Main Street Legal is an established Upper Hutt law firm, originally founded in 1992 by John Gwilliam. The firm was incorporated in 2009 as John Gwilliam & Co Limited, with Fiona Butland becoming a Director and Partner in 2011, before the firm was renamed Main Street Legal in August 2013. Joseph Griffiths became a Director and Partner in 2020.
The firm offers a full general legal practice with particular strengths in litigation, trusts, family and criminal work, alongside business & commercial law, civil law, consumer law, employment law, estate & asset protection, property & conveyancing, traffic law, relationship property law, and appeals and judicial reviews. The team is currently made up of John Gwilliam, Joseph Griffiths, Selvi Gunawan, Greg Gimblett and Catherine Taylor, supported by additional legally qualified and support staff.
As part of its mission to keep legal services accessible to the local community, Main Street Legal runs a free weekly legal advice clinic on Wednesday afternoons from 12.30pm until 2pm, and also undertakes legal aid work. The firm has also confirmed that legal documents formerly held by Reg Newell on behalf of his clients are now safely in Main Street Legal's possession.
Main Street Legal traces its roots back to 1992, when John Gwilliam started his private practice in Upper Hutt after already practising in the area since 1986. The firm was incorporated in 2009 as John Gwilliam & Co Limited, with Fiona Butland joining as a Director and Partner in 2011, before the firm took on its current name, Main Street Legal, in August 2013. Joseph Griffiths became a Director and Partner in 2020, and the firm has steadily grown from a sole practice into a team with two Principals, additional legally qualified staff, and support staff.
Main Street Legal covers a wide spread of legal work: appeals and judicial reviews, business and commercial law, civil law, consumer law, criminal and traffic law, employment law, estate and asset protection, family law, property and conveyancing, traffic law, and relationship property law. The firm describes particular strengths in litigation, trusts, family and criminal work — areas that show up clearly in the specialisations of its senior lawyers.
John Gwilliam, Principal & Director, specialises in Criminal Law, Family Law and General Civil Law, and has taken cases to the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court, alongside experience in Trusts and Asset Protection. Before law, his career included a posting to Jakarta with the Diplomatic Service and work in the Law Reform Division at the then Department of Justice; he later served as President of the Upper Hutt Chamber of Commerce (1999-2001), and as a Councillor and Deputy Mayor of Upper Hutt City Council, retiring from those civic roles in 2019.
Joseph Griffiths, also Principal & Director, focuses on criminal and family litigation, particularly relationship property matters. He began practising in Auckland and Manukau, moved to the Hutt Valley in 2014, joined Main Street Legal in 2018, and was appointed Director in 2020, with extensive court experience including jury trials and appeals to the High Court and Court of Appeal.
Selvi Gunawan, Senior Lawyer, originally from Jakarta, graduated with a Bachelor of Law from Victoria University in 2010 after studying and working in Australia and South Korea. Her practice centres on family law, with particular focus on relationship property, family violence, and care of children matters. Greg Gimblett, Lawyer, helps clients with Criminal and Traffic Law and Employment Law, and Catherine Taylor rounds out the team.
As "your local lawyers," Main Street Legal's stated mission is to provide easy access to legal services for the local community. One concrete way they do this is through a free weekly legal advice clinic, held Wednesday afternoons from 12.30pm to 2pm, alongside undertaking legal aid work for eligible clients. The firm also notes that legal documents formerly held by Reg Newell on behalf of his clients are now safely in Main Street Legal's possession — anyone wanting to make changes, uplift documents, or confirm the firm holds their deeds is encouraged to get in touch.
Each lawyer at Main Street Legal has their own direct phone and email contact listed on their individual profile page, making it straightforward to reach the specific person handling — or best suited to — your matter.