Semple Fraser LLP was a Scottish

commercial law Commercial law, also known as mercantile law or trade law, is the body of law that applies to the rights, relations, and conduct of persons and business engaged in commerce, merchandising, trade, and sales. It is often considered to be a branc ...

firm, with over 150 staff, including 21 partners, and offices in

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 ...

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and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

. It was founded in Glasgow in 1990 and collapsed in 2013.

History

The firm was formed in 1990 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 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 June 2004 and a multinational partnership in July 2005. Semple Fraser opened their first and only English office, in Manchester, during 2009. In 2010, according to the legal referral site Legal 500, Semple Fraser's

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 ...

and

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

teams were first-tier in the Scottish legal market. Chambers, another legal directory, stated in 2011 that Semple Fraser had "the best EU and UK waste law team in Scotland". 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. Semple Fraser entered administration in March 2013, due to difficult economic conditions following the onset of 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 ...

. 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 Dentons is the largest multinational law firm in the world. Dentons was ranked as the world's 4th- largest law firm by revenue, with $2.9B gross revenue by Global 200 ranking in the fiscal year 2021. The firm is called Dentons in all languages o ...

), Dundas and Wilson (now part of

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), and

Weightmans Weightmans is a top 45 UK law firm with 10 offices, employing more than 1,400 people, including more than 225 partners. The firm offers a range of legal services to public organisations, private companies and individuals. In the financial year en ...

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

External links

Firm rankings in Chambers UK

Firm rankings in Legal 500
Law firms of Scotland Companies based in Glasgow Law firms established in 1990 1990 establishments in Scotland Defunct law firms of the United Kingdom Law firms disestablished in 2013 2013 disestablishments in the United Kingdom {{Scotland-company-stub