Our friends at The District Reporter are celebrating 1000 editions and we congratulate them on this impressive milestone. Here at CMC, 2020 marks our 70th year of local business, and our latest article in TDR 1000th edition, we give a little history of where it all began for us.
This edition of the District Reporter is their 1000th and we congratulate Lee and Noel on achieving such an impressive milestone and on 23 years of providing quality news and commentary to our local community.
For Caldwell Martin Cox, 2020 marks its 70th year of local business – although it’s been hard to find a good time and place to celebrate with bushfires, floods and disease all around us!
Our firm started in 1950 from humble beginnings as a “part-time” office located in Picton. Former Army Major, Richard Arthur Ormsby Martin, who was then a solicitor with 21 years’ experience, would see clients in Picton only on Saturday mornings. The business continued in Picton at various locations and in 1967 Pat Caldwell joined the firm. By 1968 Pat Caldwell had taken over the practice and moved the office to its current location in Menangle Street West, Picton. In April 1969 our office enjoyed the first of its experiences with a flood when the ground floor of the building was constructed – supposedly above the flood level. That office suffered a fire in 1996, had a major renovation in 2005, endured 1.5 metres of water above floor level in 2016 and suffered another small flood event in 2020 – but we are still here.
We opened an office in Tahmoor in 1980 when Angus Cox joined the firm. He became a partner in 1982 and the firm became known as Caldwell Martin & Cox. In 1989 Chris Paul joined the firm as an graduate and established a new office base in Camden, in premises that was half a house at 15 Hill Street. As the Camden office grew we moved to bigger premises at 24 Hill Street in 1998 and then, due to continued growth, to even bigger premises at 28 Hill Street, Camden in 2005. Thankfully the various Camden offices have been flood and fire free – so far. Our Narellan office was established in 1998, at the suggestion of Bill McGookin, who had joined the firm in 1991 and became a partner in 1995. Our original office at Narellan was bulldozed to make way for the current Narellan Town Centre and in 2016 we opened our current location in Somerset Avenue.
Now in 70 years of service we’ve served well over 100,000 clients, supported hundreds of local charities and events and given our custom to hundreds of local businesses. Since 1980 we have employed 175 local people and helped support their families. In what has traditionally been a male dominated profession we are proud that we currently have female partners at our helm and that more than 50 percent of our solicitors are female. Surviving in a small business is not easy. You need to be strong and you need to never get complacent. You must always strive to be a leader. In small towns and communities, you must work extra hard to gain value and protect a good reputation. We have seen many competitors come and go in our 70 years, but we are here for the long haul. Because we always want to serve you, and we want to serve your kids and their kids as well. Thank you to our valued clients, colleagues and supporters, for our 70 years.
