BLM announces Scottish promotions and appointments

Insurance and risk law specialist BLM has announced 12 partner promotions and 33 associate promotions, including five in the firm’s Scotland business stream.

Iain Buchanan, who has been with BLM – and its Scottish predecessor HBM Sayers – for 10 years has become a partner. Buchanan, who is based in the Glasgow office, specialises in defending large loss and catastrophic injury claims for insurance customers.
 
Also in Glasgow, Victoria Anderson, Kelly Brotherhood and Zoe McDonnell have become associates and Claire Raftery has stepped up to become an associate in Edinburgh. 
 
Anderson and McDonnell work in BLM’s health and safety team defending companies and individuals facing criminal and regulatory prosecutions and providing representation at Fatal Accident Inquiries.
 
Anderson has been with the firm and its predecessor for nearly eight years. She trained and practiced in civil litigation before moving into the specialised team. McDonnell joined BLM in 2014, bringing with her experience of working for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service to 2007 and thereafter working in criminal defence work until joining BLM.
 
Brotherhood, who has been with the firm and its predecessor for more than 14 years, works in the field of civil litigation, mainly defending personal injury claims. She has niche experience in cases where fraud is suspected, with specific interest and notable customer wins in road traffic cases involving no vehicle contact or low speed impact. She has also successfully defended several “phantom passenger” cases for insurer customers.
 
Claire Raftery, who is dual-qualified to practice law in both Scotland and England and Wales, joined the firm in 2014 and has since specialised in defending healthcare professionals in regulatory proceedings and clinical negligence claims.
 
Claire Thomas has joined the firm’s family law team. She studied Scots Law and the Law of England and Wales, spent nearly five years as an advocate prior to joining BLM and has extensive experience of child and family law, including international child abductions, contentious child residence cases and cohabitation cases. She will work with family law partners Siobhan Kelly and Caroline Gillespie and their colleagues.