Helen Mackay says Levin set her up for life
“Levin is a great place to grow up,” says awardwinning Wellington lawyer Helen Mackay. She knows, because she was raised here.
“I had great, inspiring, motivating teachers at Fairfield School, Levin Intermediate, and then Horowhenua College.
“They installed confidence and self-belief in their students.”
After high school, she moved to Wellington to attend Victoria University and came back to Levin during the holidays to do jobs to make a bit of money.
Her father Lindsay was a local lawyer. “I watched him go to work every day and noted that he was happy doing that work. He was always community-focused and did his work primarily to help others. I started filing for him at the age of 12.
“My mum was a good public speaker, who was great at organising and facilitating workshops.”
After graduating, she had a few jobs in Wellington and then moved to London for a few years. “I always thought I wanted to be a criminal lawyer, but when I interned with one, I got involved with a lot of gritty cases. Most of all this doesn’t help suffering people.”
She eventually became a junior lawyer at the Electricity Corp and being an in-house lawyer allowed her to combine law with business, where she found her true passion as a professional.
“Being an in-house lawyer combines law with business and I really liked that.”
She worked for several companies in a similar position and discovered there was a demand for people like her on a case-by-case basis.
When she was working as general counsel for big companies, she was a mum with two kids and a third on the way, so she thought it was time to change tack. “I wanted to spend more time with my kids, rather than work more hours and there is always more work.”
So seven years ago she started her own law firm called Juno Legal. “We are in-house lawyers who go to other companies to help them with their legal problems. My staff can work however many hours they want and there is no overtime.”
It has meant a change of focus professionally. “I am now a business owner, rather than a lawyer with 36 staff. Of those 32 are lawyers.”
To young people she says: “Do what you enjoy and find out what you are good at, be it hospitality, computers, or working outside. Then look for ways to turn that into a career. There is a lot of free learning available especially online. Make use of it.
“Be proud of who you are and where you are from or where you grew up.”
She has fond memories of Levin and remembers one of her jobs being the youth reporter for the Levin Chronicle. She regularly visits her old home town.
She was named managing partner of the year for law firms with fewer than 100 lawyers and her firm Juno Legal was crowned boutique law firm of the year in the 2022 NZ Law awards.
The judges called her “a true industry leader and innovator” as she championed an innovative alternative law firm where the team are able to thrive.
They said it is a tough market to compete in but she has consistently grown her company, showing passion and dedication for new ways of delivering legal services that are “innovative and people-centred”.
Juno has a stellar reputation and continued “excellence challenging the traditional law firm model” and had quickly developed an impressive client base, they said.