Don't take our word for it
Don't take our word for it..
Roger Clarke joined Semple Fraser after 12 years working in London and it's a
move he’s glad he made both in terms of career and family life. Roger joined
during Semple Fraser's initial drive into the property sector south of the
border.
"I had worked in London for 12 years before I joined Semple Fraser as a partner designate. Following the Firm's conversion to a Multi National Practice, I became a Registered Foreign Lawyer with the Law Society of Scotland and a full partner of the LLP. My practice is solely based in England and those in the Firm's dual-qualified teams have been exceptionally busy operating in the English jurisdiction since my arrival, so the fact that I could move officially onto the notepaper without having to re-qualify as a Scots lawyer was a welcome step during this very busy period!
I had in fact heard of Semple Fraser many years ago when, as a fresh-faced law student at Cambridge, I did a summer placement with the Firm a matter of months after it was first established. At the usual stage of a Senior Associate's thinking in London, I was spending a lot of time reflecting the time honoured tradition of which direction I wanted to take my career, balanced with the desire to bring up a young family outside of the centre of London. A chance meeting with one of the partners in the Semple Fraser commercial property team at MIPIM came at just the right time. So when the initial pint of Guinness on the Croisette in Cannes morphed into the opportunity to help spearhead the Firm's drive south of the border, I could clearly see the attractions of lending my experience to an enthusiastic, talented and ambitious partnership who wanted to replicate their success in the Scottish property market throughout the rest of the UK.
In making the move out of London, I was confident that the Firm could make a success of this strategy, but even I have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly the Firm has developed a very significant cross-border practice, which is growing ever stronger.
Over the last 24 months, the Firm has been involved in approximately £1.9bn of investment and development deals in England alone. The acquisition of large retail assets (shopping centres and retail parks) has occupied a large part of my time, with all the associated development angles and subsequent asset management keeping the team very busy. These deals have of course involved close internal cooperation with the teams in tax, corporate, banking, planning and construction and it is great to have experts on hand to enable us to deliver such complex projects, often in the most challenging of timeframes!
There are many law firms in England who would be very pleased with the quality, volume and nature of the Semple Fraser commercial property offer in England. From my perspective, it has been a very positive experience and I have certainly not found a move away from London has in any way equated to a drop in the quality of work colleagues and the high profile/high value and variety of work that I had been exposed to previously.
From a personal point of view, that positive experience has also been evident in non-work life in Glasgow. As I had hoped, my family and I have more space and time at home. School options in the Glasgow areas are strong, as they are in Edinburgh too, travel times to and from work are laughably low and much more pleasant than battling up and down the Piccadilly line. The people are friendly with a great sense of humour and the cost of living is on the whole much less than in London".
Mark Sabey, English Qualified Solicitor, Commercial Property, Glasgow
I joined Semple Fraser in March 2007 having worked for firms in both London and Reading. The reason for my relocation was primarily to be with my fiancée, who is from Glasgow.
I was initially worried about moving to Glasgow as it was the first time I had lived and worked (on a permanent basis) outside of the south of England. I was also worried about finding a job, sorting out somewhere to live, and making new friends. Whilst I had been to Glasgow many times before and already knew the area and quite a few people, it was on a holiday basis - this was the real thing!
However, I soon found that my concerns were misplaced. As soon as I came out of my interview, I realised that Semple Fraser was where I wanted to continue my career. The people I met were extremely pleasant and helpful, and I was even offered financial assistance to help with my move, which provided welcome reassurance.
In my time at Semple Fraser, it has become clear to me that there are many firms in England who would be very pleased with the quality, volume and nature of the commercial property work that Semple Fraser offer. To date, I have already been involved in a number of high value, flagship transactions and work on a daily basis with a range of clients with whom I have built up a good commercial relationship.
Every day is different and brings with it a new challenge. This can only serve to teach you more about the nature of this area of law, and expand and improve your knowledge of the subject. This is supported by the regular training courses which are organised and run internally by Semple Fraser. These are particularly beneficial as they provide a forum in which you can get the views of your work colleagues and course organisers on any particular problem areas you may have encountered in transactions.
From my perspective, my move to Semple Fraser has been an extremely positive experience. The quality of work colleagues, and the profile, volume and variety of work that I am involved in has not diminished at all. This is supported by the fact that Semple Fraser recently won the Commercial Property Firm of the Year award at The Law Awards of Scotland for 2007. There also comes with my role an added and exciting incentive to help grow the key English client base of Semple Fraser's commercial property practice.
Finally, from a personal point of view, my positive experience at Semple Fraser has also been translated into my non-work life in Glasgow. The sense of space and friendliness that you get in Glasgow is wonderful compared to the cramped and unwelcome feeling you often get in London. My door to door commute takes less than twenty minutes (a great improvement on the one and a half hours (on a good day) it used to take me) and I have yet to meet an unfriendly face on the train at the beginning and end of each day. There is also a huge amount to do here - Glasgow is second to none for great shops, bars and restaurants, and some of the most amazing scenery you will ever see is only a short drive away. The golf courses are not too bad either.