanks roz
From: Ucol-shareholders <ucol-shareholders-bounces@list.king.net.nz mailto:ucol-shareholders-bounces@list.king.net.nz> On Behalf Of Catherine Spencer via Ucol-shareholders Sent: Wednesday, 13 March 2019 2:43 p.m. To: Anne Thomson <e.anne.thomson@gmail.com mailto:e.anne.thomson@gmail.com> Cc: UCOL shareholders <ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz mailto:ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz> Subject: Re: [Ucol-shareholders] Information regarding our lawyers
Hi all,
Further to Anne’s email below, I have been talking to Helen directly, who is now extremely happy to be working with Anja Klinkert and will soon become partner in the practice. She remains committed to the Cohousing project and has already given many hours pro bono to it. Helen is in the process of hiring a good legal executive to get the administrative and clerical assistance she needs and which was not given to her at McMillan and Co and ironically was one of the main reasons for her leaving.
The next major amount of work will not be for some time and will involve a large amount of work for the unit titling. We will have time to discuss and weigh our options and gather more information, should we need it.
Catherine
On 13/03/2019, at 1:15 PM, Anne Thomson <e.anne.thomson@gmail.com mailto:e.anne.thomson@gmail.com> wrote:
Hi all,
Another agenda item, and some background information (a report to the meeting!)
Sally McMillan, the principal of McMillan & Co, the law firm who have acted for us and in which Helen Davidson used to practise, rang me during the week.
She confirmed that Helen has left the firm, after some difficulties including a conviction. She wanted to assure us that we remain a valued client of McMillan & Co, if we wish to continue using them as our lawyers. Simon Milne, the partner who does a lot of conveyancing, and Katherine Neville-Lamb, a solicitor, have both worked extensively with Helen and are familiar with our files and our project.
So far as Sally knows, Helen is now practising with Anja Klinkert, a sole-person practice in Hope Street. Sally is not aware that there is any administrative or secretarial support there.
Looking to the future, there is a lot of legal work that lies ahead of us at the end of the build, when it comes to unit-titling and the completion of the purchase process. Sally believes that this will require a large amount of administrative support as well as lawyers who know what we have done and what we are wanting to achieve. She believes that McMillan and Co are well-equipped to provide what we need and would be delighted to continue to work with us.
I told Sally that I would convey all this to UCOL when we next met. I also said that I thought that someone from the budget control group will need to to sit down with McMillan & Co to discuss with them the budget we have set for the remaining legal work on the project and whether it is realistic - I don't want to discover as we come to settle that our legal expenses blow the budget (and the purchase price) out of the water. She encouraged such a discussion.
See you tomorrow night, Anne _______________________________________________ Ucol-shareholders mailing list Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz mailto:Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders
<Untitled attachment 00625.txt>_______________________________________________ Ucol-shareholders mailing list Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz mailto:Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders
Please accept my apologies for tonight's meeting, as I'm out of town for another few days so can't attend.
Regarding Helen's position I think there are two important aspects:
1. Helen has given us a lot of non-charged support until now, and in my opinion we should favour her for future legal work for that reason.
2. Helen is not a specialist in conveyancing or unit title developments. I understand conveyancing is bread and butter work for many law firms. There are likely firms in Dunedin who emphasize their conveyancing business, but it's unlikely there are Dunedin firms with a great deal of expertise with unit title development. But there may be some and it may be worth doing a search. e.g. I'm aware Farry & Co have branches in Auckland and Dunedin.
It may be that Helen's difficulties with Polson & Co included issues around how she dealt with us (e.g. giving us so much free time).
It may be that Helen has underestimated what work is required because she is unfamiliar with the area. It may be that we get charged more for legal work recently because of this. We got feedback from Kiwibank that things that seemed to be pedantic to us were just seen as part of the normal process to them.
I am of the opinion on balance that we should switch firms and go with Helen because I value loyalty highly. But it makes sense to also have a look around.
Thanks, Alex
On 13/03/19 1:15 PM, Anne Thomson wrote:
Hi all,
Another agenda item, and some background information (a report to the meeting!)
Sally McMillan, the principal of McMillan & Co, the law firm who have acted for us and in which Helen Davidson used to practise, rang me during the week.
She confirmed that Helen has left the firm, after some difficulties including a conviction. She wanted to assure us that we remain a valued client of McMillan & Co, if we wish to continue using them as our lawyers. Simon Milne, the partner who does a lot of conveyancing, and Katherine Neville-Lamb, a solicitor, have both worked extensively with Helen and are familiar with our files and our project.
