Craig Donnelly

Mr Donnelly joined the company a year ago today as a senior associate and has a wealth of experience in litigation and dispute resolution.

Starting working life as a recovery officer for HM Revenue & Customs, his path into legal practice has been an unusual one. Rather than study at university for a law degree, he took the Law Society of Scotland examination route to qualifying as a solicitor while working for a legal firm as a pre-diploma trainee.

He said: “Like many people, when I left school, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do but I got a taste for litigation during my time at HM Revenue & Customs.

“I moved into private practice and was encouraged by the partner I worked for to qualify as a solicitor.

“Pursuing the alternative route to qualification allowed me to work whilst studying for the exams. It’s similar to an apprenticeship and offers a way to create greater diversity in the legal profession.”

After he qualified, Mr Donnelly specialised in commercial litigation but also broadened his work out to include insolvency and financial services disputes.

The military is another field in which he has experience, becoming an Army reservist shortly after leaving school. In 2012 Mr Donnelly was deployed to Afghanistan and in 2020 he was again mobilised where he became the Military Liaison Officer to Fife in response to Covid.

He will become one of nine company directors who currently sit on the board.