Legal firm takes new direction with joint managing partners

Dundee-based Thorntons, which has 28 partners and almost 300 staff, said that the pair will serve in their new roles for the next five years.

Milne, who was head of the firm’s business law department, has been with Thorntons for eight years, while Nicol – who previously led the litigation team – has notched up 25 years’ service.

Jack Robertson – chairman of Thorntons, which also has offices in Arbroath, Edinburgh, Forfar and Perth – said: “The joint managing partnership is a new approach for the firm.

“As well-respected lawyers in their fields, it is important for Craig and Scott to maintain links with their clients and this combined approach will allow them to do that.”

The pair will “share the responsibility for strategic direction and management”, he said.

Nick Barclay, the firm’s previous managing partner, will resume his full-time role as a partner in the private client department, based in Dundee.

Milne said: “Nick has held the post of managing partner since 2003 and has steered Thorntons through one of its most difficult periods. His counsel and experience will be invaluable to Craig and me in our new roles. We are both incredibly proud to be taking on the role of managing partner and will continue to build on the established and commendable values Nick has instilled across the firm.”

Edinburgh-based partner Clare Macpherson will take over as head of the practice’s litigation department. Lesley Larg, a partner and an accredited specialist in intellectual property, will become head of the business law division, which will be run from the Dundee office.