KANNANGARA THOMSON - Key Persons
Providing support for both Kris Wooles and Anna Kannangara, Amanda has been with Kannangara Thomson since 2008, having previously worked for a Barrister in Christchurch before joining Bray Law.
Specialising in estate administration and the preparation of wills and enduring powers of attorneys, Amanda's vast experience in everything from family law (including domestic violence and parenting matters) through to criminal and civil litigation, and employment law, has proven to be a huge asset for Kannangara Thomson.
Angela began work in a law office in 1974 in Wellington as a legal secretary for a team of civil litigation lawyers. In 1978 she joined an international computer company and in the following seven years her work took her to Papua New Guinea, Australia and London as a training consultant implementing word processing and office systems and conducting class training for corporate clients, Councils and Government Departments until 1985.
On returning to New Zealand Angela assisted her husband in his sole legal practice and from 1993 to 2010 gained experience in legal trust accounting, family trusts, estates, wills & conveyancing. In June 2011 Angela joined Kannangara Thomson and continues to work in the areas of family trusts, wills, sales & purchases of business and real estate and has a special interest in subdivision work.
Anna is currently on extended leave
Admitted to the bar in 1988, Anna practiced in the area of Family, Civil and Criminal Litigation, working for a small-to-medium sized firm in Christchurch before heading overseas in 1991. After time spent working for a legal firm in Papua New Guinea, Anna travelled to the UK, and was admitted as a Solicitor of England and Wales in 1992. She later became an Advocate and Solicitor of Singapore, working there in the area of Property Law before returning to her hometown of Christchurch. where she has thrived working with a culturally diverse client base.
After a period living in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980's, Brent returned to New Zealand to finish the law degree he started in the early 1980's, graduating from Canterbury University with an LL.B in 1988. He was admitted to the bar in June 1989. After a long stint with another Christchurch firm, Brent joined Kannangara Thomson as a partner in April 2015. Having worked mainly in suburban offices he has a broad general practice with an extensive private client base.
Job Titles:
- Registered Legal Executive
Brigitte is currently on parental leave until July 2022
Brigitte has worked in the legal profession since 2009 starting out as a legal secretary. After successfully completing studies and graduating in 2013, Brigitte obtained her Legal Executive Diploma. She is experienced in residential conveyancing, commercial matters, trusts, estate administration, wills and enduring powers of attorneys. Brigitte also has experience in family law (including domestic violence and parenting matters), and employment law.
Brigitte works closely with Roger Bensley, and together they enjoy developing a close working relationship with their clients, giving easy-to-understand advice and providing effective and efficient service to their clients.
Job Titles:
- Associate / Registered Legal Executive
- Registered Legal Executive
Caroline is a Registered Legal Executive and a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives. Caroline moved to New Zealand from the UK in 2000 and is a New Zealand Citizen. With over 30 years legal experience in the UK, Hong Kong, and New Zealand, Caroline is an experienced liaison between clients and other lawyers within the firm and deals with external solicitors and institutions. Caroline's main area of expertise is in conveyancing and she handles residential sales and purchases. Caroline is also experienced in Wills, Enduring Powers of Attorney, and Occupation Right Agreements.
Carolyn has worked in the legal profession since 1987 starting out as a Legal Secretary completing her studies and graduating as a Legal Executive in 1995. Carolyn has moved away from her Legal Executive role to concentrate on the Trust Accounting and Office Management side of the industry.
Colette grew up in Malaysia and completed her schooling in Canada, before moving to Christchurch just in time for the February 2011 earthquake. She completed her Bachelor of Laws at the University of Canterbury and was admitted to the bar in March 2016. Subsequently, she worked at a boutique law firm before joining the Kannangara Thomson team in September 2017.
Colette works closely with Stephen Kannangara and Anna Kannangara, mainly in the areas of commercial, immigration and conveyancing. She speaks some Mandarin and Hokkien.
After leaving Invercargill, David spent his university years at Otago and then completed his post graduate work at Canterbury University.
David worked for a number of years in Education as a teacher, High School Counsellor and as a Deputy Principal and Acting Principal.
Since 2007 David worked as a Finance Manager specialising in home loan debt reduction.
Now semi-retired, David is enjoying working part time for Kannangara Thomson as Deeds Clerk.
David has coached and managed representative teams and enjoys most sports; particularly rugby, netball and motor racing.
David has family in Christchurch and Auckland and enjoys camping with his grandchildren each Christmas holidays.
