The co-founder of Davidson Chalmers Stewart is handing over the reigns after serving for more than 30 years as managing partner of the Scottish legal firm.
Laura Irvine is taking over from Andrew Chalmers, who in turn is taking over the role of chairman from Alan Stewart. Mr Chalmers has served as managing partner since Davidson Chalmers began operating in 1993 in Edinburgh, and steered the firm through the 2019 merger that created Davidson Chalmers Stewart.
A regulatory and data protection expert with more than 25 years’ legal experience, Ms Irvine was initially recruited in 2018 as a partner and head of the firm’s regulatory team following previous roles in both the public and private sectors.
“I’m delighted to announce Laura’s appointment as our new managing partner, a key element of our longer-term succession plan to encourage younger partners into strategic leadership roles," Mr Chalmers said.
“Over the course of her career, Laura has developed into one of Scotland’s foremost data protection lawyers. Her formidable people skills and leadership qualities have been demonstrated time and again since joining our ranks six years ago.
“I have always been fully focused on ensuring the firm achieves the highest standards for our clients, while delivering commercial solutions. Laura’s appointment into this new role will enable Davidson Chalmers Stewart to carry that ethos forward into the future.”
Commenting on her appointment, Ms Irvine said: “I feel very honoured to become Davidson Chalmers Stewart’s new managing partner and particularly reassured that I will be able to draw upon Andrew’s considerable experience and support as he takes on his new role as chair.
“Our key strategic priorities include the continued development of our Glasgow team, building on the strength of our highly-accomplished corporate team through investment in other key practice areas including renewables, real estate and dispute resolution.
“Over the past 30-plus years, Davidson Chalmers Stewart has grown into one of Scotland’s leading independent commercial law firms under Andrew’s direction. I look forward to working closely with him and our wider team as we embark on this exciting new phase in our development.”
Charlotte Street adds further senior journalist to team
Charlotte Street Partners, the Edinburgh-based strategic communications agency, has made further additions to its team.
Rachel Watson, a former senior journalist at BBC Scotland and political editor of The Scottish Sun, has joined as an associate partner, bringing more than a decade of media and political experience to the firm. The move comes several days after the agency added two senior journalists, Catherine MacLeod and Chris Deer, to its team.
Scots firm which works with Disney has US market in sights
Lightbody Ventures is a Glasgow-based food company formed by entrepreneurs linked to one of Scotland's best-known cake makers.
The firm collaborates with big brands such as Disney while its low-calorie snack, Bliss, is available to buy in Tesco.
In today's Monday Interview, managing director Neil Stewart reveals the firm's ambitious turnover target and the most valuable lessons he has learned in business.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here