CAREY is a name with a longstanding association with Guernsey law and this is a significant year for two members of the extended family. Advocate Nigel Carey has reached his 30th year as a partner of Carey Olsen and his son, Tom, working for the same firm, has just been called to the Guernsey Bar. He is the latest of several Careys to practise at the law firm, which has had a Carey practising there for all but two of its 109 years.

The family’s connection with law dates back to 1522 when Nicholas Carey took up legal office. Five Careys have been Bailiffs, the most recent being Sir de Vic, who was a partner from 1966 to 1977.

‘The last 30 years have seen incredible changes in Guernsey’s legal environment,’ said Advocate Nigel Carey.

‘The growth of the legal sector has, more or less, run in parallel with the growth of the finance industry. Just recently five more advocates were called to the Guernsey Bar making the total 138, which is very different from the 1970s when there were just a handful of us. In fact, de Vic told me that, in 1970, he and his then partner, Graham Dorey, were the only two advocates in the island aged under 40.’

As the legal landscape has changed and become more sophisticated and complex in the last 30 years, so Carey Olsen has grown and developed.

Advocate Carey continued: ‘One of my areas of specialism is investment funds law which has grown significantly in Guernsey in recent years. I’ve been involved since its inception in the island and have seen it grow into a sector which now manages funds to the value of more than £140bn.

‘The firm has had a long-standing strategy of believing that size and scale are good for our clients, good for Guernsey and therefore good for us. As the island has become a bigger player internationally, it’s meant that law firms have had to have a sufficient breadth of skills to respond to clients’ needs. So the merger with Olsens in Jersey was a far-sighted move and one that other law firms have followed, in one form or another.’

He said establishing the Carey Olsen office in London had also placed the firm prominently in one of the world’s main financial centres.

‘What these developments have meant for our staff is that they’ll be working for a variety of different clients and undertaking the type of work that is intellectually stimulating and fulfilling – and as complex as anything they would be dealing with in the City.’

His son agreed that the work was interesting and the firm acted for some of the world’s leading corporations and financial institutions.

‘That means that much of the work that comes our way is complex and multi-faceted, which makes it challenging.’

They are the latest father and son to work at the firm, echoing its former name, Carey and Son, which dated back to the time in the 1920s when Sir Victor was joined by his son, Michael, Sir de Vic’s father.