Women have prospered and succeeded in Scotland’s legal world. Their levels of attainment within the legal profession easily outstrip professional achievement in most other areas of commerce and business.
According to Law Society of Scotland figures, 56 per cent of Scottish solicitors are women. However, there are still not enough senior women leading law firms, and there is a need to have even more women in the corporate and business arena where the gender balance is still skewed towards men. However, there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful. The Business, with the aid of a team of informed law firm insiders, has selected 25 leading female lawyers who are worthy exponents of their profession – and while their work is often recognised by peers, via Chambers and Legal 500 appraisals, they also remain an inspiration to both female and male colleagues.
Along with Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain, Advocate General Catherine Smith, and Solicitor General Ruth Charteris, who are accomplished women at the very top of the Scottish legal profession, The Business 25 Legal Names to Watch in 2025 are listed over the following pages.
1. Marion MacInnes of Brodies
The name and the reputation of Marion MacInnes, head of banking at Brodies, frequently crops up in conversations in legal and business circles. “Brodies is revered for its work across a multitude of sectors with and extensive lender and borrower practice”, says Legal 500. MacInnes is recognised for her “adept skill in capital markets and structured finance transactions”.
2. Rosalie Chadwick of Pinsent Masons
The oil and gas sector is a tough environment for any corporate lawyer. Legal 500 noted that Pinsent Masons excels in the energy sector, while real estate and financial services remain a strength. Among Chadwick’s most recent work is advising Ithaca Energy on its $1.5bn acquisition of Siccar Point Energy from sponsors Blackstone Energy Partners and Blue Water Energy and the management team.
3. Helen Gillies of CMS
CMS was judged “one of the top corporate and commercial practices in Scotland, often handling blockbuster deals”. Helen Gillies, in CMS’s Edinburgh office, was praised for her strong business mind and strategic perspective. Chambers describes her as “pragmatic and very diligent” with a deal track record which speaks for itself.
4. Catriona Watt of Anderson Strathern
Catriona Watt heads a practice of regulatory and public law specialising in public inquiries. She represents clients at the Post Office Inquiry, the Scottish Covid Inquiry and the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry. Her team won Litigation Team of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards. Watt has had a standout role at the high-profile Post Office Horizon IT Public Inquiry, culminating in an extensive closing submission in December.
5. Alison Gilson of Shoosmiths
Gilson is head of Shoosmiths’ Glasgow and Edinburgh corporate team, who have advised on more than 40 separate international transactions and recorded deals in excess of £800m in the last year. During 2023, tech sector deals recorded were particularly active. Gilson is highly regarded and advises on Extreme E, an international racing series taking off-road electric racing around the globe.
6. Laura Peachey of MBM Commercial
Laura Peachey has been with MBM Commercial since 2013. In August 2023 she was promoted to partner working in the corporate team and leading Series A and B investment deals, both on behalf of investors and investee companies. She has a keen interest in helping female founders and making the connections between entrepreneurs and investors.
7. Paula Kennedy of Burness Paull
Kennedy leads Burness Paull’s investor-side practice which advises on primary investments, secondary deals and co-investments. Prior to joining Burness Paull, Kennedy spent a number of years in the City with Travers Smith. Ranked in band 1 for Partnerships (Scotland) by Chambers, she is recognised as a leading individual by Legal 500 and listed in the Lexology Index of Private Funds Lawyers 2024.
8. Dawn Reoch of Burness Paul
Kennedy’s colleague at Burness Paull is Dawn Reoch who had been commended for her expertise in leverage finance. She regularly leads high value cross-jurisdictional transactions. “Dawn Reoch is an excellent debt financing lawyer. She is extremely hard-working, always delivers and is extremely considered and diligent in her approach,” says a client quoted in Chambers.
9. Susan Kelly of Dentons
Kelly is exceptionally well-known in Scotland’s banking circles and has been consistently rated over the years as a Band 1 expert for Finance by both Chambers and Legal 500. She is also included in the Legal 500 Hall of Fame. Chambers referred to Kelly as a “distinguished practitioner, praised for her involvement in significant deals”.
She says: “I have been incredibly lucky throughout my career as a finance lawyer to work with some of Scotland’s most successful organisations, helping to finance their businesses to drive growth and, in many cases, achieve significant international growth, whilst taking advantage of Dentons’ unrivalled global reach.”
10. April Bingham of Bellwether Green
Bingham, co-founder and lead corporate lawyer with Bellwether Green, was commended as “an outstanding example of a strong corporate lawyer”. The company is not a partnership but ‘a stable of experts’ with six heads of department who have completed over 100 corporate and commercial real estate deals this year.
11. Laura Falls of Addleshaw Goddard
Falls works in the rarefied world of private equity and is viewed as a stand-out partner by Legal 500. She became a partner at the international firm in 2022 and has cemented herself as a key figure in the successful corporate team. Legal 500 recognises Falls as a “highly respected lawyer who is extremely commercial and constantly builds excellent relationships with all parties on deals”.
12. Emma Barclay of BTO Solicitors
Barclay joined BTO in 2012 as a trainee and has remained in the corporate team based in Glasgow since then. She is now a partner in corporate, banking and finance, working on corporate recovery and restructuring. The Legal 500 describes her as a “Next Generation” partner, and a recommended lawyer.
