Burness Paull has elevated four lawyers to partner in its latest promotions round, as the firm continues to invest in developing talent and recognises growing expertise and commitment to client service.
The newly appointed partners are Louise Chambers (real estate), Stephen Farrell (dispute resolution), Karen Manning (construction and projects) and Liam Young (pensions).
Louise, who trained with Burness Paull, advises a broad range of clients in the real estate sector. She has a particular focus on residential and commercial development, including regeneration and finance projects, and the telecommunications sector.
Stephen is an experienced commercial litigator who is dual qualified in Scotland and England & Wales. He acts for both public and private sector clients on a wide range of contentious property issues, as well as regularly providing dispute and regulatory advice to clients in the sports sector.
A construction law specialist, Karen is regularly involved in a range of advisory work, particularly for the education, housing, office, retail, and leisure sectors. She has recently been advising clients on various building safety considerations and provides support to the wider firm on construction issues in commercial transactions.
Liam, who also trained with the firm, has extensive experience of acting for employers, trustees, and providers on pensions issues. He has particular expertise advising on corporate transactions, complex documentation and benefit issues, de-risking and scheme wind ups, contentious matters, and scheme rescues.
The four new partners take the total number of partners at Burness Paull to 89 and are among 71 promotions effective today (1 August) – including nine directors, 13 senior associates, 18 associates, and 17 senior solicitors – across the firm’s practice areas and business functions in its offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
In addition to the promotions, 20 newly qualified solicitors will remain with Burness Paull following the completion of their two-year traineeship, and the firm will welcome 22 new trainees from 4 September.
Peter Lawson, chair at Burness Paull, said: “The promotion of Louise, Stephen, Karen and Liam to partner recognises the specialist expertise they have honed in their respective areas over a number of years, and the valuable contribution they are making to clients, their teams and the wider firm.
“We are committed to investing in our people at all levels, blending the growth of homegrown talent with our lateral hiring programme that has brought in exceptional individuals to strengthen and diversify key practice areas.
“This is key to ensuring our clients receive the best possible advice and delivering on our ambitious growth strategy.”