"He had the Supreme Court in Albury, so I would have a stack of papers to work on each day, and there he was one morning and I said 'Who are you?'," she said.

"He was a good boss - he had quite advanced views about acting for people probono.

"When Mr Gunson found that he had more work than he could handle by himself, he got another solicitor to come in and that was John McCormack - I did work for both of them.

"Mr Gunson died in 1973 and John became my main boss."

Mrs Ohlson never set out to spend 50 years at McHargs Solicitors, but she marked that milestone on Monday.

She has driven from Corowa to work on Wodonga's High Street for all of that time.

"The firm has been more or less in the same place since the 1930s, when it was started by Jack McKenzie-McHarg; it was two doors down and then here," she said.

"Whilst the facade of the building and the faces are different, I think what establishes the firm is its continuity and treatment of clients.

"We're on the third generation here with some of our clients."

Mrs Ohlson has shared many memories with now-director Warren Judd, who joined in 1978 and became a partner two years later.

"We've all been really grateful for her support, and dedication to the practice," Mr Judd said.

"It used to be all manual typewriting - and Mavis was the speed-queen."

Mrs Ohlson once averaged about 20 letters a day.

"We had manual typewriters and there were four copies done of everything, so you had to be really careful to not make errors," she said.

"One of the funniest things was three of us went down to Melbourne for a communications seminar, and the machine that they introduced us to was a fax machine.

"We thought that was just magic.

IN OTHER NEWS:

"We came back and we were telling John about it, and he said 'Oh, that will never get on'."

Mrs Ohlson is now experienced in probate matters and technology.

"A couple of times I thought I'd want something closer to home, but it didn't work out and John didn't like the idea of me going anywhere else," she said.

"When my husband died, it was nice to have the family at work around.

"The contact with the clients is what I enjoy most - I think it's good for them to have someone to talk to.

"They don't have to worry about if they're wasting the solicitor's time ... it's better to waste a secretary's time."