The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Frank Fowlie
Law firm CMS Cameron Mckenna’s Aberdeen office plans to export its oil and gas services across the world. Partner Frank Fowlie tells more about expanding the Granite City team and life on a north-east farm
When Frank Fowlie came back to t he north-east seven years ago after a spell in Edinburgh, he thought the move home would allow him time to help his father, Jim, on the family farm.
Although the 35-year-old rolls his sleeves up and pitches in during the busy times of the year, the partner at l aw f i rm CMS Cameron Mckenna said the company had been so busy despite the poor economic climate that he has had little time for agriculture.
Mr Fowlie joined CMS in 2005, but the firm has been in the Granite City since 1993.
I t now employs 40 lawyers and a further 10 support staff in Aberdeen, and the office, alongside the CMS site in Edinburgh, contributes £10million to worldwide annual turnover of £560million.
Mr Fowlie said CMS
“Very keen to grow the office and grow our presence in Aberdeen”
planned to grow further in Aberdeen. He said: “We have space in the current office in Queen’s Road to accommodate up to 75 people in total.
“We are very keen to grow the office and grow our presence in Aberdeen. Every year you increase your turnover, people look to you to do it again the following year, and we can only do that by bringing in more people.”
Mr Fowlie said the situation in Aberdeen’s legal sector was in stark contrast to the restof Scotland, however, adding:“aberdeenisa good place to be, especially when you look at Edinburgh and Glasgow where life is very tough right now for legal firms.
“Many are looking at redundancy programmes and we are a long way from that position; I would say we are in rude health.”
The former Aberdeen University graduate and Mintlaw Academy pupil has first-hand experience of the sector in Edinburgh, having served his trainee- ship there with Anderson Strathern before four years in corporate finance at Shepherdandwedderburn in the capital.
He now lives at Bogenjohn farm near Strichen with wife Emma and daughters Laura, 3, and Charlotte, 2, and said he helped father Jim at his nearby Adziel farm whenever he could.
Both farms are mixed livestock and arable farms specialising in Aberdeen Angus cattle, while Adziel also has a pedigree Suffolk sheep flock.
“Part of my intention in coming back to Aberdeen
“We are now exporting our expertise to Iraq and we have a team there which we oversee from this office”
was to get involved more in the farm,” he said.
“My work on the legal side has really taken over, but I still muck in around the busy lambing and harvesting seasons.”
Mr Fowlie said most of theworkhandled out of the CMS Granite City office was related to the energy sector, and despite the strength of the industry in the North Sea at the moment the firm was also looking abroad for further oil and gas work.
He said: “We are now exporting our expertise to Iraq and we have a team there which we oversee from this office, and this is the type of thingwewantto do more of in future.
“There is going to be oil and gas in Aberdeen for a long time yet, but we want to make sure we are diversified.
“If 100% of your business is in the North Sea it is not a good business plan, whether you are an operator, a services company or a legal firm. We need to ex- port our services, just like every other oil and gas industry company in the north-east.”