The Firms History
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Davys Burton: A brief history ~ (1898 - today)
Rotorua's first resident lawyer appears to have been Frank Rhodes, who arrived in the area in 1898. He was elderly, and confined to a wheelchair, but continued to practice Law until 1915.
In 1908 Martin Heywood Hampson, at the age of 22 arrived to join Rhodes in partnership. He was an energetic and enterprising lawyer who became the best court lawyer in the district and a man to be feared if you were on the wrong side.
He was also to be feared if you were a passenger in his car, a Ford Tin Lizzie, one of the first in Rotorua, which he drove at dangerously high speeds.
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Martin Hampson was prominently associated with the Chamber of Commerce, which predated an elected Town Council. He took a keen interest in Maori concerns, and campaigned for the passage of the Rotorua Town Lands Act 1920, and stopped the Ngati Whakaue educational endowment money being diverted to the Auckland Education board. This led to the setting up of Rotorua's first Secondary School, so that local children no longer had to leave the district to gain a secondary education.
Martin Hampson set up practices in partnerships in other towns in the district to attract clients for the Court work that he loved. These towns included Morrinsville, Putaruru, Matamata and Auckland. He had been heavily involved in bringing the Railway to Rotorua, and now traveled backwards and forwards by train to Auckland. Leaving Rotorua on the Monday, he returned on Friday, having stopped off at each of his branch offices to appear in Court.
His interest in Maori concerns, and love of music led him to form the Rotorua Maori Choir. In 1929 he invited the Columbia Record Company of Sydney to record a concert in the Tunuhopu meeting house. The record became a best seller.
In 1909 Martin Hampson became town solicitor, later borough solicitor, and continued as this until 1937.
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J.D. Davys joined Martin Hampson in 1916, and at about this time Frank Rhodes retired from the firm. The new partnership called themselves Hampson and Davys and used this name until 1936. For a while in 1925 Alan Ford was partner of the firm, and later J.T. (Johnny) Burton became Managing Solicitor.
In 1927 J.T. Burton left the firm to go into partnership in Dunedin with Mr Trevor Henry (who was later to become a judge in the Supreme Court.) However this was during the depression years when times were hard, and eventually this partnership dissolved. J.T. Burton then returned to Rotorua and the firm of Hampson and Davys, in about 1928.
In 1936 the firm of Hampson and Davys was broken up, and J.D. Davys and J.T. Burton commenced practice together as Davys & Burton. The new practice set up in Fenton St, in a small but modern building which Jack Davys built on the south side of the BNZ.
J.D. as he was known to everyone, had several well-defined interests. He was chairman of the directors of Rotorua Newspapers Ltd from it's inaugural meeting, chairman of directors of the Rotorua New Picture and Theatre Company, and chairman of directors of Brent's Hotel Ltd in which he took a special interest. After each one of his regular world cruises Brent's would be redecorated according to the latest decor on the S.S. Mariposa.
Johnny Burton was an enthusiastic sportsman, a representative cricketer, played football for the Albion Club and represented the King Country as a half-back. Later he had a number of successes in championship Bowls, and was a keen golfer and chess player.
Johnny Burton was a quiet, well-liked and well-respected family lawyer, with a wide and deep knowledge of the Law. J.D. used to say that although he fired the bullets in his court cases, the bullets had been prepared by Johnny.
On the death of J.T. Burton in March 1955, his son T.R. (Ross) Burton joined the firm, having qualified as a solicitor in the same year. Ross became the District Council solicitor for some twenty years after the retirement of J.D. Davys as a partner.
In 1961 Vance Henderson became a partner, and the firm name was changed to Davys, Burton & Henderson. In 1973 they were joined by (now District Court Judge) Lindsay Moore who became the district's first Crown Solicitor. When Vance Henderson retired in 1992 the firm name reverted to Davys Burton.
Another partner, Pat Savage, succeeded Lindsay Moore as Crown Solicitor for Rotorua, and went on to become a Judge in the Maori Land Court. He was followed as Crown Solicitor by John McDonald, who has now also gone on to become a District Court Judge.
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The firm of Davys Burton has been a family firm in more ways than one. For many years Hilda Dawson, the sister of J.D.'s widow, Olive, worked as a secretary. For some years the well known and respected Claude Anaru had been employed as office manager and interpreter, and his daughter Ata, and Jill and Joan Burton (Ross' sisters) worked for the firm as secretaries. Sue Henderson, Vance Henderson's daughter also worked for the firm as a solicitor.
In 1955 the firm's staff including solicitors numbered just six. In 1998, Davys Burton had a staff of forty-one, including seven partners, seven staff solicitors, and four Legal Executives or Law Clerks. The growth of the firm has more than matched the growth of the Rotorua District. One staff member, Mrs Val Heikell, has been with the firm for over thirty years, as had the senior partner Mr Trevor Sando.
Currently, the partners are Richard Pryce, Jonothan Briscoe, Fraser Wood, and Gary O'Neale.
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