Lawyer Of The Month

Jimmy Black meets corporate lawyer Robert Pirrie WS, chief executive and in-house lawyer of the Society of Writers to the Signet. Deep in the cellars of the Signet Library, there are caverns with sturdy doors, guarding some of the Scottish legal profession’s most fascinating historical treasur

War and the internet … Inna Dzhurynska sits in her Dundee flat, drafting new legislation for the government of Ukraine. She’s part of a dispersed project team funded by USAID, working online to ensure that the laws and regulations governing Ukraine’s energy markets are compatible

It’s not an insignificant mark of regard of one’s peers for an advocate to be elected Clerk of Faculty as Barney Ross was last month following a six-way contest. It’s also one about which he is typically self-effacing, and he gently points out that his observations are made in a pe

Jennifer Jack says that she was an early speaker. “My mother tells me that one of my first words was ‘organised’ – which perhaps set me on the path to becoming a lawyer,” she smiles. It’s certainly a quality that her job – as the partner leading Ha

There’s a chilly wind blowing around many of our farmhouse doors. With some 80 per cent of Scotland’s land under agricultural production and the agri-food sector now the largest area of manufacturing in the UK, farmers and growers are currently facing new threats to their livelihoods not

When Russia invaded Ukraine, there was an outpouring of sympathy from many for the nation under attack. A lawyer who decided action was needed and quickly used his professional experience to provide support to Ukrainians is John Vassiliou, a senior associate at Shepherd and Wedderburn. Mr Vassiliou,

Scottish solicitor Margaret Gribbon has dealt with many serious employment issues and cases over the years. Her experience dates back to her days of working for the Equal Opportunities Commission, followed by the Citizens Advice Bureau, and as a trade unionist before she qualified as a lawyer in the

It's just over a year since the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) was founded to represent the interests of criminal lawyers, and the organisation and its inaugural president Julia McPartlin have had a busy time since then. The SSBA was launched during a challenging period. The profession w

Rosie Walker, head of litigation and partner at Gilson Gray, didn't see law as a particularly accessible career when she was younger, and instead decided to study politics and history at the University of Edinburgh. But while she was a student, she says she realised the importance of law in society

For someone who decided to become a lawyer partly because it’s what his parents wanted him to do, John Scott QC has carved out a long and illustrious career in the profession. He has been involved in some of Scotland’s most high-profile inquiries and cases since starting out as a trainee

At the age of 12, Elaine Motion, chairman of Balfour and Manson, knew she wanted to be a lawyer. She admits to being slightly embarrassed about having that ambition at such a young age, and she isn't completely sure if it was a film or her father who most influenced her decision. “I always wan

As one of Scotland’s busiest trial counsel, Thomas Leonard Ross QC is well-known for passionately fighting for justice – in the courtroom and out of it. Most recently he has been a vocal opponent of the proposal that the historical right to trial by jury be removed where serious sexual o

Scotland's long-running police drama Taggart had a pivotal role to play in the career choice of Emma Forbes, principal procurator fiscal depute with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS). It was while watching an episode with her family when she was still at school that she first he

Despite having started studying law at the tender age of 16, Stuart Munro, managing director of Livingstone Brown, didn't have a burning desire to join the profession in his formative years. Instead, he describes it as something he “fell into”. At his local school he was expected to do w

Although Rosalie Chadwick had aspirations of being a fighter pilot, not a lawyer, she eventually decided to take the latter option partly because of what she describes as her stubborn streak. That desire to stand up to opposition, rather than shy away from heated discussion, is likely to serve her w