How two decades of dedication paid off

Katharine Hardie outlines the opportunities available in law for graduates

Katharine Hardie looks at how a summer placement scheme was the beginning of big things

The recent retirement of our long-standing and highly regarded Partner, Ewan Alexander, presented us with the challenge of selecting his successor as Head of Edinburgh Office after 12 years of dedicated work in the role. I am extremely pleased that we have appointed Gillian Frew - who has been with the firm for more than 20 years - to continue Ewan’s excellent work.

As Head of Office, Gillian will lead a 215-strong team of lawyers and support staff from our Capital Square office in the heart of the city’s financial district and will be an ambassador for the firm in Edinburgh and more widely in Scotland.

It’s an excellent appointment for Pinsent Masons and Gillian’s career path shines a light on the opportunities available for a rewarding career which is open to law graduates and newly qualified lawyers trying to decide which kind of legal firm is best suited to their area of legal expertise and ambition.

Gillian’s introduction to Pinsent Masons was in 1999 on a student summer placement scheme while a student at the University of Edinburgh, when she worked in the banking team with Michael Watson, now the Head of our Climate and Sustainability Advisory team.

It was an extremely busy time for the firm, with Gillian on the periphery of the team advising on the £700 million joint takeover and Stock Market delisting of Highland Distillers by William Grant & Sons and Edrington Group - then the largest corporate deal in Scotland. Perhaps it’s little wonder that she would later decide her legal career would focus on banking and project finance.

Following graduation and after obtaining her legal diploma, Gillian started her traineeship with the firm in 2001 and completed four six-month seats in our banking, litigation, property and commercial teams in Edinburgh and Glasgow. In her own words she enjoyed the “combination of black letter law and commercial transactions” and joined the firm permanently as a newly qualified lawyer in our banking team.

Within a short space of time, she was in the thick of some of the most challenging and interesting oil and gas, renewables and infrastructure transactions, and advising on project finance for PPP schools, healthcare facilities and road building projects across the UK and Ireland.

With our firm’s global footprint - we have 3,500 staff working from 27 international offices - it’s not unusual for our lawyers to be working cross-border and Gillian regularly works with colleagues across our mainland European offices and beyond.

More recently, she has advised on deals which support the energy transition and development of renewable energy in Scotland, including the 220.5MW North Kyle wind farm project in East Ayrshire and the 106MW Limekiln wind farm in Caithness.

A promotion to Senior Associate was followed by appointment to Partner in 2012, aged only 33. Gillian cares deeply about our firm and its people and I have no doubt she will excel at supporting our junior lawyers and her fellow Partners in consolidating the profile of Pinsent Masons in Edinburgh’s business and civic life.

As Pinsent Masons Managing Partner, Laura Cameron, said: “Gillian is a fantastic ambassador for our business in Scotland, having stepped up to provide professional mentoring support for one of our recent Kirk Murdoch Scholarship scheme students, and she is the ideal appointment to this valuable position for our business.”

Katharine Hardie is Partner and Chair of Pinsent Masons in Scotland