We are saying goodbye to our Senior Partner Sally Swinney after 27 years of service with the firm. Sally first joined the firm in 1996 as a trainee solicitor under the mentorship of partners David Fyfe, Alan Blair, Donald Strathairn, Particia Watson, Morris Anderson and Andy Crawley. Current partner, Fiona Fleming joined the firm a few years later and both Sally and Fiona were promoted to partners at the same time; they have worked together for the last 20 years. Partner, Struan Ferguson who also joined Blackwood & Smith in 2011 as a trainee has worked alongside Sally as a partner for the last 6 years.
Sally who together with Susan Edington co-founded Collaborative family law practice in the Borders has had a keen interest in family law from the beginning of her long career. She spent seven years on the Family Law Association of Scotland committee, working as committee member, Vice Chair and Chair of the organisation. Sally was also appointed to the Law Society of Scotland Specialist Accreditation panel for Child Law dealing with applications from solicitors across Scotland who wished to be appointed as specialists in child law. Although Sally is passionate about family law, throughout her career she has also undertaken work in many different areas of the law including wills, conveyancing, civil and criminal court work. She has assisted the Law Society with their complaints process by becoming a reporter and was a member of the Law Society Anti -Money Laundering panel.
Sally is looking forward to the freedom of retirement to explore new challenges and not having to squeeze everything into the weekend! Whilst Sally has big plans for her retirement and is looking forward to travelling in the UK and abroad with her unlimited holidays; she is also looking forward to the simpler joys of having leisurely lunchtimes and not having to get up at 7am!
Whilst not having to come into work every day is exciting there are certainly some things that will be missed. Sally has been extremely lucky to have met some amazing people during her time as a solicitor, both clients and colleagues. She will miss working with her enthusiastic team and will miss her clients.
Although her job has not been easy she has loved the challenges of the law and helping clients navigate whatever piece of work they requested. Assisting clients during some of the most stressful times of their lives and seeing them come through the other side stronger and more confident for the next chapter of their lives has been her absolute privilege. Sally will certainly be missed by her clients as evidenced by the outpouring of support she has received in the form of emails, cards and congratulatory well wishes.
Sally will also miss being so directly involved in the community, so please don’t forget to say hi if you pass her in the High Street! Finally a message from Sally to her clients, “It has been an absolute privilege and pleasure to work for you, thank you for your support throughout my time at Blackwood & Smith. Thank you for your kind words and good wishes for my retirement, I wish you all the very best.”
The whole team at Blackwood & Smith would like to wish Sally a very happy retirement. Your supportive presence and wise council will be missed. Sally has left the firm in the safe and experienced hands of Fiona Fleming and Struan Ferguson who are looking forward to supporting her clients moving forward. As always, we are here when you need us.
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