Layburn Hodgins Barristers & Solicitors is a Christchurch law firm operating under the tagline "We Do Law Differently," with a large team spanning directors, senior associates, associates, solicitors, legal executives, and support staff. The firm is led by directors Daniel Quirk, John Abbott, Susie Tait and Trevor Quirk, supported by a broad team of senior associates, solicitors, trusts and estate administrators, and a practice manager.
Layburn Hodgins describes its approach as building genuine connections with clients — getting to know not just the legal matter at hand, but the client's family and business as a whole. The firm's promise is to be client focused, provide value for money, and do a great job, positioning itself as a firm clients can rely on for the full range of their legal needs rather than needing to look elsewhere.
The firm covers a broad range of practice areas, from commercial and business law and property transactions through to family law, wills, estates, family trusts, elder law, immigration visas, employment law, and subdivisions — giving clients a single firm to turn to across most stages of life and business.
Layburn Hodgins Barristers & Solicitors operates under a straightforward promise: to be client focused, provide value for money, and do a great job. Based in Christchurch's CBD, the firm describes its philosophy as doing law differently, built around genuine connections with clients rather than transactional legal work.
The firm is led by directors Daniel Quirk, John Abbott, Susie Tait and Trevor Quirk, supported by a substantial team of senior associates, associates, solicitors, and specialist support staff including a Legal Executive & Conveyancing Practitioner, Trusts Administrator, Estate Administrator, and Practice Manager. Layburn Hodgins frames this breadth of expertise as its core strength, describing itself as "the only lawyers you will ever need" — a firm clients can turn to across the full arc of their personal and business legal needs.
Rather than treating each matter as an isolated transaction, Layburn Hodgins emphasises getting to know a client's family and business alongside the legal issue at hand. This philosophy plays out most clearly in areas like family trusts and elder law, where the firm frames its advice around understanding how to protect a client's assets, family and business together, rather than addressing each in isolation.
Layburn Hodgins' practice areas span both personal and commercial legal needs. On the commercial side, the firm offers guidance on contracts and corporate governance, alongside dedicated support for property transactions — whether a client is a first home buyer or an experienced investor buying, selling or leasing residential or commercial space. Subdivisions are handled with step-by-step guidance, including recommendations for complementary professionals like planners and surveyors.
On the personal side, the firm's family law team handles separation, dissolution, care of children, child support and relationship property settlements — areas the firm acknowledges carry high stakes for clients. Employment lawyers support clients through redundancy processes and represent them at the Employment Relations Authority, aiming to keep things pragmatic and move matters along as quickly as possible. Immigration lawyers help clients navigate a visa process the firm describes as tricky, with rules that are constantly changing.
Layburn Hodgins places particular emphasis on legacy planning, encouraging clients to prepare for later years rather than leave things to chance. This includes advice on structuring and protecting assets, transitioning from a family home to a retirement unit, and appointing an attorney so a trusted person can step in if a client becomes unable to make decisions themselves. Wills and estate administration follow naturally from this — the firm helps clients document their after-death wishes and, when the time comes, supports families through winding up a loved one's financial affairs sensitively and pragmatically.
Layburn Hodgins is located at Level 1, 205 Durham Street South, Christchurch, Canterbury 8011. Free parking is available under the building in marked spaces for visitors. The firm can be reached by phone or email, and offers an online payment option for clients settling invoices.