• Eight promotions set to boost firm’s success for 2024/25

Anderson Strathern has announced the promotion of five new partners and three directors, which will strengthen the independent law firm’s services across several growth areas.

The move bolsters the company’s rural, private, public and third sector, real estate, employment, private client, and energy teams, as it completes a successful year of growth.

Partners

• Karen Craig has progressed through the ranks in the firm’s Rural Land and Business department. She provides expertise on the sale and purchase of estates, farms and forests, security work, renewable energy, as well as residential, agricultural and sporting leases. A specialist in telecommunication mast leases, Karen works closely with her colleagues in property litigation on contentious matters. She is also a member of the Crown Estate Scotland team.

• Gillian Harkness-McKinlay is a corporate, commercial, charities and public law solicitor, specialising in the public and charities sectors. She has extensive experience of managing large-scale public sector outsourcing projects and third sector mergers, advising on charity governance, community renewables projects and in advising on project finance. She is a member of the Charity Law sub-committee of the Law Society of Scotland and the ICAS Charity Panel.

• With a broad range of real estate experience, Anne Lawri ehas a diverse client base across the public and private sectors. She deals with commercial leasing, investment acquisitions and disposals and also advises clients on asset and estate management strategy and property development matters.

• Jon McGee is a member of the Commercial Real Estate team in Glasgow, and provides support across property, conveyancing and estate management. Jon is lead adviser to several of the firm’s public sector and further/higher education clients, advising on major infrastructure and utilities projects, and manages a diverse caseload ranging from small redundant asset sites to major investment and infrastructure projects.

• Robin Turnbull is a specialist in employment law accredited by the Law Society of Scotland. He is now one of the most experienced Tribunal advocates at his level in Scotland, with a success rate of over 95% and no losses since 2015. He represents some of the UK’s largest and most prominent employers, global corporations, SMEs, estates, educational institutions, GPs, and public bodies. Robin also covers niche areas such as service user discrimination, agricultural worker rights and the implications of artificial intelligence in the workplace.

Directors

• Shirley Evans provides specialist advice on property and commercial litigation matters to private and public sector clients.  She has a wealth of experience in the property and housing sectors, including lease disputes and dilapidations, anti-social behaviour actions, servitude, access and title disputes, irritancy, declarator and interdict actions, unauthorised occupiers of land, actions for eviction, contractual disputes, judicial reviews, land compensation claims and damages claims. She is recognised as a leader in her field for social housing by legal directory Chambers & Partners and sits as a Legal Member in the First-Tier Tribunal for Scotland (Housing and Property Chamber).

• Laura Murray works in the high-net-worth team within the private client department. She advises on all aspects of private client work including tax, trusts, succession and estate planning as well as wills, powers of attorney and estate administration. She is a Notary Public and a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

• Based in Anderson Strathern’s rural land and business team, Stuart Orr specialises in renewable property work. He has extensive experience across the full spectrum of clean energy projects for landowners and developers, together with renewable project finance work for funders and borrowers. Many of these projects have included co-located aspects, constrained sites, and multiple parties. In 2024 he was awarded highly commended in Associate category at the Scottish Professional Awards.

Fraser Geddes, chair at Anderson Strathern said: “We’ve had a very successful 2024 to date, moving our Edinburgh team to a new state-of-the-art headquarters in Capital Square and opening an office in Kirkwall, Orkney to boost our growth across the highlands and islands. We’re aiming for continued growth in 2024/25, and our newly promoted directors and partners will support those ambitions. We are proud of our continued commitment to promoting talent from within the business.”