‘It’s all backwards’: 56-year-old lawyer Patrick Hargreaves admitted to bar thanks to his daughter

Ashley Hargreaves (right) moved her father Patrick Hargreaves' admission to the bar in Whanganui on June 4, 2025. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

Ashley Hargreaves always believed her dad “should have been a lawyer”.

And three years after giving him no option by enrolling him in a law degree, the Whanganui lawyer was on hand to admit her dad to the bar.

Patrick Hargreaves said doing things backwards was a “Hargreaves trait”.

“Usually, it would be fathers and mothers moving admission, but we just do things a bit backwards,“ the 56-year-old said.

“If anything, it’s just been fun and kind of amusing really.

“We do things a little bit different.”

Patrick Hargreaves spent 17 years as an electrician, then 20 years as a teacher, before his daughter, a lawyer at Whanganui’s Dewhirst Law, encouraged him to retrain.

In 2022, she enrolled her father in a law degree at the University of Waikato.

“It was a very proud moment, to say the least, to get to do this,” Ashley Hargreaves said.

Now based in Whangamatā, Patrick Hargreaves grew up Whanganui, attending Whanganui High School where he met his wife Lisa.

Patrick's grandchildren Hadley and Harper Hargreaves attended the Whanganui Courthouse ceremony. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown

Lisa Hargreaves became a teacher in 1999 and moved the family to Canada with Patrick.

When they returned to New Zealand, Patrick followed in his wife’s footsteps and became a teacher.

He taught in the Coromandel, Ohakune, Tauranga, Napier, Whanganui and Turangi, and also spent more than three years teaching in Angola, Africa.

He has also been a firefighter volunteer since 2002.

“It’s great to get here, it takes a little bit of work and this is a new beginning,” Patrick Hargreaves said.

Patrick’s father-in-law, Wayne Costello, describes him as a “real clever bugger” whose journey served as an important lesson for anyone weighing up options within their life.

Harriet Dawson-Farrell and Helen Moore also celebrated their bar admission at the ceremony at Whanganui Courthouse on June 4.