NEWS

We are delighted to announce that we have been recognised as Investors in People for over 10 years.

Frasia Wright Associates’ Managing Director, Frasia Wright said ‘We are committed to our people in helping them achieve their potential by creating a culture of communication and involvement. This has meant we have retained our highly experienced and skilled people, some of whom have been with us for over 10 years’.

Congratulations to all of the winners at The 2010 Legal Awards which took place in Edinburgh on Friday 19th March 2010. We are absolutely delighted to count the winning firms amongst our clients, and hope that you all enjoy the celebration of this well-deserved recognition. This year's winners are:

DX Firm of the Year - Harper Macleod

The Scotsman Lifetime Achievement Award - The Rt Hon Lord Hope of Craighead PC KT

GP Wolffe Family Law Team of the Year - Simpson & Marwick

Law Society of Scotland Support Team of the Year - Millar & Bryce

PRG Employment Team of the Year - Paull & Williamsons

MCL Public Sector Law Team of the Year - Biggart Baillie

Grant Thornton Litigation Team of the Year - Digby Brown

Pilgrim Systems Specialist Lawyer of the Year - Ed Watt, HBJ Gateley Wareing

Scottish Law Directory Rising Star of the Year - Audrey Dishington, Pagan Osborne

Ros.gov.uk Property Team of the Year - Simpson & Marwick

Scottish Paralegal Association Paralegal of the Year - Mary Anne Swan, Nicholas J Scullion & Co

Woods of Perth Training Provider of the Year - Central Law Training

Hotel du Vin Private Client of the Year - Morton Fraser

The third annual HR Network (Scotland) National Awards took place on 20 November 2009 at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow, and following on the success of last year's inaugural event was once again, a glamorous event. The guest speaker and host for the evening was again the popular Stephen Jardine. Congratulations to all of the winners, and particularly to Michelle Hardie of Pagan Osborne who won the HR Assistant/HR Officer of the Year Award sponsored by Aegon UK and Sandy Begbie of Aegon UK who won the HR Director of the Year Award sponsored by Ghost Commercial Resources.

FWA is again a proud sponsor of the Law Society's In-house Lawyers Group AGM & Symposium and Annual Dinner, followed by the traditional ever-popular ceilidh, which takes place on Friday 20 November 2009 at The Hub in Edinburgh .

This year the keynote address is being given by Jamie Millar, Vice President, The Law Society of Scotland and Symposium topics include:

Crisis Management - Robert Armour OBE

Financial Services Regulation - Gary MacDonald, Pinsent Masons

Procurement Pains - will the implementation of the Remedies Directive provide any relief? - Rhona Harper, Shepherd & Wedderburn

Dispute Resolution: what's in the tool box? - Joyce Cullen, Brodies

Reducing Employee Costs - trends and practices - Russell Bradley, DLA Piper

Intellectual Property - Colin Hulme, Burness

Business Crime and Commercial Fund - Tom Stocker, McGrigors.

Norman McFadyen, Crown Agent, will be the After Dinner Speaker.

September 2009

Congratulations to all of the winners at The Firm's 2009 Law Awards which took place in Glasgow on Friday 18th September 2009. We are absolutely delighted to count the winning firms amongst our clients, and hope that you all enjoy the celebrations of this well-deserved recognition. This year's winners are:

Law Firm of the Year - Blacklocks

Law Firm of the Year - Thompsons

Criminal Law Firm of the Year - Liam O'Donnell & Co.

Criminal Lawyer of the Year - John Scott - Capital Defence Lawyers

Family Law Firm of the Year - Mowatt Hall Dick

Private Client Firm of the Year - Brodies

Up and Coming Law Firm of the Year - Kerr Brown Partnership

Employment Firm of the Year - Miller Samuel

Litigation Firm of the Year - Digby Brown

Conveyancing Firm of the Year - Morton Fraser

Corporate Law Firm of the Year - Harper Macleod

Partner of the Year - Professor Lorne Crerar and Martin Darroch - Harper Macleod

Corporate Social Responsibility Firm of the Year - HBJ Gateley Wareing

Up and Coming Lawyer of the Year - John Paul Mowberry - JP Mowberry

Trainee of the Year - Fiona Byron - Morton Fraser

Marketing Team of the Year - Pagan Osborne

Paralegal of the Year - Fiona Shields - Pagan Osborne

Mediator of the Year - John Sturrock, QC

Law Lecturer of the Year - Moira MacMillan - Glasgow Caledonian University

Legal Personality of the Year - Alistair Bonnington

Lifetime Achievement Award - Ian Hamilton, QC

Chairman's Award - Govan Law Centre

IP Lawyer of the Year - Colin Hume - Burness LLP

Solicitor of the Year - Gilbert Anderson - Andersons Solicitors LLP

In-house Lawyer of the Year - Bruce Ritchie - Law Society of Scotland

The Law Society of Scotland's Annual Employment Law Conference took place at The Radisson in Edinburgh on 16th September 2009, and once again was sponsored by Frasia Wright Associates. It was an informative and worthwhile day enjoyed by speakers, delegates and sponsors!

