Biggart Baillie Solicitors

2009
Homecoming Scotland is an events programme celebrating Scotland's great contributions to the world. Celebrate the anniversary of Robert Burns’ birth, Scottish contributions to golf & whisky, plus our rich culture and heritage. 

2008
British cyclist Chris Hoy clinched a hat-trick of gold medals The 32-year-old becomes the first Briton in 100 years to win three golds at the same Olympics, after his earlier success in the team sprint and keirin.  

2007
Glasgow's bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games is successful.  The city competes against Nigerian capital Abuja and wins by 47 votes to 24.

2006
New smoking legislation is introduced in Scotland that makes it an offence to smoke in most public premises.

2005
The Special Olympics in Glasgow attracts over 2,500 athletes from across the globe.
Gleneagles hosted the G8 conference in early July.

2004
The Scottish Parliament building is completed and open for business.

2003
Dolly the Sheep dies. She's the 1st mammal to be cloned from an adult cell.

2002
The Princess Royal formally opens the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park. This is Scotland's first national park.

2002
The all-Scots curling team wins a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. The event is watched by over 5 million TV viewers in the small hours of the morning.

2009
Biggart Baillie, the leading Scottish law firm, today announces the appointment of Alasdair Peacock as its new Managing Partner. Alasdair will formally succeed Derek Ellery, the outgoing Managing Partner, on 1 July 2009. 

2008
Biggart Baillie is pleased to announce that it is a Prime Partner of the John Logie Baird Awards Programme 2008. The programme was launched earlier this month at the Scottish Parliament. 

2007
Biggart Baillie unveils its refurbished Glasgow office in April and converts to Limited Liability Partnership status as of 1st of July 2007. 

2006
The Firm launches its Infrastructure, Environment & Transport
department.

The winner of the Inaugural Biggart Baillie Innovation Award is announced at a ceremony held at Glasgow Science Centre on the 9th of February 2006.

2005
Biggart Baillie continues to expand in the Scottish Market, winning a number of prestigious clients, including the Scottish Parliament Corporate Body.

2004
Biggart Baillie continues to grow in turnover, size and reputation. The firm wins 2 prestigious legal awards:
1. Scottish Legal Firm of the Year (>50 fee earners).
2. Scottish Law Firm of the Year 2003.

2001
Biggart Baillie and leading Edinburgh firm Steedman Ramage merge.

1999.
The Queen officially opens of the Scottish Parliament - the 1st directly elected Parliament in Scotland.
1997
The Referendum on Devolution approves the creation of a new Scottish Parliament by a substantial majority.

1996
The Stone of Destiny on which generations of Scottish kings had been crowned is returned to Scotland 700 years after it had been removed by King Edward I of England.

1995
The Skye Road Bridge opens.

1998
The firm launches its 'new' brand which is still in use today.



1992
Biggart Baillie sponsors the British Isles Individual Debating Championships which awards the best student debaters in the UK.

Goodbye West George Street - Hello St Vincent Street. The firm relocates its Glasgow office after 70 years.

The firm hosts the AGM of the Euro American Lawyers Group. It is attended by some 100 international lawyers.

1990
The firm accepts an invitation to become the Scottish member of the Euro-American Lawyers Group.

1990
The Queen inaugurates Glasgow as the 1990 Cultural Capital of Europe.

1983
The Queen opens the Burrell Collection in Glasgow's Pollok Country Park. The museum's collection had been donated to the city nearly 40 years earlier by the shipping magnate Sir William Burrell.

1982.
The 20p coin comes into circulation.

1989
The firm advises on the first demutualisation of a life office in the UK. FS Assurance Limited (in its former guise the Foremen and Staff Mutual Benefits Society) had been promoted by partners of the Firm almost a century before.

1979
Scots vote in favour of Devolution, but fail to reach the required 40% of the population in favour of its implementation.

1975
Oil is pumped ashore from British oilfields in the North Sea for the first time.

1972
UK joins the European Common Market (the EU).

1975
The firm acquires the Glasgow practice of the firm of Cochran Stout & Dunlop thereby enabling expansion of the firm's premises in the city.

1974
The Firm merges with Baillie & Gifford WS of Edinburgh to establish Biggart Baillie & Gifford.

It is the first law firm in Scotland with major offices in both of the legal and commercial capitals.

1970
The Kingston Bridge over the River Clyde in Glasgow officially opens. At the time, it is the longest bridge in any British city.

