The Splendour & Sustainability of Chapman Tripp – Who Said The Law Office Was Dead?

Chapman Tripp’s new digs in the Commercial Bay development spare little expense, as befits one of the country’s leading law firms who have made 2020 a year to remember (pandemic excepted).

The firm, which undertook a mid-year ‘brand refresh’ will undoubtedly be establishing in tangible fashion far more than prestige, class and an appropriate level of expectation-setting for clients, but must also be using the bluestone rocks and African wenge wood (which is a large tree growing up to 90 feet and grown in swampy areas in Zaire, Cameroon and Gabon ) to solidify the “sustainabilty efforts” that accompanied the visual refresh it went through this year.

As well as “moving away from unnecessary printing and waste”, as they announced at the time. After all, bluestone rock and wenge wood display a certain affinity for the environment, even though the wenge wood is listed as endangered due to a population reduction of over 50 per cent in the past three generations, according to the Wood Database.

But in the era of COVID and cost-cutting the multimillion fit out, featured behind the NZ Herald’s paywall, also took a little sharp sniping from others.

LawTech entrepreneur Gene Turner noted the run on the top-end accoutrements that the fit out required –

While follow LawTech barrister Steve Keal noted the office setup was a little last century –

The much-delayed Commercial Bay development, owned by Precinct Properties, saw tenants moving in mid-year. Apart from Chapman Tripp, who occupy three levels in the building, MinterEllisonRuddWatts and DLA Piper, are also in the building, billed as the tallest (and therefore the most prestigious) commercial building in the country.