Ms Harkness-McKinlay joins from Burness Paull and becomes director, public sector and charities; Mr Devlin joins from Shepherd and Wedderburn and assumes the role of director, planning and environment; and Mr McMillan becomes a director, heading up the newly established corporate crime, regulatory and investigations team, joining from Dubai-based Al Tamimi & Company, the largest law firm in the Middle East. 

Ms Harkness-McKinlay brings extensive experience of project managing large-scale public sector outsourcing projects and third sector mergers, and advising on corporate governance and project finance in public sector projects. She is also a member of the Charity Law Subcommittee of the Law Society of Scotland.

Mr Devlin spent over a decade at Shepherd and Wedderburn, specialising in planning and environment law, and has worked closely with clients in the renewable energy and housebuilding sectors. He also brings strong experience in roads law, and applications for judicial review and statutory appeals to the Court of Session in planning matters. In recent years, he advised City of Edinburgh Council on various elements of the new St James Centre.

Mr McMillan worked at Dentons before joining Dubai-based Al Tamimi & Company in 2018. He takes up the role of director, heading up the newly established corporate crime, regulatory and investigations team at Anderson Strathern. He has extensive experience in advocacy, international white collar fraud cases, bribery, proceeds of crime, health and safety, and environmental-related prosecutions.

Bruce Farquhar, chair of Anderson Strathern, said: “We are committed to finding the best legal talent in Scotland and these three senior level appointments demonstrate just that. The public and third sectors, planning and the environment, corporate crime and commercial disputes are key areas of growth for Anderson Strathern so it’s an opportune time to make these strategic hires. We’re excited to have Gillian, Chris and James on board.”