This Friday Mc Naught and Co. celebrates our 40th birthday.
That's right, founded on the 1st March 1984 it's been quite a journey - starting on the 12th floor of 320 West Street in the Durban city centre, we soon acquired our first own premises at 32 Masonic Grove adjacent to the High Court.
NEW HOME
Co-incidentally I opened my first office and moved from home to the Bluff in Channel View Road the same day.
FIRST ATTORNEYS
We were one of the first attorney's firms to decide that city life was not the best way for us and I opened a pilot suburbs office part time on the Bluff at the Spar shopping centre. We were the first attorneys to open an office on the Bluff and we made it our own.
DECENTRALISATION
It didn't take long to be convinced that decentralisation was the way to go and I first rented then bought the premises at 555 Bluff Rd where the offices are today - our full time offices there. Initially I shared space between my office and my living space until I took another bold move buying and completely renovating and doubling the old house at 2 Old Mission Road, across the road, where we moved with a staff complement having grown from just the two of us (my secretary/PA and myself) to a staff of 5. That building was subsequently sold to the SA Perishable Products Export Control Board and I was able to use the cash from the sale to pay off my bond and build the new Mc Naught and Co offices across the way behind the main building at 555 Bluff Rd, where we made our final move to.
POLITICS
In the intervening years, I had also married and had two kids and in Kate-Lynn's birth year (1988) was also elected to the Fynnland ward of the City Council I served for 8 years, as Councillor, Deputy Mayor of Durban 1994/5, and also Durban Transitional Metropolitan Councillor, until the 1996 elections after our change of government and the disbanding of the old council structures in favour of the party political monoliths we have today running our municipalities. I also served as Chairman of the Bushlands School governing body and the Durban South Education council of Schools, the Grosvenor Boys High School governing body and as patron of Fynnland Football Club and Dolphin Surf Lifesaving Club.
I was also privileged to meet Queen Elizabeth when we hosted her to our Mayoral Tea Party at the Durban City Hall on her first official visit to Durban after our change of government in 1994.
ARTICLES
Mc Naught and Co. was joined by Mark Leathers as my articled clerk or candidate attorney in 2006 to complete his training for admission as an attorney. We both also qualified as Conveyancers and in 2010 (26 years after being admitted as an attorney) I accepted Mark's challenge to study for the Notaries' exam and both he and I were admitted as Notaries Public the same year, Mark attaining the distinction of the top marks in the Province in the exam. This entitled our firm to be called "Attorneys, Conveyancers and Notaries".
MARK LEATHERS
Mark was soon admitted as a partner of the firm and we practised in partnership together until I was approaching retirement and Mark bought my shares in the firm.
Covid and RETIREMENT
This was not before we faced the challenges of Covid in 2021 and I worked from home over this period until I could get myself and our dogs over to Portugal on flights out of South Africa on the 1st December 2021.
I am presently still a Consultant at the firm and engaged daily in media tasks.
LEADERSHIP
Under Mark's capable leadership, the firm experienced new growth and we opened offices in Amanzintoti, Sandton and St Francis bay, and took on new staff and attorneys servicing these areas.
The total staff complement now stands at 14.
LEGACY
I'm delighted that the legacy of Mc Naught and Co has endured this long and it's almost surreal to think about knowing the struggle of the early days and how I fought to gain a foothold in a world dominated by big legal firms. I also recall the victory of being appointed to our first bank panel (the Perm) and we now handle work for Standard Bank, FNB and Nedbank - thank you guys for the trust in us over the time.
STAFF
Thanks to all the staff over the 40 years, whose dedication to the firm contributed immensely to our success. This included my mom, who worked tirelessly for the firm and me until she too retired.
All of the best to Mark and the current staff. The challenges of 2024 are no less than the ones I faced in 1984 and I wish you all every success going forwards.