So far as Sally knows, Helen is now practising with Anja Klinkert, a sole-person practice in Hope Street. Sally is not aware that there is any administrative or secretarial support there.
Looking to the future, there is a lot of legal work that lies ahead of us at the end of the build, when it comes to unit-titling and the completion of the purchase process. Sally believes that this will require a large amount of administrative support as well as lawyers who know what we have done and what we are wanting to achieve. She believes that McMillan and Co are well-equipped to provide what we need and would be delighted to continue to work with us.
I told Sally that I would convey all this to UCOL when we next met. I also said that I thought that someone from the budget control group will need to to sit down with McMillan & Co to discuss with them the budget we have set for the remaining legal work on the project and whether it is realistic - I don't want to discover as we come to settle that our legal expenses blow the budget (and the purchase price) out of the water. She encouraged such a discussion.
See you tomorrow night, Anne
Ucol-shareholders mailing list Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders
Hi all
I think we need to be very careful here with continuing with Helen.
I would like us to get quotes from both firms (or more) & discuss with them each what they can offer. While I agree with most of what Alex has said I still have some concerns with continuing with Helen. I am not here for the meeting tonight but strongly urge us waiting to make the decision until we have full information from both (or more) parties.
Susan
On 14/03/2019, at 1:11 PM, Alex King via Ucol-shareholders ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz wrote:
Please accept my apologies for tonight's meeting, as I'm out of town for another few days so can't attend.
Regarding Helen's position I think there are two important aspects:
Helen has given us a lot of non-charged support until now, and in my opinion we should favour her for future legal work for that reason.
Helen is not a specialist in conveyancing or unit title developments. I understand conveyancing is bread and butter work for many law firms. There are likely firms in Dunedin who emphasize their conveyancing business, but it's unlikely there are Dunedin firms with a great deal of expertise with unit title development. But there may be some and it may be worth doing a search. e.g. I'm aware Farry & Co have branches in Auckland and Dunedin.
It may be that Helen's difficulties with Polson & Co included issues around how she dealt with us (e.g. giving us so much free time).
It may be that Helen has underestimated what work is required because she is unfamiliar with the area. It may be that we get charged more for legal work recently because of this. We got feedback from Kiwibank that things that seemed to be pedantic to us were just seen as part of the normal process to them.
I am of the opinion on balance that we should switch firms and go with Helen because I value loyalty highly. But it makes sense to also have a look around.
Thanks, Alex
On 13/03/19 1:15 PM, Anne Thomson wrote: Hi all,
Another agenda item, and some background information (a report to the meeting!)
Sally McMillan, the principal of McMillan & Co, the law firm who have acted for us and in which Helen Davidson used to practise, rang me during the week.
She confirmed that Helen has left the firm, after some difficulties including a conviction. She wanted to assure us that we remain a valued client of McMillan & Co, if we wish to continue using them as our lawyers. Simon Milne, the partner who does a lot of conveyancing, and Katherine Neville-Lamb, a solicitor, have both worked extensively with Helen and are familiar with our files and our project.
So far as Sally knows, Helen is now practising with Anja Klinkert, a sole-person practice in Hope Street. Sally is not aware that there is any administrative or secretarial support there.
Looking to the future, there is a lot of legal work that lies ahead of us at the end of the build, when it comes to unit-titling and the completion of the purchase process. Sally believes that this will require a large amount of administrative support as well as lawyers who know what we have done and what we are wanting to achieve. She believes that McMillan and Co are well-equipped to provide what we need and would be delighted to continue to work with us.
I told Sally that I would convey all this to UCOL when we next met. I also said that I thought that someone from the budget control group will need to to sit down with McMillan & Co to discuss with them the budget we have set for the remaining legal work on the project and whether it is realistic - I don't want to discover as we come to settle that our legal expenses blow the budget (and the purchase price) out of the water. She encouraged such a discussion.
See you tomorrow night, Anne
Ucol-shareholders mailing list Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders
Ucol-shareholders mailing list Ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz https://list.king.net.nz/listinfo/ucol-shareholders
ucol-shareholders@list.king.net.nz
-
Alex King -
Anne Thomson -
Catherine Spencer -
michael.rosemary＠xtra.co.nz -
Susan Jack