Movers & Shakers: Scotland

2021

February

• Burness Paull has promoted five new partners; Catriona Macallan and Paul Scullion (corporate finance), Caroline Maciver (construction and projects), and Claire MacPherson and Fiona Clarke (private client).

• Simpson & Marwick has acquired Alston Law, specialising in lender services

• Dentons’ Scottish 20-strong team, led by partners Eleanor Kerr and Alexis Graham, is joining Shepherd and Wedderburn.on 1 April 2021

• Balfour + Manson has appointed Michaela Guthrie to senior associate in the clinical negligence and personal injury team

• Stronachs has announced the creation of two roles within the firm’s estate agency and leasing teams. Jacqui Dougray has been promoted to estate agency manager and Liane Munro has been promoted to leasing manager.

• Miller Hendry has welcomed Sharon Somerville as a senior corporate solicitor in the commercial team based at the Dundee office.

• Miller Hendry has made a number of senior promotions. Michael Johnston and Samera Ali have been promoted to senior solicitors in the firm’s Perth office and Lindsay Kirkwood has been promoted to associate in the private client department.

• Aberdein Considine has announced a number of promotions: Sarah Jack to associate (commercial real estate) and Megan Hannah (family law, Glasgow), Erin Shand (corporate and commercial, Aberdeen), Tom Main (family, Aberdeen), and conveyancing specialists Stevie Kelman (Banchory & Stonehaven), Jordan Watt (Peterhead & Ellon) and Mairi Innes (Perth & Dundee) have all been promoted to senior solicitor.

• Innes & Mackay has named Laura Cormack as a director

• Gilson Gray has appointed Eddy Winters as business development director

March

• Burness Paull has appointed financial services specialist Caroline Stevenson as head of its dedicated FS regulatory team

• BTO has recruited new partner Angus Wood to its commercial dispute resolution practice

• Dentons has appointed Claire Armstrong to the newly-created role of Scotland managing partner

• Dentons’ Scottish private client team is joining Shepherd and Wedderburn on 1 April 2021

• DWF has appointed Ann Frances Cooney as partner in its employment practice

• TLT has appointed Peter McGladrigan as a legal director in Edinburgh

• Shepherd and Wedderburn has appointed associate John Vassiliou to its immigration team

• Gilson Gray has strengthened its real estate practice with the acquisition of East Lothian-based law outfit, Practical Legal Solutions

• Balfour + Manson has announced two promotions in its litigation team: Adelle Walker is promoted to senior associate and Lauren Smith to associate

• Womble Bond Dickinson has strengthened its real estate practice in Edinburgh with the appointment of Clare Lamond who joins as a managing associate

April

• TLT employment partner Jonathan Rennie has been appointed to Sport Resolutions’ panel of arbitrators and mediators as a legal arbitrator

• Harper Macleod has named eight newly promoted partners: Natalie Dissake (debt and asset recovery); Amy Walsh (business development); Kathleen Martin (private client); Marina Harper (personal injury); Andrew Mackenzie (dispute resolution); Laura McCorquodale (dispute resolution); Craig Ramsay (corporate); and Paul Macdonald (corporate).

• BTO has appointed Gregor Mitchell as head of its private client team based in Edinburgh

• BTO has announced that partner, Laura Salmond has been accredited as an employment law specialist by The Law Society of Scotland

• Anderson Strathern has announced a merger with Lerwick-based Neil Risk Solicitor and Estate Agent

• Pinsent Masons has announced the promotion of 19 new partners, including Rona Kostulin (energy, real estate) and Ronan Lambe (energy) in Edinburgh

• MacRoberts has appointed a specialist anti-money laundering team, headed by ex-Law Society of Scotland AML specialist Fraser Sinclair

• Brodies has appointed three lawyers to its planning law practice. Sarah Stewart - senior associate, Aberdeen, Kendra Richardson – associate, Glasgow and senior solicitor George Sismey- Durrant in Edinburgh

• Allan McDougall Solicitors has appointed Alice Bowman as a solicitor in the employment law team

• Lindsays has promoted Louise Norris to partner in the commercial property team, based in Glasgow

• Shepherd and Wedderburn has made four partner promotions: Kevin Clancy (health and safety/regulatory); Matt Phillip (commercial disputes); Nigel Sievwright (property and infrastructure); and Fraser Grant (property and infrastructure

• Clyde & Co has announced the promotion of 16 equity partners across its global network: in the Edinburgh office, Sarah Crewes (insurance – IFPD) has been promoted

• CMS has announced the promotion of 52 new partners globally, to include: Catriona Aldridge (employment, Edinburgh); Claire Wallis (real estate, Edinburgh); Christopher Dickson (construction, Glasgow); Mike McColl (real estate, Glasgow); and Neeraj Thomas (intellectual property, Glasgow)

• Mitchells Roberton has announced that Morag Inglis has been made chair of the firm following the retirement of Donald Reid. Reid will remain as a consultant.

