Patrick relishing his new challenge

Patrick Gilmour is the newest member of Anthony Gold Solicitors, joining the team as Head of Corporate and Commercial.

He talks to Sarah Dale about why he became a lawyer and his plans for his new role.

When Patrick Gilmour’s German teacher suggested he become a lawyer when he successfully argued that a question on a test his teacher had set the class was ambiguous and should not have been marked wrong, it was his lightbulb moment.

At 15, he knew what he wanted to do and started researching how to become a lawyer. Now a successful commercially driven corporate lawyer with more than 30 years’ experience, it is not surprising that Anthony Gold Solicitors snapped him up.

Patrick joined the law firm as the new Head of Corporate and Commercial on October 1st and is excited to be leading the new department, which he plans to grow over the next few years. His expertise is private company acquisition, disposal and corporate restructuring.

“I’m a big fan of [English-born American author and inspirational speaker] Simon Sinek and his theory of people buying into the idea of not what you do but why you do it,” said Patrick, who recently celebrated his 25th wedding anniversary and has four children, two dogs, three cats and 20 chickens.

He was born and raised in Nottingham and was the first in his family to graduate from university. He grew up loving the stories of Robin Hood and King Arthur and, when asked why he became a lawyer, he refers to these tales as a way of explanation.

“Both are about ‘might’ being for ‘right’, rather than ‘might’ deciding who was ‘right’,” he explained.

“In my teens, I saw Charlton Heston in A Man for all Seasons where he makes his famous speech defending the rule of law and that has always stayed with me.”

Patrick’s role is helping businesses from startup to sale with any corporate and commercial issues. These include setting up the company, drafting agreements between partners, investment, terms and conditions, bespoke contracts, any regulatory issues such as data protection, for example, software contracts, shares, and investment.

His primary passion as a lawyer lies in the buying and selling of companies and providing all the legal advice to clients they need for both.

“Anthony Gold has work that needs doing that fits my skillset,” he added.

“The thing that attracted me to Anthony Gold was one of the senior partners was a trainee at one of my old firms who I remembered warmly, and it turned out that David Marshall, the Managing Partner, when we were talking in the interview, he knew my wife. Everyone here is really lovely.”

He is looking forward to becoming more involved with Southwark Chamber of Commerce in his new role at Anthony Gold Solicitors, which is a member of the Chamber.

“I’m absolutely positive about the Chamber,” he said.

“I’ve had relationships with other Chambers and always found them to be very helpful.

“Meeting people face-to-face and building new relationships is what I am doing at the moment in my new role. I am going out with the partners to meet clients and explain the services my department provide. Attending events is another way of meeting new people. I find that once you help someone with a problem, they are more receptive to you when you have a problem.”

Patrick’s advice to those embarking on a career in law is to learn as much about AI (artificial intelligence) as possible including the potential issues surrounding the evolving technology such as confidentiality and copyright laws.

“AI is going to have a huge impact,” said Patrick, who is a voracious reader of science fiction books.

“I’m a big science fiction fan but AI still has a long way to go.”