People: Happy new year for those on the way up

Step forward Jennifer Spence, pictured, who has been promoted to the partnership at Biggart Baillie. She joined the firm as a trainee in 1998 and has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top, specialising in the fast-growing field of public and administrative law.

Biggart Baillie said Spence was one of the first Scottish solicitors to take a case to the new UK Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Robin Watt has become an associate in the firm's property department, and Steven Jansch has earned the same rank in the dispute management department.

Across at HBJ Gateley Wareing, two independent financial advisers have joined the Edinburgh office.

Stephen Hall joins from independent financial advice firm Cavanagh, after spells with KPMG and Ernst & Young. Meanwhile Christian Poziemski joins from accountancy firm Grant Thornton, having previously worked at Balmoral Asset Management.

The appointments come just weeks after HBJ took over rival private client firm Oliver WS, in a move designed to replace retiring partners Lord Chris Kinross and Catherine Taylor.

Malcolm McPherson, senior partner at HBJ, said: "Stephen and Christian are a welcome addition to our Scottish practice and will play a key role in the continued development of our successful private client and financial services offering."

It's also been a busy start to 2010 for DLA Piper Scotland: partners John McKinlay and Hazel Moffat have landed a three-year contract with the Student Loans Company to act as external legal advisers.

The deal covers a broad range of disciplines including litigation, debt recovery, data protection, corporate issues, contracts and property.

The Glasgow-based Student Loans Company is a UK government-owned not-for-profit agency that handles more than 3.5 million customers, pays out more than 6 billion a year in loans and grants, and has more than 1,800 employees across four sites in the UK.

Troll roll gag from Evolution isn't bad…in fact, it's a gas

AND the award for pun of the day goes to… those wacky analysts at Evolution Securities, who included a picture of a bacon roll with yesterday's oil and gas round-up e-mail.

The update usually includes a "thought for the day" and yesterday's gem was "Troll saves UK's bacon". Keith Morris, Richard Griffith and David Farrell – the analysts who cover the sector – pointed out that National Grid had issued its second gas supply alert in three days as the giant Troll gas field in the North Sea – which can supply up to 10 per cent of the UK's peak winter gas demand – went down.

"Fortunately for the UK, the downtime was limited to just a few hours, meaning that we didn't have to forgo our bacon sandwiches," the analysts added.

Cue picture of said bacon roll. What would we do without those crazy Evo kids to brighten our mornings? Probably tuck into another bacon butty, I guess.

BAD DAY

Luong Hoai Nam

VIETNAMESE authorities have arrested Luong Hoai Nam, the former head of budget airline Jetstar Pacific Airlines, and prevented two of its Australian employees from leaving the country, after the carrier reported losses on fuel contracts. The airline is jointly owned by the government's SCIC investment arm and Australia's Qantas Airways.

GOOD DAY

Paul Dounis

WE'RE in a recession, so business is booming for restructuring firms, and Begbies Traynor is no exception. The firm has poached Paul Dounis from Deloitte's Edinburgh office, where he led the corporate advisory practice. Dounis also spent time at Grant Thornton, having previously served ten years as an insolvency practitioner in his native Australia.