• A new law firm, Esson & Aberdein, has been launched by Joni Esson and has recruited paralegal Shari O’Hare and Lynn Nesbitt, a qualified surveyor and estate agency specialist

• Shepherd and Wedderburn has announced the promotion of Vikki Henderson and Peter Alderdice to legal director with effect from May

• Morton Fraser has appointed restructuring and insolvency lawyer Yvonne Brady as head of strategy – restructuring and insolvency

• Gilson Gray Financial Management, the investment arm of Gilson Gray, has appointed Steve Herkes, as its new managing director

• Ledingham Chalmers LLP has made five senior promotions: Sarah McCaffery (litigation, Inverness), Mhari Michie and Pamela Sargent (commercial property – Aberdeen) have been promoted to associates and in residential property Claire Ogston has been promoted to senior associate and Claire Woodward to senior solicitor

• Ledingham Chalmers LLP has announced that David Geddie, who joined the firm in 2019 when Simpson & Marwick Aberdeen’s estate agency team transferred to the firm, has retired as a consultant

• Lindsays has announced the appointment of two new joiners: Qasim Ali (corporate – Glasgow) and Leann Brown (private client – Dundee), and Rachel Holt has been promoted from senior solicitor to associate in the personal injury team

• Michaela Dougan, a senior solicitor at Thorntons in Edinburgh, has been recognised with litigator status by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers

• MBM Commercial has made a number of senior promotions. In the dispute resolution team, Iain McDougall has been promoted to director and Jamie Apted has also been promoted to senior associate. In addition, in the corporate team, Hannah Brazel has been promoted to senior associate

• Mitchells Roberton has announced that Professor Roderick Paisley will join the firm as a consultant

• Eversheds Sutherland has promoted 17 lawyers to legal director. Edinburgh- based Sarah Burnside (financial services) has been promoted

• Emma Smith, HR business partner at Burness Paull has been appointed inclusion and wellbeing manager

May

• Brodies has welcomed nine new partners, including five lateral hires and four internal promotions. The lateral hires are Allan Cairns and Colin Keenan who join the firm’s real estate practice, litigator, Gareth Hale, and corporate lawyers, Martin Ewan and David Millar. Brodies has promoted Mark  Meiklejohn (banking and finance), Craig Watt (litigation), Hayley Robertson (personal and family) and Nick Marshall (personal and family) to partners.

• Morton Fraser has appointed Jenny Dickson as its chairman.

• Anderson Strathern has appointed European dealmaker Max Scharbert as a director in the corporate practice

• Rural partner Linsey Barclay-Smith has joined Anderson Strathern from Morton Fraser.

• MacRoberts has promoted Gary Baines to partner in the firm’s corporate practice.

• Dentons has announced the promotion of seven new partners with effect from 1 May 2021. In Scotland, Paul Young (non-contentious construction, Edinburgh) and Lyndsey O’Connor (real estate, Glasgow) have been promoted.

• DLA Piper has announced the appointment of Stuart Murdoch as partner in its Edinburgh litigation & regulatory practice

• Addleshaw Goddard has promoted Jan Gruter as partner (investment management) in the Glasgow office

• Balfour + Manson have announced three key appointments to its Edinburgh office. Martin Lavery has joined the firm as a private client solicitor. Also joining the firm is residential property solicitor Will Wallace. Meanwhile, newly appointed associate, Carolyn Jackson joins the litigation division.

• Burness Paull has appointed Bob Ruddiman, an energy specialist, as a partner and head of the energy team.

• Aberdein Considine has promoted Leanne Warrender, senior associate for residential conveyancing services, in Aberdeen, to partner and Laura Browne has become a partner in the banking litigation team in Glasgow.

