Anderson Strathern partner elected ARDL chair

Anderson Strathern partner Catriona Watt has been elected chair of the 1,000 strong UK Association of Regulatory and Disciplinary Lawyers (ARDL).

Ms Watt is the first woman, first solicitor and first Scot to lead the organisation.

Her first duty as chair was to address an audience of 500 lawyers, regulators, QCs and judges at the organisation’s annual dinner at The Savoy hotel in London.

ARDL was established in 2002 to bring together lawyers from all over the UK working in the fledgling field of professional regulation.

Since then, the number of regulators and the number of complaints about professionals from the public has increased.

Ms Watt leads the professional regulation group at Anderson Strathern where they act for the General Medical Council, General Dental Council, General Pharmaceutical Council, Architects Registration Board, General Teaching Council for Scotland, the Scottish Social Services Council, the Royal College of Nursing and the Institute of Chartered Accountants for Scotland, among others.

Following her appointment, she said: “It is a genuine honour our to have been elected to this position.

“I aim to serve the membership of the whole of the UK and to bring the knowledge and expertise which ARDL has to the widest possible audience.”

Ms Watt previously worked as a journalist with F Johnston & Co, Radio Forth and Radio Clyde and at BBC Scotland Television News and Current Affairs.

She left journalism to study law and gained a First Class Honours degree from Edinburgh University.

She qualified as a solicitor in 2002 and has worked at Anderson Strathern since then.

She became a partner in 2013 and has had responsibility for marketing and business development since November 2014.

The majority of her work involves professional regulation, medical negligence and fatal accidents. She has been a member of ARDL since 2005, was elected onto the ARDL committee in 2012 and was elected Chair in May 2015 following the AGM.