79 Eric Tristram Harper would have been the envy of his legal peers.
A gifted athlete, champion hurdler, mountaineer, and member of the 1905 "Originals" All Black team, he was also a tenacious defence lawyer.
When World War I broke out, Harper was a 35-year-old father of two and partner at a well-established Christchurch legal practice.
Although he probably could have avoided military service, the 1.81m former athlete enlisted and was sent to Africa.
But on April 30, 1918, Harper was killed fighting in Palestine against the Turks.
He was buried about 10 miles north-east of Jericho, Palestine.
Harper was one of 50 lawyers to die during World War I, between 1914 and 1918.
An ambitious roll of honour project by the New Zealand Law Society has ensured their sacrifice will never be forgotten.
"For the legal profession in those days, to lose 50 lawyers was something quite significant," said Law Society communications manager Geoff Adlam, who led the project.
The average age at death of lawyers who died during conflict was 29 years and nine months.
Mr Adlam has written biographies on all of them, and found many had brilliant careers cut short by their service.
The first lawyer killed was Herman Baddeley, Otorohanga partner of the Te Awamutu firm Cox, Luxford and Baddeley.
He was reported wounded and missing on the day New Zealand forces landed at Gallipoli, April 25, 1915.
Nine lawyers were killed in the Gallipoli campaign, including Lieutenant Colonel William Malone, who was admitted as a solicitor in 1894.
Malone, mentioned in dispatches before he was killed at Chunuk Bair, was mourned as one of New Zealand's best-known soldiers.
William Dillon Bell, one of the first partners at leading law firm Bell Gully, was a member of Parliament from 1911 to 1914.
He was the first to enlist.
He was killed fighting at Ypres in July 1917.
Twelve lawyers died in mid-1916 during the battles along the Somme.
Two more - the accomplished Stratford lawyer Robert Spence and Hugh Forrest - were among 846 New Zealanders killed within the first four hours of the Battle of Passchendaele on October 12, 1917.
"Part of the surprise was unlocking their stories," Mr Adlam said. "There really were some very interesting characters."
The District Law Societies of Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Canterbury, and later Waikato-Bay of Plenty erected memorial tablets for lawyers from their area who died in the war.
But the plaques record only 32 names and these contain some errors, in names and initials.
"We hope this roll of honour can help keep memories alive," Mr Adlam said.
"I've already had people get in touch to thank me for telling the story of their great uncle.
"That is what it is all about."