Sandy Pratt is one of our retired partners and here he shares his memories of his time at the firm. He is now a published writer and an award-winning marmalade maker.

When did you work at Norton Rose Fulbright?

I joined the firm in 1976 as an articled clerk. At that time, the firm was called Norton Rose Botterell & Roche and had around 75 partners, all in London and no foreign offices other than an association with Johnson, Stokes and Master in Hong Kong.  

What are some of your favourite memories from your time at Norton Rose Fulbright?

I did five seats during my articles and there are three memories that come to mind.

One of my seats was with ‘Chips’ Jewell, a senior partner in the Personal Finance department. He had a standing instruction to me to inform anyone who called on a Wednesday that he was ‘with clients in the country’ which, in reality, meant he was fishing on the River Test. It was not unusual for him to bring in a freshly caught salmon to the office the next day, along with his black Labrador.

Another seat was with Alastair Farley in the Shipping Finance department, who later co-founded Watson, Farley & Williams. He once sent me on an unusual errand: to attend a wine auction at Christies. My instruction was to bid for several cases of wine that Alastair and some other partners had their eyes on. After attending a brief wine tasting before the auction began, I am happy to say I was successful in securing the desired wines.

When I was sitting with Chris Robinson in the Company and Commercial department, I asked if I could take the following Wednesday off. He asked why and I told him I had been selected to play rugby for London Counties against the New Zealand All Blacks at Twickenham. Chris kindly agreed and, although we came second, it was a memorable experience to play against the legendary All Blacks.

How did your career progress?

On qualification, I joined James Lingard’s team. He was principally a banking partner who also did some insolvency work. That was the same route I took over the ensuing years, although later I became almost exclusively involved in insolvency matters. I still managed to continue playing rugby for a couple more years, captaining London Scottish and having an international trial for Scotland. I also had the privilege of Captaining the only Norton Rose Fulbright team to win the Law Society Sevens.

People tend to think of insolvency as a little depressing, but it is quite the contrary. In fact, it exposes a lawyer to all sorts of businesses, as any type of business can go bust. I got involved with insolvent banks, publishers (I worked on the Maxwell case for some years), mining, retail, manufacturing, insurance, shipping, healthcare as well as film and leisure companies. I also acted for a syndicate which saved Middlesbrough Football Club from disappearing back in 1988. 

One of the more interesting matters was the receivership of Windsor Safari Park. We tried to sell it as a going concern but there was little interest. Then, out of the blue, came Lego who didn’t want a safari park but a prime piece of real estate in a desirable location to build a UK Legoland. There was a slight problem because, of course, they didn’t want any of the animals. There was a gap of a full year between contract and completion during which time we worked to get all the animals placed in other zoos. Retired partner, David Ashworth, was crucial to the conveyancing transaction. It wasn’t without its difficulties as, for example, moving one of the dolphins to an aquarium in Holland was delayed for six months as she was pregnant.  The giraffe keeper refused to come down from his treehouse unless he was promised he could go with the giraffe wherever she went. Animal activists were also an issue: they wanted to release the wolves into the Berkshire countryside. The Receiver needed police protection and red paint was sprayed on the outside of our then offices on Bishopsgate.

By the end of 1990s I was becoming a bit restless as I had been an insolvency lawyer for some years. After retiring from the firm, I chose a complete change of direction. With an old school friend from Fettes College in Edinburgh, we bought a small 90-acre sporting estate near Battle in East Sussex. It had a couple of lakes which we stocked with rainbow trout and we ran corporate entertainment days: clay pigeon shooting in the morning, a convivial lunch and then traditional fly fishing on the lakes in the afternoon. I fulfilled a boyhood dream of owning my own tractor and driving it around the estate on a nice summer’s day was in marked contrast to sitting behind a desk in London. That venture lasted about five years. It wasn’t for the want of trying but it wasn’t as successful as I wanted it to be - it was too far out of town and that form of entertainment was becoming a little outdated. Additionally, our target clients of lawyers, accountants and bankers in London were all keeping a close eye on their entertainment budgets and these were being cut quite drastically. So, I sold my interest to my business partner and went back to legal consultancy work, advising clients on general commercial and contractual matters.

I also stood as an Independent candidate for the East Surrey constituency in the 2010 and 2015 General Elections in a rather short-lived political career. 

Tell us about your writing and published books

Over the last several years I have written numerous letters to national newspapers and other journals. During lockdown, I decided to collate and put them into chronological order, all 254 of them. These are now self-published in a book I have called “Collected Letters – The First 25 Years 1998-2023” and I am pleased to say I have sold quite a few copies; it is a unique commentary about contemporary events of the day.

I also resumed my interest in British history, particularly the medieval period, about which I knew little. A considerable amount of research has resulted in my new book “A Concise History of English and Scottish Monarchs 800-1600” (45 English and 40 Scottish monarchs). It is now in final proof form and will be published in the next few weeks. My next project is to put together a book on Scottish castles and the part they have played in Scottish and English history and their associations with particular Scottish clans. This is still very much in its infancy, and I will see how that develops.

And your marmalade?

As a legacy of my rugby playing days, I am not as spry as I used to be and have to hobble around with a walking stick, meaning my leisure pursuits tend to be more sedentary. So, no more deep-sea fishing off the coast of Kenya for sailfish, marlin and giant trevally, no more stalking red deer in Scotland, no more grouse and pheasant shooting and no more golf. I have now become a keen cook and marmalade maker. Last year, I won a bronze award in the World Original Marmalade Competition with my Seville orange marmalade with home-made limoncello. This year, I won two silver and two bronze awards; I will spare you the soporific details. There were 3000 entries. Next year I am aiming for gold. The overall winner of the Competition has their marmalade sold in Fortnum and Mason for the next 12 months. Watch this space!

If you are interested in acquiring a copy of either of Sandy’s books, please do get in touch with us and we will pass on your details.