A stalwart of the Scottish legal profession, he was chair of Burness Paull until 2018. Since then, he has taken on a range of cross-sector non-executive appointments which reflect his experience and interests including chair at Lar Housing Trust, chair at Scottish Jewish Heritage Centre and governor at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Mr Rodney said: “The opportunity to work with Saxton Bampfylde brings an exciting new avenue for me professionally and enables me to assist the excellent team in developing a unique offering in the legal senior recruitment market.   

“Saxton Bampfylde has an amazing track record – 98 per cent success rate against an industry norm of 60 per cent. As they focus on the legal market in Scotland, my role is to provide wise counsel, market perspective and act as an ambassador to the firm which I am really delighted to do.”

“For 40 years I provided legal services to clients and in the last four I have been buying them. This has enabled me to see both sides of the table and provided me with a different perspective of what makes a great lawyer and leader. The selection process for the appointment of lawyers is becoming more and more sophisticated. General Counsel are much more likely to look beyond the brand and buy on the basis of a balance of specific expertise and value for money. That means there are better opportunities for new entrants to the market and that is an interesting evolution for the sector.”

Stephen Bampfylde, founder and executive chair, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Philip – the combination of deep senior legal experience, consulting and entrepreneurial expertise and his passion and enthusiasm for values-led organisations. Our team in Scotland goes from strength to strength and is expanding in size. Philip’s appointment augments the offering particularly in the identification and support of senior executive and non-executive leadership in the legal space. This is a great endorsement of our team and the vision we have in the local market.”