Urquhart retires from Morton Fraser after 33 years

Morton Fraser's chair, Linda Urquhart, is to retire from the firm after 33 years, the Edinburgh-headquartered practice announced today.

She will be succeeded as chair by Maggie Moodie, who will also continue to lead the firm’s public sector team. Ms Moodie will serve a three year term as chair.

A champion of gender parity in the workplace, Ms Urquhart became the first female managing partner of a major law firm in Scotland in 1999 and the first female chair of CBI Scotland in 2009. She moved to become chair of Morton Fraser in 2011 and received an OBE for services to business in Scotland the following year.

Since 1999 the firm has seen partner numbers double to the present 44 and revenues increase more than threefold.

Ms Urquhart, who described Morton Fraser as "a great place to work, whatever your gender", will continue as a portfolio non-executive director. She is currently chairman of Investors in People Scotland, and a non-executive director of Adam & Co and Edinburgh Airport Ltd. She is also a trustee of Marie Curie and of the Royal Scottish Academy Foundation, and an ambassador for Girlguiding UK.

Chief executive Chris Harte commented: “Linda has been breaking glass ceilings throughout her professional career and we are immensely proud of her achievements.

“In Maggie Moodie we could not have hoped for a more accomplished successor. Maggie is herself a keen advocate of gender parity in the workplace and has grown our public sector team into a market-leading position. We look forward to working with her as chair in the coming years.”