Grant & Simpson Lawyers

Grant & Simpson Lawyers have been serving members of the Central Queensland region with their expert legal advice and services for a period spanning across three different centuries.

The firm was founded in 1897 when Hugh Grant joined Robert Brumm in the partnership of R A Brumm & Grant. Hugh Grant was just 24 years of age when he became a Partner and he practiced for a further fifty-eight years until his death on Mary 13th, 1955, at the age of 82. The Grant legacy has been carried on through a further three generations of Grants practising under the family name.

Robert Brumm left the partnership in 1905, after which time Hugh Grant carried on the practice alone for sixteen years until 1921, when Colin Stumm entered into the partnership. The firm then became Grant & Stumm. On the 24th November, 1931 Hugh Grant’s son, Colin Hugh Grant, joined the firm and became Partner. Colin Stumm left the partnership in 1940, after an association of nineteen years.

Hugh and Colin Grant were joined by Jack Simpson in late 1941. Jack Simpson was admitted as a solicitor in 1938, aged 22. He then acquired the Wowan practice of Mr C F Morris and commenced C F Morris & Simpson in 1931. When Jack joined Hugh and Colin, the firm became known as Grant & Simpson, the name it carries today.

During World War II, both Jack Simpson and Colin Grant were called upon for service. Whilst they were serving, Hugh Grant continued the practice of Grant & Simpson, which included him visiting Wowan on the weekends. Jack Simpson supervised the Wowan branch until 1981, when it was closed after Jack himself retired at the end of that year, aged 65.

Hugh Chapman Grant was admitted to the partnership on July 1st 1966. Just six years later, in 1972, his father Colin Grant passed away leaving Jack Simpson and Hugh Chapman Grant as remaining Partners. Jack Simpson passed away on the 28th June 2002. Hugh Chapman Grant retired from the partnership on the 1st July 2006 but remains with the firm as a consultant.

Both Jack Simpson and Hugh Grant saw the rise of many young promising solicitors, taking many under their wings as they completed their Articles of Clerkship and continued on to become current partners of the firm. Stephen Robert Smith, now the Managing Partner, joined the partnership on the 1st May 1983 after completing his Articles under the guidance of Jack Simpson. Ross Edward McLellan was next to join the Grant & Simpson partnership on the 1st July 1986. Allan Donald Grant became the fourth generation Grant to be involved in the firm when he commenced his Articles under the guidance of his father, Hugh Grant in 1980. He went on to become partner on the 1st July 1989. John Francis Siganto completed his Articles with the firm under Stephen Smith and became partner on the 1st January 1997.