Maclay Murray & Spens loses four partners to Bond Pearce
21 December 2012
Four partners, including the Head of Oil and Gas, have jumped ship from Scottish firm Maclay Murray & Spens.

Uisdean Vass (head of oil and gas), Richard Cockburn (also oil and gas), Gordon Hobkirk (corporate) and Fraser Leslie (real estate) are all moving to Bond Pearce. The moves were announced last weekend, and they will all transfer to Bond Pearce's Aberdeen office. No other departures have been announced, but it's a fair bet that a number of associates will follow.

It's a hefty kick in the nuts for MMS: insiders say that the Managing Partner sent an email to all staff which "becried lack of loyalty and swapping allegiances". And it must hurt all the more given that the firm has twice tried to merge with Bond Pearce. They most recently fell out of love in March, and Bond Pearce subsequently announced that it would marry Golden Turd winner Dickinson Dees instead.

MMS yesterday

MMS will be left licking its wounds after a year in which it failed to pull off a merger, made staff redundant and increased targets whilst freezing pay. Although it has just managed to bag the Head of Pensions from Dundas & Wilson, so it's not all bad news.

A spokeswoman for Bond Pearce said that the hires would add "momentum to our efforts to grow our business in one of the most vibrant economies in the UK". When asked about the leavers, a spokesman for MMS said "there are no one [sic] available to comment on this" which didn't really seem to help its case.