They don’t look old enough!

Three of our Partners celebrate their 20 year anniversary of working at David Gray this month.

Elspeth Thomson (Family), Brian Hegarty (Crime) and Cliff Veitch (Property) joined the firm in 1998 and have seen a huge number of changes across their two decades with the firm. Housed in the Old County Court building next to The Assembly Rooms on Westgate Road the firm is soon to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Managing Partner Elspeth said:

“I joined David Gray as a young solicitor, the firm was already well established then and so I can’t believe that I have been here for half of its operational life! When I joined David Gray as a young solicitor the firm was solidly and primarily a legal aid firm. During the past 20 years we’ve not only grown in size and opened a second office in South Shields but we have developed and grown new areas of private client and business work as well as still having a strong reputation for the quality of our legal aid work. We have a great team here and I’m looking forward to guiding us into the next 20 years.”

With a whopping 75 years of legal experience between them the trio have certainly seen some changes in the legal landscape; Head of Property Cliff said:

“Despite the challenges the legal sector has faced over the last 20 years – Legal Aid cuts, financial crisis and Brexit to name a few – we have emerged stronger than ever and as a trusted firm within the North East landscape. We have an extremely loyal client base and enjoy good relationships with other law firms.”

Will Elspeth, Cliff and Brian be here in another 20 years? “Now you’re asking” replied Brian our Head of Crime who suggests there is a big wide world out there just waiting to be seen!