Scots legal firm Burness Paull launches family law arm with two high-profile hires

Scottish legal heavyweight Burness Paull has snapped up two top family law advisors as partners to spearhead its new offering.

The independent law firm said the duo are among Scotland’s most highly-regarded experts in their field – with Richard Smith, who will lead the newly-formed team, ranked in the Chambers and Legal 500 legal directories as an “outstanding practitioner” in divorce and family law.

It added that he is both an accredited specialist and accredited family law mediator, who regularly advises businesspeople, and has acted for various high-profile clients. He is joined by Jennifer Wilkie, also an accredited specialist in family law and mediation, who has a particular interest and expertise in international-related issues.

Burness Paull describes Richard Smith and Jennifer Wilkie as 'two of Scotland’s most highly-regarded family law advisors'. Picture: Chris Watt.

Burness Paull chair Peter Lawson believes the new service line will “perfectly complement” the firm’s existing private client, family business and tax teams – “providing a holistic offering”.

He also said family and divorce law is becoming more complex. “It requires many different attributes, including an understanding of business interests and structures; a grasp of how children are impacted by relationship breakdowns; tax insight; litigation experience; negotiation techniques and mediation skills.

Additionally, he explained how Burness Paull had identified a clear growth opportunity in the market and had sought out the best talent in the field to capitalise on it.

“There have been significant shifts in this area of the law in recent years, and it’s clear that lawyers of Richard and Jennifer’s undoubted skill and reputation will be key players in helping to meet growing demand.”

Burness Paull, which has 80 partners and 300-plus lawyers, recently also unveiled its signing-up of public law and net-zero policy development expert Richard Lockhart.

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