Job Titles:
- Legal Assistant
- Legal Secretary
After working for 10 years in the Real Estate Industry as an Administrator and Franchise Owner it was time for a change and Jo has enjoyed the transition into law, working as Legal Secretary for Anna Kannangara, our Senior Associate.
Interests
Jo enjoys walking her dog, reading, travelling and spending time with friends and family.
Originally from Korea, John has lived in Papua New Guinea, Australia and the USA in addition to New Zealand and is fluent in both English and Korean. John was admitted to the bar in 2002 and specialises in commercial law involving a variety of commercial transactions including sale/purchase of businesses, leases, commercial property conveyancing, and all types of commercial contracts. John also does residential conveyancing on a daily basis as well as specialising in insurance law - he has successfully negotiated business/commercial insurance settlements with several insurance companies and has acted for clients in relation to the Crown acquisitions of CBD lands post the Christchurch earthquakes. Another area that John specialises in is Immigration Law and he has successfully appealed to the Residence Review Board and the Immigration and Protection Tribunal on innumerable occasions and handles many different types of residence and work visa applications. John believes in the importance of providing legally sound and yet pragmatic, cost-efficient legal solutions to clients and enjoys the most successful legal outcomes for clients.
Having previously worked in a major law firm in Christchurch, John joined Kannangara Thomson as a partner in 2009.
Julica was born and raised in Canterbury, graduated from the University of Canterbury in late 2007 and completed admission to the bar in February 2008. Since this time, Julica has worked for medium sized Canterbury firms and the Public Trust before joining Kannangara Thomson in September 2019.
Julica supports Brent Selwyn, a Partner of the firm with conveyancing, commercial and business matters together with asset planning advice. She is passionate about practical advice to empower people to make decisions having regard to their legal obligations.
Kirsten has had over 20 years experience in the legal industry having worked for various Christchurch law firms. She is responsible for assisting clients with their trust management including trust reviews, governance and compliance and ongoing relationship management.
Commencing his involvement in the legal profession in 1972, Kris was admitted as a lawyer in 1974, becoming a Partner at Roy Twyneham & Son three years later. When that company merged with T D Harman & Sons (now Harmans) in 1980 Kris remained a Partner, acting as Managing Partner for 12 years before stepping in to a consultancy role in 1997.
Kris has had a wide range of legal experience covering most aspects of law but in recent years has concentrated on Trust work and legal services for the elderly. He is trustee for a significant number of trusts and estates.
Lawrence graduated from Canterbury University and was admitted to the Bar as a Barrister and Solicitor in 1978. He joined major Christchurch firm Cavell Leitch for a number of years, eventually working in their New Brighton office from 2001 to 2013, from then he joined Pier Law for a short stint before joining Kannangara Thomson in September 2015.
Job Titles:
- Registered Legal Executive
Leanne grew up in Blenheim, and after stints in Tauranga and Nelson, moved to Rangiora in 2006. Starting in the legal industry as an older "Office Junior" for a Blenheim Law Firm in 2001, found that she enjoyed the work. From that point, she gradually progressed towards becoming a qualified Legal Executive, which she achieved in 2010. Since moving to Canterbury, Leanne has worked for a number of law firms, in a variety of roles, and most recently for a Trustee Company. She began her current role with Kannangara Thomson in October 2019 and enjoys being part of a busy but fun and vibrant firm. Providing excellent customer service and advice to clients is extremely important to Leanne, and she will do her utmost to provide her clients with a friendly positive experience, and make every effort to always get back to them punctually.
Lynne began her career in law in Auckland in 1978. After travelling overseas she returned to her hometown, Christchurch and worked as a legal secretary to a Partner of a well-established law firm for many years where she gained a wealth of knowledge in the Property sector. During that time she raised her family and travelled overseas. With a couple of interim positions as a Legal Executive in small law firms, she commenced working with Steve Bray's firm as a Legal Executive in approximately 2004. She moved with Steve when he joined the team at Kannangara Thomson and worked with him assisting his clients with their conveyancing for some 7 years. After the Earthquakes, Lynne returned to her old firm as a Legal Secretary, once again working in the Property Team assisting a Partner and Solicitor with their conveyancing. In 2019 Steve approached Lynne with an offer to return to Kannangara Thomson and she returned and finds working for a smaller law firm was more appealing to her. Lynne enjoys working closely with first home buyers and their enthusiasm in entering into the property market. She also enjoys the rapport with long standing clients of the firm and is always willing to go above and beyond to assist clients.
