Semple Fraser
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox law firm
| name = Semple Fraser LLP
| logo = 250px
| headquarters = Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
| num_offices = Three
| num_attorneys =
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| date_founded = 1990 (Glasgow)
| founder =
| company_type = Limited liability partnership
| slogan =
| homepage =
| dissolved = 2013 (bankruptcy)
}}
Semple Fraser LLP was a Scottish commercial law firm, with over 150 staff, including 21 partners, and offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester. It was founded in Glasgow in 1990 and collapsed in 2013.{{Cite web|url=http://www.scotsman.com/news/no-simple-answer-to-collapse-of-semple-fraser-1-2842069|title=No simple answer to collapse of Semple Fraser|website=www.scotsman.com|language=en|access-date=2017-10-28}}
History
The firm was formed in 1990{{Cite book|title=Comparative Contract Law: British and American Perspectives|last=Di Matteo|first=Larry|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2016|isbn=9780198728733|pages=393}} and began with 20 staff based in an office in Glasgow city centre. The founding partners – Alister Fraser, Paul Haniford, David Semple and Cesidio di Ciacca – took advantage of the recession in the property industry in the 1990s to double the space they occupied and grow the business. The Edinburgh office opened in 1998. The firm became an LLP in June 2004 and a multinational partnership in July 2005.{{cite web |url=http://www.journalonline.co.uk/News/1002266.aspx |title=Multinational status for Semple Fraser |date=19 September 2005 |work=The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland}} Semple Fraser opened their first and only English office, in Manchester, during 2009.{{cite web |url=http://business.scotsman.com/management/Semple-Fraser-bids-for-UK.5723106.jp |title=Semple Fraser bids for UK deals with first English office|date=12 October 2009 |work=The Scotsman}}{{cite web |url=http://menmedia.co.uk/manchestereveningnews/news/business/s/1346966_growth_means_semple_fraser_on_the_move |work=Manchester Evening News |title=Growth means Semple Fraser on the move |date=28 October 2008}}
In 2010, according to the legal referral site Legal 500, Semple Fraser's real estate and environment teams were first-tier in the Scottish legal market.[http://www.legal500.com/firms/3002/offices/8909 Legal 500 2010] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110404063252/http://www.legal500.com/firms/3002/offices/8909 |date=4 April 2011 }} Chambers, another legal directory, stated in 2011 that Semple Fraser had "the best EU and UK waste law team in Scotland".[http://www.chambersandpartners.com/UK/Editorial/39090#org_956 Chambers UK 2011] Vincent Brown, former head of the firm's waste and environment groups, wrote the legal textbook Environmental Pollution Law and Commercial Transactions (2004), which analysed the impact of environmental legislation on commercial transactions.{{cite web |url=http://www.journalonline.co.uk/Magazine/49-5/1000323.aspx |date=1 May 2004 |title=Review of Environmental Pollution Law and Commercial Transactions |work=The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland}}
Semple Fraser entered administration in March 2013, due to difficult economic conditions following the onset of the Great Recession.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-21689498|title=Law firm to enter administration|date=2013-03-06|access-date=2019-04-18|language=en-GB}} The bankruptcy resulted in 62 redundancies. Parts of the defunct business were sold to rival firms in Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Manchester - including Maclay Murray and Spens (now part of Dentons), Dundas and Wilson (now part of CMS), and Weightmans.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-21725412|title=Law firm announces 62 job losses|date=2013-03-09|access-date=2019-04-18|language=en-GB}}
Main practice areas
Semple Fraser had the following main practice areas:
- Banking & Finance
- Commercial litigation
- Construction
- Corporate & Commercial
- Corporate Recovery & Insolvency
- Employment
- Environment & Pollution
- Intellectual Property
- Planning
- Property Finance
- Real Estate
- Tax
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.chambersandpartners.com/UK/Firms/956-38909 Firm rankings in Chambers UK]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20101218063641/http://www.legal500.com/firms/3002-semple-fraser-llp/offices/5084-glasgow Firm rankings in Legal 500]
{{Scots law firms}}
{{Legal services in the United Kingdom}}
Category:Law firms of Scotland
Category:Companies based in Glasgow
Category:Law firms established in 1990
Category:1990 establishments in Scotland
Category:Defunct law firms of the United Kingdom
Category:Law firms disestablished in 2013
Category:2013 disestablishments in the United Kingdom
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