A leading property lawyer has been appointed head of law firm Pinsent Masons’ Scottish and Northern Irish operations.
Katharine Hardie takes over the role of chair of Scotland and Northern Ireland from Richard Masters tomorrow, 29 years to the day since she joined the firm as a trainee lawyer in 1990 after graduating in law from Aberdeen University.
She will be responsible for leading the firm’s four offices in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Belfast and approximately 600 partners, lawyers and support staff. Ms Hardie, who was born in Aberdeen, specialises in commercial and residential property development and recently acted for Barclays Bank in its acquisition of a new office campus at Buchanan Wharf in Glasgow which will create 2,500 new jobs for the city.
The first female to be appointed to the Scotland and Northern Ireland role with the global law firm, she said: “While I am sorry to see my long-term colleague Richard go, I am looking forward to leading Pinsent Masons in Scotland and Northern Ireland and consolidating our market leading position as the pre-eminent legal and professional services firm.
“Our depth of experience in real estate, energy, M&A, employment, banking and litigation, added to our international reach with an extensive network of global offices and locally- based experts, is a strong proposition for Scotland’s outwardly-looking business community,” added Ms Hardie.
