Scottish law firm Anderson Strathern has appointed four new directors.
The appointments, which bolster the firm’s public sector, rural, private client and professional regulation teams, were assisted by its agile working policy, which allows all staff - including those at director level - the flexibility to meet personal commitments alongside their professional roles.
Bruce Farquhar, partner and chair at Anderson Strathern, said: “It’s no secret that law firms are having to work hard to recruit the best people right now.
“The fact that we can do so is testament to our commitment to offering agile working from day one - it is definitely giving us an edge at a time when professionals of this calibre have so many options to choose from.”
Lorraine Currie, one of only four solicitors accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Freedom of Information and Data Protection Law, has joined Anderson Strathern following eight-years at the Scottish Information Commissioner’s office.
Having recently returned to work after having her first child, she credited the flexible working policy for enabling her to return to private practice while maintaining her work-life balance.
Tim Macdonald, an agricultural law specialist, brings almost a decade of experience working on the purchase and sale of farms and estates, agricultural tenancies and farming partnerships.
“It is important for me to be able to balance my role as the parent of three young children with my legal career, so when Anderson Strathern outlined their options for flexible working it was a big draw for me,” he commented.
Caroline Pringle joins as a senior member of the private client team, following a decade of experience advising families, trustees and organisations on their estate planning and asset protection, with a particular focus on succession planning, inheritance and capital gains tax mitigation.
She is the former acting director of regulation at the Scottish Social Security Council.
Chris Weir has also been appointed director within the professional regulation team, having worked closely with Anderson Strathern in his previous role.
Separately, Burges Salmon has made five new partner appointments, across teams including property, planning, dispute resolution, projects and corporate.
The latest partner promotions include Claire MacLean in the property team. She was one of the original team members who joined Burges Salmon when the firm launched in Edinburgh in 2019.
MacLean now has more than 16 years’ experience, with a particular emphasis on projects within the energy sector acting for developers, investors and funders and in the built environment sector, specialising in cross border portfolio transactions, hotels, industrial and offices.
Alex Minhinick becomes a planning and compulsory purchase partner, having trained and qualified with Burges Salmon in 2010.
Acting on a range of projects for developers, landowners and local authority clients, he has particular experience in compulsory purchase compensation claims, energy, power and utilities projects, infrastructure projects, and developments relating to mines and minerals.
Charlotte Whitaker, in dispute resolution, acts on large-scale health and safety investigations, inquests and public inquiries, with particular expertise in advising clients at the incident response phase to multi-fatality incidents and has extensive experience in acting for clients in sensitive and high profile criminal investigations, prosecutions and inquests.
She is currently leading on two multi-fatality health and safety investigations and is a lead solicitor appointed to advise the UK Covid-19 Public Inquiry chaired by Baroness Hallett.
Alec Whiter in projects trained and qualified with Burges Salmon in 2013. A member of the firm’s energy projects team, he has experience of advising developers, investors, government, funders, licensed suppliers, major energy users and contractors on all aspects of projects, regulation, commercial agreements and project finance transactions in the energy and waste sectors.
Alex Lloyd in corporate works across all areas of corporate finance, acting for national and international, private and public companies and institutional investors. He is a member of the firm’s technology transactions and private equity practice groups and is co-lead on the firm's BScale initiative aimed at high growth businesses.
Burges Salmon’s managing partner Roger Bull commented: “These promotions reflect our ongoing growth and investment in key sectors and practices including property, planning, dispute resolution, renewable energy and corporate finance.
“With strong technical and leadership skills, they will play an important role in ensuring we continue to provide exceptional client service and in supporting the ongoing success of the firm in the years to come.”
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