June 2009

FWA is delighted to be sponsoring The Law Society of Scotland’s Annual Employment Law Conference, which will take place at the Radisson SAS Hotel 16 September 2009. This promises to be an informative and topical day.

March 2009

Congratulations to all of the winners at The 2009 Legal Awards which took place in Edinburgh on Friday 27 March 2009. We are absolutely delighted to count the winning firms amongst our clients, and hope that you all enjoy the celebration of this well-deserved recognition. This year's winners are:

The DX Firm Of The Year - Pagan Osborne

The Scotsman Lifetime Achievement Award - The Rt Hon Lord Mackay of Clashfern QC, PT, KT

Pointsize Wolffe Family Law Team Of The Year - Morton Fraser

O2 Support Team Of The Year - Harper MacLeod

PRG Employment Team Of The Year - Shepherd+ Wedderburn

Registers Of Scotland Rising Star Of The Year - Stuart Clubb and Alison Gilson, both from HBJ Gateley Wareing

Grant Thornton Litigation Team Of The Year - Morton Fraser

Law Society Of Scotland Community Initiative Of The Year - Pagan Osborne

Edinburgh Napier University Paralegal Of The Year - Fiona Shields, Pagan Osborne

Sound + Vision Private Client Of The Year - Anderson Strathern
Highly Commended: Morton Fraser

FWA was working with the Law Society of Scotland and LawCare to conduct a short seminar designed to support and assist lawyers during the prevailing challenging economic downturn. Getting Back to Work: Tools and Tips was a complimentary short seminar and counted as 1 CPD hour (Management), and took place at the offices of the Law Society on 17 March 2009.

Our aim at this seminar was to provide you with the tools to prepare your CV to maximum effect, and to share FWA’s knowledge of what works and what doesn’t in a CV. We also shared with you the advice and information you needed to ensure that you are well prepared for interview and maximise every opportunity to your best advantage.

LawCare offered some practical suggestions for dealing with the emotional aspects of redundancy and/or lack of job security, and signposted available support to try to ensure candidates are in a strengthened position when seeking employment.

For future seminars, keep a look out on the Law Society website http://www.lawscot.org.uk

January & February 2009

During January and February we conducted our highly successful NQ Outlook Breakfast Bazaars in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. These events were fully subscribed and and provided us with an opportunity to share our years’ of experience and as much information as possible with 2009 qualifiers. Attendees particpated in question and answer sessions and were able to have one to one dialogues with our consultant team.

Following on from those sessions, we are sending out our regular NQ Outlook Soundbites, which provide updates on the market, as well as our answers to the questions we are hearing from NQ’s most frequently. If you have not registered to receive our NQ Outlook Soundbites, please email Tracy at tracy@frasiawright.com to be added to our mailing list.

November 2008

FWA is again a proud sponsor of the Law Society’s In-house Lawyers Group AGM & Symposium and Annual Dinner, followed by the traditional ever-popular ceilidh, which takes place on 21 November 2008 at The Hub in Edinburgh .

This year the keynote address is being given by Jane Irvine, Chairman of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission, and Symposium topics include:

- Beating the Credit Crunch: Outsourcing - Yvonne Dunn, Pinsent Masons;
- Key IP and Information Law Developments in 2008 - Grant Campbell, Brodies;
- Employment Status and Agency Workers - Sheila Gunn, Shepherd and Wedderburn
- State Aid - Duncan Gillespie and Hazel Moffat, DLA Piper; and
- Procurement Disputes - avoiding pitfalls and resolving challenges - Colin Hutton and Graeme Young, Dundas & Wilson.

Lord Hodge will be the After Dinner Speaker.

The second annual HR Network (Scotland) National Awards took place on 20 November 2008 at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow, and following on the success of last year's inaugural event was again a glamorous event. The guest speaker and host for the evening was again the popular Stephen Jardine. Congratulations to all of the winners, and particularly to Innes Clark of Morton Fraser who won the Employment Lawyer / Partner of the Year Award.

October 2008

We are delighted to announce the appointment of Cameron Adrain! As our most recent appointment, Cameron is the newest member of the FWA recruitment team. He qualified as a solicitor in Scotland in 2006, and subsequently worked in private practice before joining us. As a result, Cameron brings with him first-hand experience and knowledge of the legal professions, and has an excellent understanding of issues facing lawyers embarking on a career.

Cameron will work closely with Kirsty Broadfoot at the more junior end of the market, and will be an integral part of our NQ Outlook team, as well as working with more established lawyers at Assistant level. He very much looks forward to working with clients and candidates, and helping us to enhance our offering and achieving our own goals and strategies at FWA.