1968
The new 5p and 10p decimal coins are introduced in anticipation of decimalisation in 1971. They are used as one shilling and two shilling coins until then.

1967
The University of Dundee, which was incorporated into the University of St Andrews in 1890, is constituted as a separate university.

1964
The Forth Road Bridge is opened by the Queen. At 6,156 feet long and with a centre span of 3300 feet, it is the longest in Europe at that time.

1963
The Beatles open a 5-day tour of Scotland to promote their first single 'Love Me Do.'

1961
Scotland is defeated 9-3 by England at Wembley, a record score for a football match between the two countries.

1961 onwards
Throughout the 1960s, the Firm continues to grow, acquiring new clients that will become well known names.

1960
Elvis Presley touches down at Prestwick airport. This is to be his only visit to Scotland.

1958
Construction begins on the Forth Road Bridge.

1956
Tramcars stop running in Edinburgh.

1952.
Identity cards, which were introduced as a wartime security measure, are abolished in Britain.

1951
The Stone of Destiny is returned to Westminster Abbey. It had been removed from underneath the Coronation Chair by Scottish nationalists on 25 December 1950 and was discovered in Arbroath Abbey.

1956
The partnership agrees that all staff will be given one Saturday off in three instead of one in four as at present and that the arrangement will operate throughout the year.

1949
The rationing of chocolate and sweets is removed. The measure was introduced during World War 2 but demand is so great that it has to be re-introduced.

1947
Coal mines are nationalised and brought into public ownership.

1944.
'Pay As You Earn' Income Tax is introduced for the first time.

1941.
The SS 'Politician' runs aground on Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides. It later becomes the inspiration for Sir Compton MacKenzie's novel 'Whisky Galore'.

1947
The partners agree to 'give female staff one Saturday off in four during the months of October to April, subject to office requirements'.

1945
The Firm takes out its first professional negligence insurance. Professional indemnity insurance does not become complusory for Scottish Lawyers until almost 40 years later.

1940
Despite the war, business continues. The firm now has 7 partners - Thomas Biggart, Harry Lumsden, David Higgins, W.G. Davidson, Andrew S. Biggart, Robert D. Allison and George Coghill.

1929
The voting age for women is reduced from 30 to 21, the same as for men.

1923
The steam train, the 'Flying Scotsman' goes into service with London and North Eastern Railway (LNER), on the London (King's Cross) to Edinburgh route.

1923
BBC Scotland is founded.

1929
The national economy is in deep depression. Thomas Biggart surrenders his £250 annual remuneration from the Shipbuilders and Engineers Association 'during the continuance of the present depression'.

1920 onwards
The firm continues to make steady progress in the building of its business.

1919
The Airship R34, constructed by Glasgow's Beardmore Engineering Co., lands in Long Island, USA after the first Trans-Atlantic airship flight from East Fortune, East Lothian.

1918
Provisions are included in the Scottish Education Bill to ensure there is adequate facilities for the teaching of Gaelic in Scottish schools.

1916
Clocks and watches go forward by 1 hour as British Summer Time is introduced for the first time.

1916
Edinburgh Zoo opens its doors for the 1st time.

1920
The firm agrees to purchase Fyfe Chambers at 105 West George Street, Glasgow. The firm will remain in these offices until 1992.

1919
The firm is appointed as joint secretaries to the Dry Dock Owners and Operators Association. A position still held by the firm today.

1909
Legendary football player, coach and manager Sir Matt Busby is born. He later becomes manager of Manchester United Football Club between 1945-69 and winner of the European Cup in 1968.

1903
The floral clock in Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh, begins operation. It is driven by clockwork and has only an hour hand but is the first of its kind in the world.

1901
The Glasgow International Exhibition in Kelvingrove opens.

1906
The firm's commercial business develops strongly with extensive involvement in shipping.

1902
The Firm's profits for that year are reported to be £2,654.17.9d. Have they ever been so high again in real terms?

1899
An experiment using electricity to drive Glasgow's tram cars is successful. The 3,000 horses used by the city on its 150 miles of track are put into retirement.

1896
Glasgow District Underground opens.

1894
Death duties are introduced for the first time in Britain.

1890
The first train travels over the Forth Rail Bridge.

1894
Thomas Biggart and Harry Lumsden enter into partnership - Biggart Lumsden is established.