Stephens said he was excited to embrace his new role and grateful to have the opportunity.
“It takes a while to settle in; it’s quite exciting to be asked, but it’s kind of surreal for a long time - I don’t know that even now it’s quite sunk in,” he said.
“It’s definitely something that most lawyers aim for; so, to get there, it’s a huge compliment from the people that are asking you to join them.”
The 35-year-old grew up in Whanganui, attending Westmere Primary School, St George’s School and Whanganui High School.
After a short stint in the United Kingdom during a gap year, Stephens returned to New Zealand, attending the University of Canterbury.
He initially studied engineering, but realised it was not something he wanted to pursue and, two years in, switched to law alongside a finance degree.
Stephens said he first considered being a lawyer during his time in Christchurch after being inspired by friends.
“It was always one of those things that was interesting, but was never really on the radar; then I was in the halls and a group of guys were doing law and I ended up talking to them about it and thinking it sounded better than the stuff I was doing – that was the seed,” he said.
After he graduated in 2015, Stephens returned to Whanganui and started working at Horsley Christie in April 2017.
In 2020, he moved to Wellington to get more experience in a bigger city.
In 2022, Stephens returned to Horsley Christie as an associate and has specialised in property, trusts and commercial law.
Jai Stephens (right) has become a partner at Whanganui law firm Horsley Christie, joining (from left) John Unsworth, Peter Brown and Sarah Brown. Photo / Fin Ocheduszko Brown
He said he had learned a lot since becoming a lawyer in his field, particularly the art of applying the knowledge he gained from university.
“I feel like it is a job which university teaches you a particular way of looking at things but when you come out, you don’t really know anything, you have to learn the processes and the practical application of the education that you’ve done,” he said.
“As a graduate, you come out and you think you know a lot; then you get in, sit at a desk, get given a file and start to learn the application of the law – that was definitely the biggest learning curve.”
Ten years after graduating, Stephens’ promotion to partner was a challenge he was ready to take on.
“There is a lot of responsibility that comes with it, but there is also a huge amount of good that you can do from a position like that as well,” he said.
“You get to do some really good things for a lot of people and have a positive influence on the community, the people you meet and are engaging with.”
Stephens said he had not had time to think about the next steps because becoming partner took “a lot of work”.
He wanted his transition into partner to be seamless and to continue representing the firm as best as he could.
