Four form new Garden Stirling Burnet Family Law team

East Lothian legal firm Garden Stirling Burnet has announced four appointments as it sets up a Family Law division.

Fronting the team with 18 years of experience is legal director Claire Christie, an accredited specialist in family law, who joins from SKO Family Law Specialists.

Joining in a consultancy role is Kathryn Wilson, formerly of Melrose & Porteous, who brings 35 years of legal experience including 25 as a partner, with a particular strength in court-related matters.

Fellow consultant Angela Craig, who used to head the Family team at Garden Stirling Burnet, and family law paralegal Amanda Richardson – who has 20 years of experience running high value matrimonial cases – have also joined the team.

The new division comes after the acquisition of Garden Stirling Burnet by Glasgow-headquartered Friends Legal last September. Garden Stirling Burnet has since enjoyed rapid investment across its offices in Dunbar, Haddington, North Berwick and Tranent, and has ambitions to double headcount and turnover within the next three years.

Ms Christie said: "We wanted to take an institution which has a longstanding reputation within the local community and add the highest quality family law advice to its repertoire.

"To have the opportunity to build something up from scratch is wonderful. I did a similar thing at a large Glasgow practice when it wanted to open a family law branch in Edinburgh; so, to have an opportunity like that again on a larger scale is really exciting."

Managing partner Tony O’Malley added: "We’ve long considered family law a real growth opportunity in East Lothian and are excited to have recruited Claire to lead the team as legal director.

"She has a fantastic reputation and has all the legal, management and marketing skills required to grow the department, not just in our core area of East Lothian, but beyond. She will also be a valuable member of the new senior management team.

"Kathryn brings many years of family law experience, but also of running her own law practice. Her experience and enthusiasm will be a benefit to Claire and the wider business. We are extremely fortunate to have been able to recruit such high calibre lawyers and look forward to working with them."