Tods Murray

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 ...

WS was a mid-tier

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

commercial Commercial may refer to: * a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television) ** Radio advertisement ** Television advertisement * (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...

legal firm A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and responsibilities, and to r ...

with offices in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

and

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

and 2011 turnover of £13.1m, placing it at number 144 in ''

The Lawyer ''The Lawyer'' is a legal business information product for law firm leaders, commercial lawyers, barristers and in-house counsel. It is based in London. History and profile ''The Lawyer'' was launched in 1987 by Centaur Media plc. It publ ...

'' magazine's list of the two hundred largest UK firms. The firm appointed

administrators Administrator or admin may refer to: Job roles Computing and internet * Database administrator, a person who is responsible for the environmental aspects of a database * Forum administrator, one who oversees discussions on an Internet forum * N ...

on 3 October 2014 and the firm was bought out by Shepherd and Wedderburn.

Practice

The firm's practice areas included Banking and Finance,

Bribery Bribery is the Offer and acceptance, offering, Gift, giving, Offer and acceptance, receiving, or Solicitation, soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official, or other person, in charge of a public or legal duty. With reg ...

Consultancy,

Charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * Ch ...

Law,

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 ...

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 ...

, Environment and Climate Change,

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 ...

, Hospitality and Leisure, IT/ IP/

Media Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

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 ...

and Dispute Resolution, Planning and Development, 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 ...

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 ...

, Recovery and Insolvency,

Renewable Energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

Residential Property A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

, Rural Property and

Business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for pr ...

Social Housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

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, and

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. It was rated by legal directory Chambers and Partners as a Band 1 firm for Media & Entertainment and

Partnership A partnership is an arrangement where parties, known as business partners, agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests. The partners in a partnership may be individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments o ...

, and Band 2 for Banking & Finance and Healthcare, and by Legal500 as a first tier firm in Technology, Media & Telecoms, and as a second tier firm for Social Housing and for Edinburgh and Glasgow Commercial Property.

Locations

The firm had its head office in the Edinburgh Quay development between

Lochrin Lochrin is a small area in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is in the south-west corner of the city centre, to the west of Tollcross, and south of Fountainbridge. Lochrin contains a wide mixture of retail shops, leisure facilities, other ...

and

Fountainbridge Fountainbridge ( gd, Drochaid an Fhuarain) is an area of Edinburgh, Scotland, a short distance west of the city centre, adjoining Tollcross with East Fountainbridge and West Port to the east, Polwarth to the west and south, Dalry and Haymark ...

, and an office on Bothwell Street in the centre of

History

The 'Tods' of the name is a plural, the firm having begun life in 1856 as the partnership of John Tod WS and his son John Robert Tod WS, along with Thomas Graham Murray WS and Andrew Jamieson SSC. The firm's original name was Tods Murray & Jamieson. Thomas Murray was in fact married to Caroline Tod, the daughter of the elder John Tod. Murray's son,

Andrew Murray, 1st Viscount Dunedin Andrew Graham Murray, 1st Viscount Dunedin, (21 November 1849 – 21 August 1942) was a Scottish politician and judge. He served as Secretary for Scotland between 1903 and 1905, as Lord Justice General and Lord President of the Court of Sessio ...

, became

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland ( gd, Rùnaire Stàite na h-Alba; sco, Secretar o State fir Scotland), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the Unit ...

(1903–05), Lord President (1905-13) and a

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary Lords of Appeal in Ordinary, commonly known as Law Lords, were judges appointed under the Appellate Jurisdiction Act 1876 to the British House of Lords, as a committee of the House, effectively to exercise the judicial functions of the House of ...

(1913–32). Of the four partners, three were

Writers to the Signet The Society of Writers to His Majesty's Signet is a private society of Scottish solicitors, dating back to 1594 and part of the College of Justice. Writers to the Signet originally had special privileges in relation to the drawing up of document ...

while one was a Solicitor in the Supreme Courts. In 2012, at least half of the firms partners were Writers to the Signet. The firm was based for over one hundred years on Edinburgh's Queen Street, a popular area for solicitors' firms, but moved in 2005 to the new Edinburgh Quay development in the city's regenerated

business district. In 1999, it opened an additional office in Glasgow. In March 2004, it became 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 ...

. The firm merged with Edinburgh-based private client law firm, Fyfe Ireland, in January 2012. In January 2013, the firm suffered a "sharp fall in profit and fee income" caused by a lack of confidence in the Scottish

real estate market Real estate business is the profession of buying, selling, or renting real estate (land, buildings, or housing)."Real estate": Oxford English Dictionary online: Retrieved September 18, 2011 Sales and marketing It is common practice for an intermed ...

and reduced borrowing opportunities following the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

. Executive partner, David Dunsire, stated that he was confident that the firm would ”emerge from this recession stronger and fitter as we have done with others during our 150 year history”. Tods Murray entered into administration in October 2014, weeks after appointing a new partner to its real estate finance team. Approximately 50 jobs were lost as a result, following the merger with Shepherd & Wedderburn. The firm had around £5 million in debts at the time of administration, including £2 million owed to the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland plc (RBS; gd, Banca Rìoghail na h-Alba) is a major retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest (in England and Wales) and Ulster Bank ...

References

{{Scots law firms Law firms of Scotland Companies based in Edinburgh Law firms established in 1856 1856 establishments in Scotland