Why Marsden? Sally Gardner

As a people business, our people are vital to us. We wanted to share some of the stories of our consultants and why they chose to work at Marsden.

Sally Gardner joined Marsden 14 years ago and is a director in our private practice team. She has an international portfolio of clients and recruits lawyers of all levels into London, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Australia. Sally has had an interesting career as a recruiter and has lived and worked all over the world. Her civil engineer father raised his family in various African countries, and Sally knew from an early age that she wanted to live and work internationally.

She trained and practised as a lawyer in Leeds and Manchester but found the work and the environment too restrictive. Her move into legal recruitment was suggested by a contact and Sally thought that it would be a great way to use her legal sector knowledge, people skills and creativity in another way. A recruitment career also offered her the opportunity to be more entrepreneurial and manage her own working pattern. As the first recruiter hired for a newly created firm based in Leeds and Manchester, she found that she loved it.

In 1997 she decided to move to Hong Kong—just after the handover to China and just before the Asian financial crisis—and while there set up the legal division for a major professional services recruiter. After five years she moved to London but continued to focus on international recruitment.

Having then experienced another financial crisis in 2008 she decided it was time for a complete life change and moved to Vietnam. A Marsden contact in Australia offered her the chance to join the team there yet work remotely from Vietnam, and she recruited across the Asian legal markets, in particular Singapore, Hong Kong, and Tokyo.

Sally’s years of living and working in Africa and Asia have given her a unique understanding of the practical as well as emotional issues involved in an international move and allow her to advise first hand on all aspects of relocation. “Having lived in so many places I really understand what is like for candidates considering a move and what impact it will have on their lives, not just their careers,” she said.  

Sally has a massive network of overseas lawyers and has placed South African lawyers into roles with top tier firms in London, the Channel Islands, Dublin, Amsterdam, Istanbul, Dubai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Brisbane, and New Zealand. As well as working with lawyers from Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, she also has experience placing lawyers from Nigeria, the DRC, India, Vietnam, Russia and across Europe. Over the years her clients have stretched out across the globe and she has worked on mandates including from a range of more ‘exotic’ jurisdictions including Jakarta, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and Ulaanbaatar.

As a result of her international expertise, Sally has built lasting, long-term relationships with candidates she has placed and her ability to offer realistic and pragmatic career advice and support has meant candidates have come back to her again and again as they progress through their careers. It also means that she has worked with people at all levels, sharing her experience with more junior candidates and really understanding the goals of the more senior ones, especially women.

In 2014, Sally decided to move back to the UK with her two children to be closer to friends and family. She settled in the Lake District and has continued to work for Marsden ever since from her home office. Her flexible working arrangement also allows her to take every other Friday off. “Although I am only in the London office occasionally, we are a very close team and speak daily. I have the freedom and flexibility to work from home full-time with the support and understanding of an incredible team, which is one of the reasons why I love Marsden.

“Recruitment has given me the things no other career could, being able to travel and work on my own terms,” said Sally. “I am very lucky to have found such a good fit with Marsden.”

If you are an experienced recruiter looking to build your own practice—from whatever country you want to work from—do get in touch for a confidential chat.