Remembering Peter Smart, our former Chair & Managing Partner
1st November 2024
We received the sad news this week of the death of our former Chair and Managing Partner, Peter Smart.
Peter joined the Firm in 1977 as an articled clerk when the firm consisted of just six partners and two solicitors in Leeds. Peter quickly progressed to Partner – in addition to having a fantastic legal brain, he very quickly demonstrated his talent for identifying opportunities in the market and winning new business. His networking skills were legendary, and one of his favourite tricks was to use anybody’s networking event to stand at the door and meet and greet everyone as if it were his own! It worked.
Peter said he loved WM for being different. He described the firm as ‘non-establishment’ (as opposed to anti-establishment!). That reflected Peter’s personality too – you could never describe him as “normal” “conformist”, or “boring”. He was just the opposite, as you would expect of someone who worked as a roadie for the Rolling Stones before turning to a career in law! He was brilliant, witty, charming and irascible in equal measure, and a real maverick.
Peter was a force of nature. He took the firm to new heights. Many of our own Partners were skilfully mentored by Peter and he helped many solicitors, PAs and Business Services professionals to aspire and achieve. He built the foundations of the successful, well respected yet still proudly different firm that is Walker Morris today.
We owe him a lot and will miss him enormously.
Our thoughts are with his wife Glenys, children Lauren, Tamsin and Ben and his six grandchildren.
