Like many women Kerry Reed doesn’t see herself as remarkable. However, a legal career dealing with sensitive family issues and now also being a mum herself, has endowed her with a few super powers.
Kerry’s expertise is in all legal matters related to personal affairs, such as drafting wills and enduring powers of attorney, as well as advising on trust structures.
She works with clients who need advice on residential care subsidies and those moving to a retirement village. Kerry has an interest in elder law and incapacity issues, working closely with clients and their families to make plans to protect their wealth and assets. She is experienced with estate administration and succession planning.
“I really like working with people and understanding the family and relationship dynamics. I think that’s why I quite like this area of law because you really get to know your clients and their family. Some of my clients have been in extremely vulnerable situations, and it’s amazing to help them navigate through those obstacles and see the relief for that individual or family at the other side.”
A memorable case for Kerry, was an estate file where the executor was based in a very remote village on the other side of the world and didn’t speak a word of English. “We had to find an external court approved interpreter to assist us in getting the documents properly explained and witnessed before we could file them in court. Communication was quite challenging at times. However, the outcome that we achieved was financially life-changing for the beneficiary.”
Having transitioned from a large law firm, Kerry is loving her new associate role at DTI Lawyers. The move was all about providing a wider-ranging service to her clients.
“Larger firms tend to limit the areas of law that a lawyer can specialise in and clients often have to deal with multiple departments. My wish has always been to work closely with my clients across a range of life and legal experiences – for me it is about building solid relationships based on trust. When you know what is happening in that person’s life, including their family and work lives, I believe you can offer more meaningful and practical advice.”
The associate commercial, property and private client lawyer is thankful for the family-friendly environment at DTI Lawyers.
“DTI Lawyers is very supportive. All of the DTI directors have children, some have really young children and work-life balance is equally important to them,” she says. “As a firm, we don’t accept that having a normal family life should be a barrier to success; either for ourselves or for our clients”.
07 282 0174 | dtilawyers.co.nz
