Scotland’s Semple Fraser has gone into administration, with Tom MacLennan and Kenny Craig, partners with accountants RSM Tenon, appointed joint administrators.
The move comes less than a week after the firm announced its intention to appoint administrators on 6 March. Although a raft of firms have stepped in to take over parts of Semple Fraser’s business, 62 people at the firm, including lawyers and support staff, have been made redundant.
‘It is with great regret that after having considered every possible option to secure the future of the business it was clear that administration is the only option,’ said Simon Etchells, managing partner of the firm.
The firm, which had offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Manchester, had 20 partners and around 100 staff. It focused on property, construction, environment and finance, and was considered a well established player in the Scottish market. It also had some impressive clients. It handled all of Tesco’s commercial property deals in Scotland.
Senior Scots lawyers reacted with surprise at the news of the firm’s closure and the speed with which it happened. ‘I’ve had huge respect for Semple Fraser for over 20 years. It had built up a formidable presence in the Scottish commercial property market,’ said a managing partner at a rival firm.
Weightmans has stepped in to acquire the firm’s Manchester office and a team in Glasgow. In Manchester, all 14 local office staff, including two partners, will transfer to Weightmans’ office in the city. In Glasgow it hired construction partner Stuart Macfarlane and two staff, including one associate.
Semple Fraser has agreed a sale of work in progress (WIP) to Maclay Murray & Spens, following the hire of seven partners in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Dundas & Wilson is also taking parts of the fallen firm. It has agreed to buy WIP following the hire of a 12-strong team from Semple Fraser. This included six real estate and dispute resolution partners, with former Semple Fraser real estate head Elspeth Carson also making the move to Edinburgh. The other partners will join as consultants at Dundas’s Edinburgh base. As part of the agreement, all five Semple Fraser trainees will be allowed to complete their traineeships.
Semple Fraser’s plight is the latest in a number of tie-ups and takeovers between English and Scottish firms in the past year as domestic Scottish firms have struggled to adapt to an increasingly abrasive Scottish economy. Last year McGrigors merged with Pinsent Masons, DWF acquired Biggart Baillie, Archibald Campbell & Harley merged with Shoosmiths and Andersons Solicitors merged with DAC Beachcroft.
For further analysis of the Scots legal market, see ‘Setting the heather on fire’.