Phil Jardine – helping transform Cardiff’s skyline for 40 years
Forty years is a long time. Long enough to become Blake Morgan’s longest-serving team member in Wales. Long enough to see Cardiff’s skyline transform and to have played a part in making it happen.
Phil Jardine first joined our predecessor, Morgan Bruce & Nicholas, as a student in 1983. He’s been with us ever since, through mergers, growth, challenges, and triumphs. He’s spent the last three decades as a Partner, working on projects that have changed the face of the capital city and other parts of South Wales.
Through the incredible projects we've been privileged to work on, we have quite literally been able to help change the face of the city.
He says, reflecting on the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, the BBC studios in Cardiff Bay, hospitals, universities and housing developments he has worked on delivering. In the 1990s, he sold literally dozens of former hospitals and clinics and moved hundreds of assets across Wales into the then newly formed NHS Trusts. “We can reflect with pride that we had a small part to play in making Wales a better place to live and work.”
Growing up in the South Wales Valleys in a family of teachers, miners, steelworkers, and even shepherds, Phil had no legal connections. He says the profession back then wasn’t particularly welcoming if you couldn’t boast the right school or the right parents.
“Nepotism was rife,” he says. “But I always believed in equality of opportunity, not the kind that comes from privilege or money.”
Four decades on, Phil is Chair of the 113-year-old Cardiff Business Club. He’s a former Director of Cardiff City FC, the team he’s followed since the 1960s. At 6 am most mornings, you’ll find him at the gym. And for the past 21 years, after tens of thousands of miles of commuting, he’s successfully convinced everyone he lives in Cardiff while secretly enjoying life in Llandysul, West Wales, a place he calls “paradise”.
We caught up with Phil to talk about four decades in property law, the lessons learned from brilliant mentors, and why life is too short not to explore it fully.
Looking back at 40 years with the firm, what kept you here?
Law and the firm have given me a life I could never have dreamed of. It’s opened doors to people, places, and opportunities that have enriched everything for me. When I started, Morgan Bruce & Nicholas was tiny compared to Blake Morgan now, but it was full of very high achievers, the best in their fields.
We have a history to be proud of, and I've always been very proud of who we are and the impact of our work.
This year marks 150 years since Walter Morgan put up his brass plate in Mill Street, Pontypridd, an office I loved working in during the late 1980s. Every day was an adventure, a fast-learning experience and a huge amount of fun.
Who were your biggest influences?
I must mention Emyr Lewis, a former partner at the firm, who was an Articled Clerk when I arrived in Cardiff as a student on a year-long placement in 1983. We shared a room in the attic of the office, and I don’t think I have ever met such a certified genius. Working with Emyr was transformative. He loves the law, and he taught me the art of making the complicated simple and understandable —the hallmark of brilliance.
Guy Clarke, a former Managing Partner of the firm, was my immediate ‘boss’ for a decade and a lifelong mentor and friend. He gave me a chance to take on greater responsibilities both with clients and in management.
Robin Havard was our Chair during a difficult decade after the Millennium, and his support was invaluable as we faced challenges and times of personal self-doubt when the future seemed bleak. I am indebted to them all and to many others, too.
What do you enjoy most about the law?
The people you meet. You can't love your clients too much.
They will see you through your career, your social life, and well beyond. I’ve always enjoyed fantastic relationships with clients and every kind of professional, from bankers, architects, surveyors and agents to accountants and planners. Whenever I’m out on the streets or in bars and restaurants, there are always friends to greet —people we’ve helped make something happen for. I worry about any lawyer who just does their hours in the office. They’re missing out!
How do you manage work-life balance?
Twenty-one years ago, we moved our family to Llandysul in West Wales, which is my version of paradise. Ever since, through tens of thousands of miles of commuting, I’ve successfully pulled off the trick of convincing everyone I live in Cardiff whilst enjoying the benefits of a completely different world. I’m at the gym with my friend Dai Bryant at least four days a week at 6 am. My parents are a healthy 93 and 91, which offers some hope for the future!
I love live music and catch a gig at least every fortnight. I’ve seen The Who over 40 times. And I travel as much as I can. The world is a big place, and there’s a lot to see, with only a short time to see it. My youngest son Wil is a future trainee at Blake Morgan, and he’s in South America for the next six months. I must admit to being a tad jealous, as this is the one continent I’m yet to visit.
What advice would you give someone starting in law today?
Open up and own your mistakes, because they’re rarely as bad as they seem. Build relationships with your clients because they’ll see you through your career and beyond. Get out of the office and into the world where the real connections happen.
Embrace challenges that push you outside your comfort zone. And most importantly, find your 'other world' outside law. Life is about more than billable hours.
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