13. Paula Skinner of Harper Macleod
Skinner is head of the Entrepreneurial team. She previously worked in-house at a venture capitalist firm and within the investment team at Scottish Investment Bank. Her team has completed over 180 transactions over the past three years, a mixture of equity investments and M&A transactions. Her specialism is advising entrepreneurs on corporate transactions such as equity investments, acquisitions/disposals and restructures.
14. Esme Macfarlane of Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie
Macfarlane recently chaired a major conference in Glasgow on renewable energy and the grid. She was highly impressive and on top of the complexities of investment and grid connectivity. An accomplished performer on legal matters, her company has joined forces with Irwin Mitchell to offer clients UK legal services.
15. Carly Duckett of Shepherd and Wedderburn
Duckett is a senior solicitor in the commercial disputes team based in Edinburgh and has acted for clients throughout the UK across a variety of sectors, including hospitality and leisure, sports, finance and retail. She gives clients commercial and strategic dispute resolution advice in relation to high-value claims and has been commended for her guidance through the litigation process in the Court of Session. Duckett is admired by clients for her attentiveness and advice when navigating complex disputes. She is recognised by the Legal 500 as a Leading Associate in Commercial Litigation and is shortlisted for Dispute Resolution Rising Star of the Year at The Legal 500 Scotland Awards 2024.
16. Nina Taylor of Lindsays
Taylor is chair of Lindsays and a partner in the family team, based in in Edinburgh. She is a highly experienced family lawyer known to be thoughtful and focused on precision. Taylor took over from the well-known Scottish lawyer Peter Tweedie who retired earlier this year. Tweedie remains with the firm in a consultancy role.
17. Gillian Crandles of Turcan Connell
Crandles is the managing partner and a specialist in family law accredited by the Law Society of Scotland and the first family lawyer in Scotland to be recognised as an eminent practitioner by Chambers. Her expertise is in cases involving professionals, entrepreneurs, land and estate owners and those in the public domain who require a highly proactive approach to sensitive and private matters. She is dual qualified as a solicitor in Scotland and England and Wales.
18. Kirsty Headden of Shepherd and Wedderburn
Headden is in the pensions team and became a partner this year. She is a pragmatic and highlyskilled lawyer with significant experience in advising trustees and employers on all aspects of pensions law.
Having joined Shepherd and Wedderburn as a trainee, she has specialised in pensions law since qualifying in 2008 and is a full member of the Association of Pension Lawyers. Headden is recognised as a leading associate in the Legal 500 and ranked Band 3 in Chambers: “Her commercial vision is very strong. She’s very supportive, able and value for money-focused”.
19. Jennifer McKay of MFMAc
McKay is a partner and divisional head of construction who is “results-driven”. As MFMac works to build its muscle in both Glasgow and Edinburgh after the merger between Morton Fraser and MacRoberts, McKay has played a strong role in signalling the firm’s combined strength and purpose. She is ranked as a ‘Leader in the Field for Construction’ in Chambers.
20. Caroline Colliston of DWF
Caroline Colliston is the office managing partner for DWF’s offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Colliston heads up a busy tax practice in Scotland, and is a huge advocate for social mobility as well as a proactive member of DWF’s Diversity and Inclusion leadership team, co-leading the firm’s gender strand globally. In addition, Colliston is very active in the Scottish business community. She sits on the leadership advisory board of Business in the Community in Scotland (BITC), and was chair of the Business Leadership Group of the Scottish Government’s Business Pledge.
21. Rosie Walker of Gilson Gray
Walker’s colleagues recently won Litigation Team of the Year in The Herald Scotland Law Awards. The judges said: “Gilson Gray’s impressive handling of high-profile law litigation has earned them Team of the Year.” Walker, who is head of litigation, led the team which defended the largest claim in the Court of Session and played a key role in tax cases before the UK Supreme Court. Legal 500 described Walker as a “very experienced first-class litigator” and she was Dispute Resolution Lawyer of the Year in 2023.
22. Laura McKnight of Macdonald Henderson
McKnight is a director and co-leads the corporate team at Macdonald Henderson, a specialist corporate law firm dedicated to serving entrepreneurs, ownermanagers, family businesses and individuals.
She joined the firm in 2015 and advises clients on commercial matters including mergers and acquisitions, investments, shareholder matters and general corporate governance queries.
In addition, McKnight has particular expertise in handling the employment aspects of corporate and commercial transactions, and Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment (TUPE). She recently led her firm’s acquisition of Ferguson Whyte Solicitors, strengthening the firm’s service offering in Glasgow.
23. Amy McDowell of Gillespie Macandrew
McDowell is a partner in the energy and strategic land division. She is experienced in all aspects of complex property work and has a particular specialism in onshore renewable energy. McDowell’s experience in renewable energy developments ranges from providing advice for small scale hydro developments through to 450MW+ onshore wind developments and land corridors for 4.1GW+ offshore wind developments.
24. Zaqia Rashid of TLT
Zaqia Rashid, who is a partner at TLT, is head of public inquiries and public law, and has been an adviser to UK ministers. Rashid is one of the stand-out performers with TLT, a UK-wide firm that has climbed the Chambers rankings with eight Band 1 rankings. Born in Scotland, she has been working more recently in Edinburgh on Scottish governmental matters.
25. Jacqueline Law of Aberdein Considine
Law is the managing partner at Aberdein Considine. She has led the firm to consecutive years of record turnover and has overseen two acquisitions which allowed the firm to expand in Glasgow and south of the Border. Law is a Legal 500-recommended commercial lawyer, is a specialist in oil and gas and marine law and has worked with some clients for more than two decades.