The Making of Russell McVeagh: The First 125 Years of the Practice of Russell McVeagh McKenzie Bartlett & Co., 1863-1988 by R.C.J. Stone, Signed

"Lawyers in nineteenth-century New Zealand were considerable men of affairs. They were disproportionately represented in both the General Assembly and ministries of government. In business affairs they were indispensable. They acted as facilitators of business, not only in their dual capacity as barristers and solicitors, but also by providing services that today are generally handled by accountants, bankers and other professionals.

Russell McVeagh McKenzie Bartleet & Co. had its beginnings in 1863 as a one-man Auckland practice. Today it has, in its Auckland and Wellington offices, a staff of 431 men and women, of whom forty-eight are partners. From small beginnings it has become a pre-eminent national law firm.

In tracing the growth and changing character of Russell McVeagh, Russell Stone has not confined himself to the particularity of that practice. He has placed the firm in the more general setting of the legal profession as a whole; and he has shown its evolution as it responded to the changing demands of business in New Zealand and especially in Auckland, which had become, in the later twentieth century, the chief centre of commerce and industry in the country.

The Making of Russell McVeagh is written with an attractive attention to detail and a sense of colour and drama. The thoroughness of Professor Stone's research, his scholarly approach and his elegant style make this a landmark book."

Hardback, 1991, 372pages, very good condition