• John Maillie has been re-elected for a third consecutive three-year term as location head for DAC Beachcroft in Scotland

• Clyde & Co has promoted Ann Bonomy to legal director in the Glasgow office.

• Pinsent Masons has appointed corporate oil and gas specialist Rosalie Chadwick as global head of oil and gas.

• Aberdein Considine has made a number of senior promotions. Kayleigh MacLaren, associate director, corporate property services in Aberdeen has been promoted to director, and Danny Anderson, a corporate solicitor also in Aberdeen, becomes senior solicitor. Eleanor Comfort, associate in Dyce has been promoted to senior associate. Katie Hutchinson has re- joined as a senior solicitor in Westhill having previously been a solicitor with the firm. In Glasgow, Catriona Ramsay, employment solicitor, and John Di Paola, banking litigation solicitor, have both been promoted to senior associate, while Joelle Neep, banking litigation senior solicitor becomes an associate.

• Morton Fraser has appointed Martin Minton as a senior solicitor to its agricultural and rural team and Craig Turok as a senior associate to its real estate & infrastructure team.

• Solicitor Mike Piggot has joined Lindsays’ dispute resolution and litigation team based in Dundee.

• Miller Hendry has appointed Fiona Kelly as a solicitor in the Court Department in Dundee.

September

• Pinsent Masons has named Michael Watson as its new head of climate change mitigation and sustainability team, and appointed former OFGEM general counsel, Euan McVicar as senior climate adviser.

• Pinsent Masons has appointed oil and gas specialist, Bruce McLeod, as a partner based in its Aberdeen office.

• MacRoberts has welcomed seven former trainees as newly qualified lawyers. Christie Carswell, Calum Lavery, Douglas Leslie, Michael Gallagher, Sarah Milne, Nicola Kelly, Nikita Sandhu and Sarah Milne will be joining the firm’s construction, corporate finance, employment and projects teams working throughout Scotland, the UK and internationally.

• Blackadders has promoted six newly- qualified solicitors to new roles on completion of their two-year solicitor traineeship with the firm. Bethany Buchanan and Paul Nash will join the corporate and commercial team in Dundee and Glasgow, while Emma Grunenberg, Fiona Knox and Blythe Petrie will become part of the private client team in Aberdeen and Dundee. Faye Lipton will take up a role with the family law team across Dundee and Glasgow.

• Elizabeth Rose has joined Levy and McRae as a senior associate. She specialises in medical negligence and personal injury cases

• Kennedys has announced the promotion of 86 associates to senior associate and introduced a new legal director role, with 44 legal directors and two special counsel. Louise Houliston (liability) has been promoted to legal director in Edinburgh, while Ross Forest (insurance) and Kris Kane (liability) have been promoted to senior associates.

• Addleshaw Goddard has welcomed Ian Le Pelley to the firm’s transport practice.

• Blackadders has appointed James Martin as a senior solicitor in the residential conveyancing team based in the Dundee office.

• Gillespie Macandrew has appointed Lisa Macpherson-Fletcher as tax director.

• Aberdein Considine has welcomed Emma Roman as a senior solicitor in the family law team.

• Murray Beith Murray has made two senior promotions in the tax group. Laura Brown, who has been with Murray Beith Murray since 2016, has been promoted to director of tax, David Windram has been promoted from senior tax assistant to tax manager.

• Gibson Kerr has appointed Nadine Martin as a new family law associate. She will be based in Glasgow and will be supporting the firm’s family law service to clients in the west of Scotland.

• Balfour + Manson has announced Taylor Henry, Klaudia Wasilewska and Emily Deans have qualified as solicitors at the firm

October

• Shepherd and Wedderburn has announced that Louisa Knox, a partner in the pensions team, has been appointed as a non-executive board director of Scottish Financial Enterprise.

• Wright Johnston & Mackenzie has promoted planning specialist Nicola Martin, who is based in Edinburgh, to partner.

• Spencer West has expanded into Scotland with finance partner David Morton, a former DLA Piper banking and finance partner, based in the office in Edinburgh.

