Who is Jim Murray?
Jim Murray BSc LLM, founder and senior partner
Jim says:
“I established James Murray Solicitors to fight for the rights of the people of Bootle and Liverpool. They needed intelligent lawyers who could relate to them and their lives, treating them as people and not just a means to professional fees.
Twenty years on and our ethos has not changed.
Our phenomenal success is down to our fantastic, dedicated and hard working team of lawyers still building this relationship with our clients.”
Jim is Senior Partner and founder of James Murray Solicitors. He is one of a very few lawyers in the country to be awarded an LLM (Master of Laws Degree) and a HCA (Higher Courts Advocacy).
This means that, like a bewigged and gowned barrister, he has rights of audience both in the Crown Court and the Supreme Court as well as the lower courts. It also means that, as a client, you are in the best possible hands.
On the radio
As Senior Partner, Jim has responsibility for the marketing of the firm and co-ordinates the public relations.
He is well known for writing his own memorable radio adverts and presenting them in person on local radio. You may have heard Jim on Radio City Talk’s Weekly “Legal Clinic” where he answers phone-in questions. He is always happy to help you with any legal questions.
A varied career
Jim has enjoyed a varied career before entering the law. His original degree was in Maths and Chemistry and he went to work in the pharmaceutical industry. He has worked as an English teacher, in Sales and Marketing, as a Social Worker and as a Welfare Rights Officer. In his twenties Jim also worked on construction sites and even ran a bar for a year.
He says, “It is an advantage to have had a wide range of experiences. So many lawyers, while being great at the law, have little experience outside, and so in the real world they find it difficult to relate to their clients’ real problems”.
When Jim turned thirty, he decided he wanted to become a lawyer.
While working full time as a social worker, Jim passed the Law Degree equivalent. He then took the solicitor exams and obtained a double distinction, one of only three candidates in the country to do so (out of some 6,000 law students).
He said of his achievement, “I was able to bring the discipline of scientific training to what I found was an exercise in pure logic and memory, that’s all.
Setting up James Murray Solicitors
After working as a solicitor for less than 5 years, Jim set up his own practice in Bootle. Again, it was in keeping with his ‘man of the people’ nature that, in a very short time, his firm rapidly expanded to over 50 staff. On the way, Jim gained a Master of Laws (LLM) at Nottingham Law School, involving training in the USA. Very few lawyers go on to obtain this further qualification and it makes Jim one of the most highly qualified lawyers in the city.
Forming a partnership
He then took on partners at around the same time to help manage the firm. Since then, with his Managing Partner and academic heavyweight Paul Fletcher – now a senior law lecturer – and with Jim’s own marketing skills, the legal reputation of the firm has grown to over 70 staff and rising.
Politics
Jim is also heavily into politics. He has been in the Liberal Democrats since he was a young man and has stood for Parliament as a Candidate for some twenty years, and on the way has been elected as a Local Councilor.
Present times
He is entering his second marriage and in the meantime lives in Liverpool City Centre as a single parent of his two sons who are at school and university. His interests include learning foreign languages (Greek and Italian “I think probably only to restaurant standard”) and, fulfilling a lifetime’s ambition – he is currently learning the blues piano.
