I'm originally from Ayrshire and came to Glasgow for university
before starting my legal career in the city. Having lived and
worked here ever since with the exception of a couple of stints
commuting to Edinburgh, I'm a big advocate of Glasgow as a place to
live and work and take any opportunity to sell it!
In fact that is a large part of my job. Ashurst is an
international law firm and our Glasgow office exists to support our
global network of offices as a centre of excellence providing legal
sourcing and centralised business services. My team acts as a
remote extension of our global legal teams to help deliver legal
services for our clients more efficiently and so a large part of my
day is spent promoting that to colleagues and clients. You
could say that we export legal services globally. Working
with world class clients undertaking high profile projects
internationally is one of the things that I enjoy most about my
job. Being able to be involved in such a global business
while working from Glasgow is even better.
From a business perspective there are several reasons to locate
here. Ashurst chose Glasgow due to the quality of
office accommodation, proximity to and excellent transport links
with London, as well as the support that we received from Scottish
Development International. Glasgow also has an active Chamber
of Commerce, many excellent professional groups and a strong
entrepreneurial community which all come together to make it a
vibrant place to build and grow a business.
You can't go too far in the city without seeing signs saying
"People Make Glasgow" - it's true. Our legal analyst team has
grown from six people to a department of over 60 in under five
years and now includes legal technologists, legal project managers
as well as qualified lawyers. We have been able to do this due to
the skilled talent pool within Glasgow and the surrounding
area. With five universities within thirty minutes of
our office and Edinburgh under an hour's commute away, we've always
had a strong supply of high quality legal graduates to fill
our roles as we've grown. We are currently recruiting to
continue to grow the business over the next few years and are
confident that the city has the capacity to support those growth
ambitions.
At Ashurst we have a number of staff who've relocated
from across the UK, Europe and beyond. The lifestyle
opportunities in Glasgow have been a real attraction for them
whether they are drawn to the buzz of the Merchant City, the
culture of the West End or the peace of Glasgow's suburbs. My
own partner relocated from London a few years ago and she has no
regrets - about the relocation anyway! Simple things like
being able to walk from our flat to the office make a real
difference to quality of life.
As a place to live, the city has something for everyone - great
restaurants, nightlife, world class music venues, a multitude of
spectator sports, some of the best shopping in the UK and, if like
me you enjoy the great outdoors, all sorts of adventure within a
short drive of the city centre. Whether it's sailing on the
west coast, skiing in Aviemore or hiking and climbing around Loch
Lomond there's more than you might think within easy reach. I
even went alpaca walking recently (no, really…).
So, whether you are considering locating your business in
Glasgow or are already here, I would encourage everyone to make the
most of all the opportunities that the city has to offer.