Clive Henry was prominent in the Hamilton legal fraternity for more than 60 years.
He was always first to work in the morning, the last to leave and always available for clients although he never made appointments.
He was known for his memory and knowledge of the law having,it was said in a Law Society tribute in 1999, a brain which operated like a computer long before computers existed.
A member of the Henry family well known in legal circles - his brother, former senior High Court justice Sir Trevor Henry was a founding partner of the Auckland firm Hesketh Henry - Clive Henry formed the Hamilton firm Harkness Henry with fellow partner Philip Harkness in 1945.
Francis Clive Henry was born in Kopu near Thames in 1903, the second of seven children. At primary school he won a scholarship to Auckland Grammar School but at the end of his third-form year the money ran out and he worked as a message boy in the Post Office.
However he continued to study in his spare time and qualified to enter university.
In 1929, after marrying the late Doris, he joined Hamilton's then biggest and busiest practice, MacDiarmid Mears and Gray. When a partnership was not forthcoming he set up his own practice.
In 1969 he gave former High Court justice and now Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright a job early in her legal career after two other Hamilton law firms had turned her down.
"It was the first time in my experience as a young lawyer that I had ever been employed without any comment being made on the fact that I was a woman ... the main thing was whether I could do the job or not," Dame Silvia said. "He was an outstanding lawyer."