FWA's charity of choice this year is once again Cash for Kids, which is a worthwhile and relevant cause. Since 1981, the Cash for Kids Trust has dispersed millions of pounds in grants, both to individual children and their families, and to those nurseries and community-based groups that serve children with special challenges.

The Cash for Kids Trust receives applications for help, either from individual families or from social work departments across 13 local authorities. The support of Cash for Kids ensures that, with the aid of your fundraising and donations, children facing financial, emotional and physical challenges are given encouragement and comfort. This can include helping families to buy Christmas presents and other treats that most of us take for granted, but which often make all the difference to disadvantaged children.

Congratulations to all the winners of The Firm's Law Awards of Scotland 2008. The winners were announced at a gala dinner held at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on 18 September 2008 , and guests and nominees were entertained by both guest speakers, Sir Menzies Campbell and Dr Hans Koechler, and master of ceremonies for the evening, Donald Findlay QC.

FWA is delighted to be sponsoring The Law Society of Scotland's Annual Employment Law Conference, which will take place at the Radisson SAS Hotel 16 September 2008. This promises to be an informative and topical day with talks ranging on issues such as 'Garden Leave, Restrictive Covenants & Notice Periods' to 'Employing Surfers: Employment Law and the internet generation..

June 2008

February 2008

It’s been a busy start to the year!

You may have noticed the newly established link on our website to CaseCheck, which is the brainchild of Stephen Moore of Moore Legal Technology. CaseCheck, which went live during the Autumn of 2007, does exactly what it says - provides a careful and relevant review of new and interesting reported cases. It means that you obtain an edited version of the reports when you need to do so easily and quickly. In order to enhance its offering CaseCheck has also introduced a current vacancies feature – with Frasia Wright Associates featured as its inaugural recruitment consultant! The vacancies featured are reflective of the practices areas which are the subject of the reports and articles posted on CaseCheck.

Frasia Wright Associates has undergone another successful IIP assessment, and we are very pleased to have had our accreditation extended for another three years.

November 2007

The inaugural HR Network (Scotland) National Awards took place on 22 November 2007 at the Prestonfield Hotel in Edinburgh. It was a glittering occasion - guests were entertained by guest speaker Stephen Jardine, and by the wonderful Red Hot Chilli Pipers!

Huge congratulations to Marie McDonald of Miller Samuel, who took the Employment Law Lawyer / Partner of the Year Award, which was sponsored by FWA; as well as to Anthea Ronaldson (Morton Fraser) who was HR Assistant / HR Officer of the Year, and Gillian Hutchison (HBJ Gateley Wareing) who was the recipient of the HR Manager of the Year Award!

September 2007

Congratulations to all the winners of The Firm's Law Awards of Scotland 2007. The winners were announced at a gala dinner held at the Crown Plaza Hotel on 13 September 2007, and guests and nominees were entertained by both guest speaker, Cathy Jamieson MSP, and master of ceremonies for the evening, Donald Findlay QC. The event, which was attended by more than 500 people, was a great success.

The Law Society of Scotland’s Annual Employment Law Conference took place at the Hilton Grosvenor Hotel in Edinburgh on 3 September 2007, and was again sponsored by FWA. It was an informative and worthwhile day, which was enjoyed by speakers, delegates and sponsors!

The event enjoyed a high turnout, with the speakers covering a number of interesting and topical issues, ranging from Equal Pay, Discrimination, and Contracts of Employment to Public Interest Disclosure Protection.

The finalists in each category of the HR Network (Scotland) National Awards 2007 have just been announced. As sponsors of the Employment Lawyer / Partner of the Year Award, we are pleased to congratulate the three finalists in this category:

• Clare McManus (Harper Macleod)
• David Hughes (HBJ Gateley Wareing)
• Marie McDonald (Miller Samuel)

In addition, more of our clients in the legal sector have also been nominated as finalists in other award categories, and we would like to take this opportunity of congratulating them on this achievement as well. They are:

• Anthea Ronaldson (Morton Fraser) – HR Assistant / HR Officer of the Year
• Gillian Hutchison (HBJ Gateley Wareing) – HR Manager of the Year
• Alison Denton (Pagan Osborne) – HR Director of the Year

We wish each of the finalists the very best of luck, and look forward to the event which takes place at the Prestonfield Hotel in Edinburgh on 22 November 2007.

July 2007

Congratulations and good luck to all nominees shortlisted for The Firm's Law Awards of Scotland 2007.

This promises to be an exciting and interesting event, and one which has now become an integral part of the Scottish legal calendar.

We are proud, once again, to sponsor the In-house Lawyers’ Group, and be part of its forthcoming AGM and dinner this November.

We are delighted to be sponsoring the “Employment Lawyer/Partner of the Year Award” at the HR Network Scotland National Awards 2007.