(18)  Movement amongst solicitors

On 1 September 1997 it was announced that Dundas & Wilson, a long-established firm of solicitors in Edinburgh, would merge with the Glasgow firm Dorman Jeffrey and become part of the international business services network established by the giant accountancy firm of Arthur Andersen. The private client department of Dundas & Wilson was not involved, and it has become a separate firm under the name Turcan Connell. On 6 October it was announced that the private client department of another Edinburgh firm, W & J Burness, would be merging with Turcan Connell. Earlier, in August 1997, the Monopolies and Mergers Commission published its finding that, although the Solicitors Property Centres operating in Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Glasgow and other parts of Scotland did form a complex monopoly, their rule that non-solicitors such as estate agents could not use the facilities to advertise properties for sale did not operate against the public interest (Solicitors’ Estate Agency Services in Scotland, Cm 3699).