• Three partners at Shoosmiths have been appointed to assume key managerial roles. Janette Speed, real estate partner and previously head of Edinburgh has been named head of Scotland for Shoosmiths.  Alison Gilson, head of corporate for Shoosmiths in Scotland is now also head of the Edinburgh office. Real estate partner Barry McKeown has been confirmed as the head of the Glasgow office, an announcement that comes as Shoosmiths prepares to open a new 5,000 square metre office space within The Garment Factory in Glasgow’s business and innovation district.

• Shepherd and Wedderburn has promoted 16 associates to senior associate in its latest round of internal promotions, while 12 solicitors have become associates, all effective 1 October 2021. The new senior associates are: Neil Casey (property and infrastructure disputes); Laura McMillan (commercial disputes); Nathaniel Buckingham (property and infrastructure disputes); Leigh Herd (property and infrastructure disputes; Andrew Winton (commercial disputes); James Bulpitt (banking and finance); Katy Fitzpatrick (banking and finance); Alexandra Lane (rural); Pamela Binnie (property; Emma De Sailly (rural); Siobhan Dunphy (property); John Townsend (property); Emma Guthrie (property); Magdalena MacLean (planning); John Vassiliou (immigration; Siobhan Dunphy (property); John Townsend (property); Emma Guthrie (property); Magdalena MacLean (planning); John Vassiliou (immigration); Dan Boynton (pensions); Kara Gallagher (infrastructure); Lucy Mulreany (banking and finance); Kirsten McKinnon; Craig Brodie (property; Alistair Kennedy (infrastructure); and Thomas McFarlane (commercial disputes). 

• Wright Johnston & Mackenzie has promoted Stephen Grant, who works in the corporate team in Glasgow, to senior associate. Meanwhile, the firm has promoted Amy McDougall, who works across both Glasgow and Edinburgh, to senior solicitor.

• Lindsays has appointed Alison McKay as a director in the private client team based in Glasgow.  Thorntons has welcomed ten newly qualified solicitors across five of its offices with effect from September 2021. Among the recruits are six in the Edinburgh office – Thea Rock in family, Cameron Mathieson in wills, trusts and succession, Charlotte Parker Smith in corporate, Kerri McIver in employment, Simon Holbrey in commercial property and Danielle Connell in intellectual property. Thornton’s Glasgow team welcomes Ryan McCuaig in commercial litigation while the firm’s Cupar office adds Ross Cargill to their wills, trusts and succession department. Additionally, Sarah High joins the family team in Dundee, while the Forfar offices welcomes Lauren Smith in wills, trusts and succession.

• Thorntons has welcomed five new solicitors to the firm. Joining as legal directors, based in the Dundee office, are Karen Cornwell, in dispute resolution and claims and Ruth Pyatt in wills, trusts and succession planning. Also joining the Dundee office is corporate solicitor Aadil Anwar, while newly appointed corporate solicitor Sabihah Ahmed and employment associate Andrew Wallace will work primarily from Thorntons’ Edinburgh location.

• Miller Samuel Hill Brown has appointed Siobhan Kelly as a consultant and head of the family law department.

• Macleod and MacCallum has announced that Gemma Johnston and Rory Carson have qualified as solicitors with the firm into the family law and residential conveyancing teams respectively. 

• Motorcycle Law Scotland has appointed Lee Fisher as a legal executive.

December

• MacRoberts has re-elected Neil Kennedy as managing partner for a second four-year term, commencing 1 May 2022.

• MacRoberts has appointed Jonathan Gaskell as a partner.

• Morton Fraser has been joined by Chris McLeish and Andrew Walker as partners..

• Shepherd and Wedderburn has announced that it will be relocating its Edinburgh head office to 1 Haymarket Square towards the end of 2022.

• Livingstone Brown has moved to a new office in Glasgow based at 250 West George Street.

• MacRoberts has appointed Rod Hutchison as a legal director.

• Thorntons has announced that Elaine Sym, a legal director based in the firm’s Forfar office, has been accredited as a family law specialist by the Law Society of Scotland.

• Womble Bond Dickinson has made a number of new managing associate and associate promotions. In Edinburgh, Rosie Gollan has become an associate in the dispute resolution team.

• Fiona MacGregor has joined Dentons as counsel in the Glasgow office.

• Harper Macleod has appointed Laura Meldrum as a business development associate.

• Ampersand has welcomed back Ian Forrester QC to practice.

• Themis Advocates has announced that Steven Walker QC has been appointed arbitrator member of the Saudi Center for Commercial Arbitration.