Appointments

Thorntons has ushered in the new year with three promotions. Gary Mannion from the personal injury team in Dundee and Lucy Metcalf from the family law team in Edinburgh have both joined the partnership. Janice Napier has been promoted to legal director in business law within the commercial property

Roddy Harrison has joined Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP as a partner.   Mr Harrison, who is ranked Band 3 in Chambers, formerly headed up BTO Solicitors’ private client team for 16 years before becoming a partner at Dentons in 2018.

Rachael Brandon has been appointed a director at Boyd Legal. Ms Brandon, who specialises in equity release, currently manages a team of seven.

MBM Commercial has bolstered the firm’s dispute resolution practice with the appointment of Tim Edward. He joins the firm as a partner and will work closely along side Cat MacLean, head of MBM’s dispute resolution group. Mr Edward was previously a partner at Dentons and head of its comme

Burges Salmon has announced the appointment of Nigel Watson as a corporate partner to lead its employee incentives team in Edinburgh. Prior to joining Burges Salmon, Mr Watson was a partner at Brodies, where he established and led its employee benefits practice.

Aberdein Considine has appointed Greig Brown as mortgage operations director. Mr Brown, who brings almost 20 years’ experience in financial services, joins Aberdein Considine from Mortgage Advice Bureau in Scotland where he was head of operations.

Ampersand's Fiona Drysdale has been appointed as an advocate member of the Access to Justice Committee of the Scottish Civil Justice Council. She is deputy clerk of the Faculty of Advocates and clerk to the board of examiners. She is also an advocacy skills instructor on the advocates’ tr

A new panel of standing junior counsel to the Scottish government sees Paul Reid appointed as first standing junior. The role of second standing junior is taken by Lesley Irvine, while another 19 members of Faculty and a solicitor advocate complete the list.

Aidan O’Neill QC was called to the bar of Ireland this morning by the country's most senior judge, Chief Justice Frank Clarke. Mr O'Neill's legal practice now covers three jurisdictions: Scotland, England & Wales, and Ireland. He is a member of Ampersand Advocates in Scotland and of Matrix

Ampersand's Paul Reid has been appointed first standing junior to the Scottish government, alongside new appointments to the government’s panel of standing junior counsel for Tim Young and Dominic Scullion. They join fellow Ampersand member Laura-Anne van der Westhuizen on the panel.

Advocate Catherine Smith has been appointed to the Scottish Civil Justice Council for a three-year term. Ms Smith is a member of Arnot Manderson Advocates. Her principal areas of work are reparation and public law. She specialises in personal injury, judicial review and clinical negli

Balfour and Manson has promoted two of its associate solicitors to partner, effective from the beginning of the new year. The new partners are Martin Walker who joined the firm as a trainee in 2015 before becoming a solicitor in its litigation team, and experienced private client specialist, Graeme

Six new members have been appointed to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Scotland Committee. Mariam Ahmed, Charlie McMillan, Lindsey Millen and Tatora Mukushi take up their posts in the new year while Johanna Boyd and Peter Kelly will join the committee in January 2022.

An intellectual property associate at Thorntons has qualified as a chartered trade mark attorney and will now head up the firm’s in-house trade mark agency. Kirsty Stewart joined Thorntons in 2014 following her traineeship and works within the intellectual property, technology and media team.

Criminal solicitors Anna MacKay and Lucy McKenna have joined Scullion LAW. Ms MacKay, who joins as an associate, has specialised in criminal defence since qualifying in 2012. She trained as a prosecutor with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service and also worked for prosecutors at the Intern