Maree provides general assistance in the areas of residential conveyancing, family trusts, estate administration and wills, having embarked on her career as a Legal Secretary in 1992.
Interests:
Maree is married and has two daughters who keep her busy all year round with their sporting activities. Maree is interested in all sports and enjoys walking, mountain biking with family and friends and generally keeping fit.
Praveena completed her Bachelor of Laws at the University of Canterbury. In addition to this, she has completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in Human Anatomy at the University of Otago. She was admitted to the High Court of New Zealand as a Barrister and Solicitor in 2019.
Praveena worked for well-known businesses for several years before joining the Kannangara Thomson team in 2019. Although she is new to the legal field, Praveena brings a lot of experience and knowledge from her previous roles. She has a positive attitude, calm nature and excellent communication skills.
After working for many years in several larger law firms as a Partner Roger ran his own law practice RJB Law Limited for ten years. In 2019 he moved his practice to Kannangara Thomson. He has a pragmatic approach to problems developed from his previous extensive experience in District Court, High Court litigation (having acted for Trustbank Canterbury, Westpac, Barclays Bank and other financial institutions)
Roger is pragmatic and aims to be a good communicator, keeping clients well informed throughout the process and helping them to work through any complex issues which can sometimes arise. Roger is methodical, considered, and organised in his approach to work.
Job Titles:
- Associate / Registered Legal Executive
Sally grew up on a farm near Winton, Southland and lived there until her parents retired to Lake Hayes when she was 18. Sally attended Otago University and obtained a Diploma in Physical Education, which has been used in the area of coaching many different sports and teams, managing sports teams and training teams.
Sally started in the legal fraternity as a receptionist at the busiest law firm in Queenstown and worked her way up to being a Legal Executive in the firm, completing her studies by way of correspondence, working for and with a Senior Partner of the firm. She worked for this firm for 19 years covering many different facets of the law. A move to Christchurch with her husband and daughter happened 11 years ago.
Since living in Christchurch, Sally has worked for 2 different law firms, both providing many and varied learning environments and experiences.
Job Titles:
- Solicitor
- Assisting Solicitor
Originally from Egypt, Sandra moved to New Zealand with her family in 2003 and is fluent in both English and Arabic. Sandra has been living in Christchurch since her arrival, and completed her Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Management at the University of Canterbury. She was admitted to the High Court of New Zealand as a Barrister and Solicitor in 2016.
Sandra started work in the legal sector before graduating in 2015, and has worked for a small law firm, a medium sized law firm, a busy Barrister's office as well as interning at the Police Prosecution. She is passionate about equality, and diversity and was awarded the University of Canterbury's Student Diversity award in 2015 as well as a certificate from the Harvard Kennedy School for contributing research towards their collaborative Violence against Women Research project in 2015.
Job Titles:
- Senior Legal Receptionist
Sharan joined the Kannangara Thomson team in October 2015 as a Legal Receptionist. She has considerable experience in the legal field, having worked for other legal firms previously.
Her work experience is summarised as: - Hairdressing Apprenticeship, past winne r of Junior Hairdressing Competitions - Legal Receptionist, Personal Assistant for the past thirty years
Admitted to the bar in 1989, Steve has worked for small, medium and large firms during his long career, and operated as a Sole Practitioner (as Bray Law) before joining the partnership at Kannangara Thomson in 2009, bringing his experience, professionalism, and fantastic rapport with his clients to our team.
Job Titles:
- Associate / Registered Legal Executive
- Registered Legal Executive
Sue is a Registered Legal Executive and a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives. She moved to New Zealand from the United Kingdom in 2001 having previously worked for a law firm in the United Kingdom for a number of years becoming a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives. She has over 40 years experience of working in the United Kingdom and New Zealand. She became a New Zealand Citizen in 2012.
Sue has a down to earth, easy to approach attitude and she ensures that her clients are well informed at every step of the transaction.
Valerie is currently on parental leave until January 2021
Valerie joined Kannangara Thomson in June 2012 after completing her law degree at the University of Canterbury and was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor of the High Court of New Zealand in July 2012.
Valerie was born in Hong Kong and is proficient in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, both written and spoken. Valerie has established a strong reputation for efficient service tailored to the client's needs, and due to her cultural background, she enjoys providing legal services to the Chinese community.