Ledingham Chalmers marks continued growth in Inverness with office move

On top of the 11 people who joined since January last year, five new hires have come on board over the last couple of months: senior associate Christina McKerrow in corporate and paralegal Amy Manson in residential property joined in May; senior solicitor Eve Cooper, paralegal Lisa Sime and administrator Bethany Chisholm start with the private client team from another Inverness-based legal firm today.

On 3 June all our teams based in York House, Church Street and Kintail House, Beechwood Business Park, moved to Ord House in nearby Cradlehall Business Park.

The move brings together 49 colleagues with expertise in corporate, rural, litigation, commercial property, employment law and private client law on one site and comes almost 25 years to the day since we opened our Kintail House office. We had a second presence in York House, Church Street, since acquiring Anderson Shaw & Gilbert in November 2022.

Over the years, our focus in Inverness has evolved beyond what remains a strong public sector client base and specialised business law practice to the full-service model that has served us so well in Aberdeen.

While all disciplines have seen growth, the private client team has expanded significantly since 2021 — from a headcount of two to 24.

The office environment

This move represents our commitment to growth and sustainability as well as a continued investment in our people — and the environments in which they work. Ultimately this can only enhance the provision of what we know is a valuable service for our clients.

The two-storey, stand-alone office with just under 500m² floor space, has energy saving features including LED lighting and an air source heating system.

Aside from those important environmental credentials too, this new office has other benefits for our colleagues including dedicated private working, meeting, quiet and social spaces with lots of natural light. It’s the first step in a wider review of our firm-wide property requirements.

Promotions

Staying with the Highland capital, there were two promotions in the Inverness private client team this year on 1 April. Partner JP Campbell joined the firm’s board while Laura Marwick stepped up to associate.

Promotions in Aberdeen saw Pamela Sargent in commercial property move to senior associate; Rosie Allan in family law to associate and Hollie Cavanagh in litigation to senior solicitor.

Two lawyers have also returned to the firm in the last two months: associate Alanah Mills in Aberdeen’s employment law team and solicitor Laila Kennedy in litigation in Edinburgh.

Plus, four trainee solicitors will remain with Ledingham Chalmers in September when they qualify. Joanne Mitchell and Ross Peddie will be based in Aberdeen in the commercial litigation and corporate teams respectively, while Meredith Roulston-Plant will have a pan-Scotland role in the rural discipline. In Inverness, Kasia Adamska-Paterson will work in the corporate team.

We’re committed to sustainable growth and that depends on having the right people in the right roles, we have thoroughly impressive colleagues working with us during what is an exciting period for our firm, but also at a time when we’re operating against the backdrop of an incredibly competitive nationwide recruitment and client retention market.

All of these promotions and appointments recognise the talent of each of these remarkable lawyers and their contribution to the firm, and its ambitious growth plans.

Our headcount across all our offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness and Stirling is the highest it has been since we became an LLP in 2006: 214, including 23 partners.