Three director hires for Anderson Strathern

Legal firm Anderson Strathern has announced three director appointments, two from rival Scottish firms and one previously based in the Middle East.

Gillian Harkness-McKinlay joins from Burness Paull and becomes director, Public Sector & Charities. She has extensive experience of project managing large-scale public sector outsourcing projects and third sector mergers, and advising on corporate governance and project finance in public sector projects.  She is also a member of the Charity Law Committee of the Law Society of Scotland. 

Chris Devlin, who assumes the role of director, Planning & Environment, spent over a decade at Shepherd & Wedderburn, specialising in planning and environment law, in particular the renewable energy and housebuilding sectors, and also roads law. In recent years, he advised City of Edinburgh Council on various elements of the new St James Centre. 

James McMillan will head up Anderson Strathern's newly established Corporate Crime, Regulatory & Investigations team. He worked at Dentons before joining Dubai-based Al Tamimi & Company, the largest legal firm in the Middle East, in 2018. He has extensive experience in advocacy, international white collar fraud cases, bribery, proceeds of crime, health and safety, and environmental-related prosecutions. 

Firm chair Bruce Farquhar commented: "We are committed to finding the best legal talent in Scotland and these three senior level appointments demonstrate just that. The public and third sectors, planning and the environment, corporate crime and commercial disputes are key areas of growth for Anderson Strathern so it’s an opportune time to make these strategic hires. We’re excited to have Gillian, Chris and James on board."