Maclay Murray & Spens

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 aspects of both partnerships and corporations. In an LLP, each partner is n ...

was a top 100 UK law firm headquartered in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

with offices in

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and was one of the UK's leading full service

commercial Commercial may refer to: * (adjective for) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and services ** (adjective for) trade, the trading of something of economic value such as goods, services, information or money * a dose of advertising ...

law 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 consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...

s. In July 2017, it was announced that Maclay, Murray & Spens would merge with

Dentons Dentons is a multinational law firm based in the United States. It was founded in March 2013 by the merger of SNR Denton, Fraser Milner Casgrain and Salans. The Dentons name originally belonged to Denton Hall, a law firm based in the City of Lo ...

, the largest law firm in the world by number of lawyers. The process completed at midnight on 27 October 2017 with the wholesale adoption of the

brand. __TOC__

About Maclay Murray & Spens

Maclay Murray & Spens was founded in 1871 in

by David Maclay, David Murray and John Spens as the first law firm in

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

with a specifically commercial practice. Part of

's 'Big Four', Maclay Murray & Spens was at the time of its merger with

one of only a few remaining large independent Scottish law firms; In that capacity, the firm was the exclusive Scottish member of the international

law firm network A law firm network (law firm association or legal network) is a membership organization consisting of independent law firms. These networks are one type of professional services networks similar to networks found in the accounting profession. ...

LexMundi, allowing it to service its clients' international needs. The firm at the time of its merger employed over 450 people, was ranked in the Legal 500 as a top tier firm, and had over 40 lawyers ranked as leaders in their field in Chambers 2016. The firm's practice areas spanned: A complete history of the firm was published in October 2017 and entitled 'Maclay Murray & Spens, A History: The Past is Prologue' by Saamir Nizam.

Notable cases/deals

* Advised on the £3.8 billion merger of

Standard Life Standard Life is a life assurance, pensions and long-terms savings company in the UK which is owned by Phoenix Group. History 1825–2010 The Standard Life Assurance Company was established in 1825 and reincorporated as a mutual assurance com ...

and

Aberdeen Asset Management Aberdeen Asset Management plc was an international investment management group, managing assets for both institutions and private investors from offices around the world. Its head office was in Aberdeen, Scotland. The company was listed on the ...

. * Advised on equity placing to raise £250m and admission to the London Stock Exchange in respect of The PRS Reit PLC. * Advised on the £34.1 million flotation of

FreeAgent FreeAgent is a cloud-based accounting software company based in Edinburgh, Scotland. History FreeAgent was launched in September 2007. The company was founded by Ed Molyneux, Olly Headey and Roan Lavery. In 2012 FreeAgent acquired the American ...

on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM). * Advised on the £650 million sale of Scottish Widows Investment Partnership Group by

Lloyds Banking Group Lloyds Banking Group plc is a British financial institution formed through the acquisition of HBOS by Lloyds TSB in 2009. It is one of the UK's largest financial services organisations, with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees. Lloyds B ...

. * Advised on the £265 million sale of Deutsche Asset Management (UK) to

Industry awards

IP Excellence Awards 2017: - Best IP Law Practice In Scotland - Winner. Scottish Legal Awards 2017: - Litigation Team of the Year - Short-listed. The Lawyer Awards 2015: - Competition Team of the Year - Short-listed.

Legal 500

The firm at the time of its merger was ranked as 'regional heavyweight' in Scotland by independent directory Legal 500, and was listed Tier 1 and Tier 2 as follows:-

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maclay Murray and Spens Law firms of Scotland Companies based in Glasgow Law firms established in 1871 1871 establishments in Scotland British companies established in 1871