Stephen Humphreys, formerly partner with Shepherd & Wedderburn and latterly litigation consultant with BTO, brings extensive housing litigation experience and social housing sector knowledge acting for landlords.

Rona McLeod joins from the Legal Services Agency where she was deputy head of the housing & court team, and brings a wealth of technical knowledge and defender Sheriff Court and Tribunal experience.

John Ballantine also joins from LSA where he specialised in actions for defended evictions and other heritable matters, and Alex Hendrikson, formerly housing adviser with the Shelter Edinburgh community team, joins as a second-year trainee assigning from the Scottish Government Legal Service.

Shelter national legal services manager Andy Knox said: “We are delighted to welcome these new members to the team.

“Their breadth of experience and specialist technical ability will prove a real asset for Shelter law service in tackling the national housing emergency Scotland is facing, and allow the team to continue to test housing law in Scotland from an equality and human rights approach, engaging in strategic litigation wherever appropriate.”