Ross Crampton’s introduction into law was unusual, but 50 years after his first court appearance, he says he wouldn’t have changed a thing.
Growing up on the South Island of New Zealand, Ross says he hadn’t put much thought into what he would study until his early 20s. It was here that he decided to pursue a law degree from the University of Otago in Dunedin.
Obtaining employment in a law firm in the New Zealand town of Levin (approximately an hour and a half north of Wellington on the North Island), Ross was admitted as both a barrister and a solicitor in 1996 in the Palmerston North Supreme Court.
“At the time in New Zealand, you admitted as both a solicitor and a barrister,” says Ross.
Ross certainly wasted no time in putting on his suit and tie and says he remembers his commencement vividly.
“The law firm that I joined didn’t like doing court work, and so as soon as I was admitted as a solicitor and a barrister – that was on a Tuesday,” he says.
“On the Wednesday, he came into my office with a huge pile of files and dropped them on my desk and said to me – in the words that I can remember: ‘Here you go Big Time, these are the court files’.
The Magistrates Court sat on the Thursday and Friday of the same week, and Ross says he was left on his own.
“I said to him, ‘are you going to assist me and give me some advice?’ And he said, ‘no, you know where the courthouse is, it starts at 9.30am in the morning.’
“That was my introduction to my first day in court.”
Despite his unconventional entry into the profession, Ross says he never reconsidered, despite the bumps along the way.
“Three weeks later, I had to appear in the Supreme Court of New Zealand at Palmerston North. I had no idea how to address the judge,” he says.
“It was the first day of six weeks of hearings, and the first day was for the justice.”
The justice, Ross says, went through the various matters on a list to decide how long they would be and what would settle.
Ross’s case fell at number 10 on the list.
“I didn’t even know what to say. So, I had my pad out, and I sat in the Supreme Court, and the first person got up, and said, ‘Good morning, Your Honour. Counsel’s name is Brown’,” says Ross.
“You call yourself Counsel, when you’re in the Supreme Court as a barrister.
“I wrote that down. I remembered that I wrote it down on my pad.
“When it came to my matter number 10… I forgot to read my notes, and I got to my feet, and I said, ‘Good morning, Your Honour, Crampton’s name is Counsel’, which was the wrong way to do it, instead of saying Counsel’s name is Crampton.
“The Justice looked at me, and he smiled, and he said, ‘welcome to my court, Mr. Crampton. You’re welcome here at any time’. And I thought to myself, ‘you are just making my embarrassment even greater’.”
Ross moved to Australia in 1983, and went directly to Young, where he joined the then law firm of KP Carmody.
“I enjoyed what I call the ‘live theatre’ of court, because court is not structure, anything happens,” says Ross.
“Things came out of the left field that you don’t event foresee. I found that it was a real buzz, so to speak.”
At the time, Ross worked in a large manner of cases, such as within housing, criminal law, farming and other agricultural matters before he settled into family law.
Ross further narrowed his specialisation down by working in care and protection for children and parents who have had their children removed from them due to risk of harm.
“I started getting a lot of appointments to act for the children that had been removed from their parents,” says Ross.
“That started in the mid-1990s, and it continued until I retired from the practice in June of this year.”
Primarily acting for children aged between 0 to 18-year-old, Ross worked with the Department of Communities and Justice until he retired from practice in June, 2026.
Although he was occasionally appointed to act for parents, most of Ross’s time was spent with children.
“I had decided that when I had been studying law, and I had no idea that there was this kind of work that you could do, that this was something with my law degree that I could use: to assist children and to act for children who had been born and were living in a situation that was not of their making, but of their parents make,” he says.
“That kept me going for 50 years, because I couldn’t not take allocations for acting for children.
“As they got older and got into their teenage years, I had become their mentor, and they’d ring me up for advice.
“I found that was a nice thing to be involved in assisting a young man who couldn’t turn to their parents, or any other family.
“It really kept me going for that long.”
Although retirement was never on his mind until recently, Ross eventually decided to step back in May this year and worked until June, “just to make sure” he made it to 50 years (and a month).
Now, he says he is enjoying taking a step back and enjoying little things that he hadn’t previously had the time to dedicate to.
Alongside his beautiful wife, Di, Ross lives on a quarter of an acre block and says he is enjoying developing what he calls his “oasis” by working in the garden each day.
“It’s keeping me busy and I’m really enjoying it,” he says.
For the next generation of lawyers just entering the field, Ross says he still remembers the advice that was passed to him on his very first day in court by a barrister by the name of ‘Mr Todd’.
“He had a conversation with me and said, ‘now Sonny, I’m going to give you some advice and it’s the best advice you’ll ever get’,” Ross says.
“He said, ‘know your judge, Sonny, know your judge.’ And that has been the best advice, because judges are human, magistrates are human.
Ross has been succeeded in his law firm by Emma Hay Legal, who says he is an incredible man, and a true inspiration for any lawyer worth their salt.
For now, the Kiwi is enjoying his much-deserved retirement.
Elizabeth Kovacs
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