McClure Naismith

LLP A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is not ...

was a

firm A company, abbreviated as co., is a Legal personality, legal entity representing an association of people, whether Natural person, natural, Legal person, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common p ...

of Scottish

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s, headquartered in

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and with further offices in

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and

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Founded in 1826 it was one of the older firms in Scotland, and was generally considered a mid-tier firm. Its 2010 turnover of £13.9m (which dropped to £13.1m in 2011) placed it at 133 in ''

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'' magazine's list of the largest UK firms.

Practice

The firm's practice areas included Banking & Asset Finance, Consumer Finance Debt Recovery,

Construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

Corporate A corporation is an organization—usually a group of people or a company—authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law "born out of statute"; a legal person in legal context) and re ...

, Dispute Resolution (encompassing

Litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

Family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

and

Employment Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any othe ...

), Private Client,

Projects A project is any undertaking, carried out individually or collaboratively and possibly involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a particular goal. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of even ...

, and

Real Estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

. It was rated by legal directory Legal500 as a first tier firm in Debt Recovery and as a second tier firm in Projects and Intellectual Property. In the Chambers and Partners directory, Consumer Finance partner Frank Johnstone was rated as Band 1, while the firm was rated Band 2 for Partnership, Personal Injury (Defendant) and Real Estate Litigation.

Locations

The firm had its head office on St. Vincent Street in

, with additional offices in the central

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business district of

and on King William Street in London, by

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History

The firm was founded in October 1826 by James Drew, a sole practitioner practising from his father's home at Auldhouse,

Pollokshaws Pollokshaws ( sco, Powkshaws) is an area on the South side of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It is bordered by the residential neighbourhoods of Auldhouse to the east, Eastwood and Hillpark to the south and Shawlands to the north, with the Glas ...

. His practice was mainly in debt recovery, with a small amount of conveyancing. He moved the following year to an office in Hutcheson Street in the City Centre, named after the Hutchesons' Hospital which stood at its head, and thereafter to various other premises in the city. On 1 April 1843, whilst based in

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, he assumed John McClure as a partner for a term of fifteen years, forming the partnership of Drew & McClure. At the end of the fifteen years, on 31 March 1858, Drew retired, and the following day McClure went into partnership with John Naismith, again for a term of fifteen years, forming McClure & Naismith. On 15 September the year after, 1859, McClure & Naismith assumed Robert Brodie as a partner for the remaining period of their partnership agreement i.e. until 31 March 1873, changing the firm name to McClure, Naismith & Brodie. The following year, Brodie took up the position of Clerk to the Company of Stationers of Glasgow. In 1862, the firm moved to 81 St. Vincent Street, and, although not at the same number, remained in that street until its demise. Duncan Macfarlane was added to the partnership on 1 April 1869, shortly before the expiry of the McClure & Naismith partnership agreement, although the name was not changed at this time. Drew died in London on 24 March 1879. When the McClure & Naismith partnership agreement expired on 31 March 1873, McClure retired, and the remaining partners, Naismith, Brodie and Macfarlane, agreed to continue in partnership for a further ten years, adding Macfarlane's name to the title whilst retaining McClure's. Various other partners came and went, and on 1 April 1881, the firm's name was again changed, to McClure, Naismith, Brodie & Co., which name it would retain for the next hundred years. McClure died in Glasgow on 17 March 1886, Macfarlane at Innellan on 8 August 1880, Naismith at Glasgow on 17 November 1885, and Brodie in Glasgow on 25 April 1909. Subsequent partners in the firm included William Brodie, son of Robert Brodie, assumed in 1889; John Girvan, Professor of Conveyancing in the

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from 1927 to 1946, assumed in 1914; James Sutherland, President of the Law Society from 1972 to 1975, assumed in 1951; James Inglis, Professor of Conveyancing in the

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from 1979 to 1993, assumed in 1956; and Aline Patterson, the first female partner, assumed in 1969. In 1983, McClure, Naismith, Brodie & Co. merged with Anderson & Gardiner, forming McClure Naismith Anderson & Gardiner, which was later shortened to McClure Naismith. The firm converted to a

limited liability partnership A limited liability partnership (LLP) is a partnership in which some or all partners (depending on the jurisdiction) have limited liabilities. It therefore can exhibit elements of partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is not ...

in 2008. The partnership went into administration in August 2015.

References

{{Scots law firms Law firms established in 1826 1826 establishments in Scotland