Family

Hall of Fame

The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.

Rachael Kelsey

Rachael Kelsey

Hall of fameSKO

Founding Partner of SKO. Remains the only 'Hall of Fame' family lawyer in Scotland in the current Edition of the Legal 500; the only Scottish lawyer in band one of Chambers High Net Worth (2023) and the first Scottish lawyer in the Spears 500 Family Lawyers Guide. Only Family Lawyer shortlisted for Lawyer of the Year Award at the inaugural Legal 500 Scottish Law Awards in 2023, where she was also shortlisted as Private Client Lawyer of the Year. Elected President of the International Academy of Family Lawyers (IAFL) in 2023- the first Scot and the only woman from the UK in the thirty-seven year history of the Academy. Described as, "the doyenne of Scots family law" by both Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500 and The Times Scottish Lawyer of the Week in July 2020.  Accredited as a Specialist in Family Law and as a Family Mediator by the Law Society of Scotland. Practice centres on financial provision, often in cases with an international or intra-UK dimension. Significant experience in cross-border, intra-UK and abroad, cases. Particular expertise in acting for LGBTI individuals (child and financial cases). Increasing corporate advisory and reputation management practice. Family arbitrator with, and trainer for, FLAGS (Family Law Arbitration Group Scotland). Trained collaborative lawyer. Past chair of Board, (Director and trustee) Family Mediation Lothian and treasurer of CALM (the organisation of accredited family solicitor mediators in Scotland)) and past chair of the Family Law Association.

Rising stars

Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.

Next Generation Partners

Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Leading individuals

The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.

Alison Edmondson

SKO

Director of SKO Family Law Specialists – SKO. Accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in family law and as a family mediator. Founding member of steering group of FLAGS (Family Law Arbitration Group Scotland) and FLAGS arbitrator. Trained collaborative lawyer. Past tutor in family law at Edinburgh University. Postgraduate certificate in mediation and conflict resolution from University of Strathclyde. Practice centres on financial provision and financial issues arising from separation and parenthood. Has particular interest in tax issues in family law cases – a subject on which she has written for the ‘Journal of the Law Society of Scotland’ – and unusual and/or complex cases including disputed paternity legal rights (inheritance) claims and family contracts including pre and post nups. 

Shaun George

Shaun George

Brodies LLP

Shaun has practised family law for more than 30 years. He heads the Brodies’ Family team, which is the largest in Scotland, and is based in our Aberdeen and Edinburgh offices. Shaun advises on all aspects of family law but has particular expertise in high value financial provision on divorce cases, often involving assets held overseas. As a qualified Family Law Arbitrator, he offers his clients a range of dispute resolution options including collaboration, mediation and arbitration. He is one of the few Scottish solicitors ranked in the Chambers UK High Net Worth Guide 2023.

Robert Gilmour

SKO

Director of SKO Family Law Specialists. Accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in family law and as a family mediator. FLAGS (Family Law Arbitration group Scotland) arbitrator. Practice covers the full range of family and child law cases. Recognised for particular expertise in cohabitant claims – acted for successful applicant in ground breaking and widely reported Supreme Court case of Gow v Grant (undertaking all advocacy at first instance) and advising on surrogacy and artificial reproductive technology. Extensive experience of advocacy including conduct of proofs, debates and other contentious hearings in the Sheriff Court (Scotland wide).

Lisa Girdwood

Lisa Girdwood

Brodies LLP

Lisa is recognised as an expert family lawyer, based in our Glasgow and Edinburgh offices. Accredited as a specialist in child law, family law and in mediation she is passionate about achieving fair and equitable financial settlements for her clients as well as achieving positive outcomes for children. Lisa advises in all aspects of financial provision on separation from the division of high net worth estates to cases involving complex business structures and cross border issues. She is regularly instructed in challenging child law cases including relocation, residence and contact disputes and international child abduction.

Alison McKee

Alison McKee

Lindsays

Alison is a Partner and Head of the Family Law Team, which operates from all four of Lindsays’ offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and North Berwick. She works between all four offices but is primarily based in Glasgow. Alison is accredited as a Family Law specialist and a Child Law specialist. Being trained as a collaborative lawyer and having extensive litigation experience, she can meet the needs of clients with the procedure best suited to resolve their particular issues. She advises clients on all aspects of family law including divorce, separation, complex financial provision following separation or divorce, pre and post nuptial agreements, cohabitation disputes, child law, surrogacy and Parental Orders and applications under the Hague Convention on International Child abduction. Alison is a Reporter for Glasgow Sheriff Court.

Susan Oswald

SKO

Founding director of SKO Family Law Specialists. Accredited by Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in child law and family mediator. Particular, and widely acknowledged, expertise in child law issues. Extensive experience acting in cross-border public child law matters (especially for Local Authorities and English agents). Routinely appointed by the courts as a reporter and curator ad litem in family cases. Practises full range of family law cases including divorce, separation and financial provision. Extensive experience in child residence and contact cases, adoption, child abduction (Hague and non-Hague) and specific issue order applications. Extensive experience of appearing in the Sheriff Court. Highly sought after mediator and adept at assiting in the most intractable matters.

Nina Taylor

Nina Taylor

Lindsays

Nina is principally based in the Edinburgh office advising on a wide range of family law issues, although she regularly travels to Lindsays’ offices in Dundee and Glasgow to meet with clients. With more than 24 years’ experience as a qualified solicitor, Nina is dual accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in both Family law and Child law.  She has extensive court experience in both the Sheriff Court and Court of Session. Nina also acts for clients in drafting a variety of Agreements, including Cohabitation and both Pre- and Post-Nuptial Agreements.  She is a trained collaborative lawyer.

Ruth Aberdein

Aberdein Considine

Ruth is the Partner-in-Charge of our highly-regarded and dynamic Family Law team. She has specialised exclusively in Family Law for almost 20 years and is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland both as a Specialist in Family Law and as a Family Law Mediator. Ruth, who is also a qualified Collaborative Lawyer, is recognised in the Legal 500 as a leading individual in her field, with commentary including that she is "very trustworthy, professional and sympathetic" and is "able to approach difficult matters with empathy and understanding while using extensive knowledge and experience to achieve as good a solution as possible". Ruth has extensive knowledge spanning all areas of Family Law but has particular expertise in dealing with high-net worth cases, often involving business interests. Ruth is respected for her sensible and child-focussed approach to cases.

Gillian Crandles

Turcan Connell

Managing Partner and Head of Family Law; specialising in high-net-worth cases, farming cases and cases involving trusts, employee incentive schemes, share options, complex valuations, tax, partnership and corporate issues. Regularly instructed in cross-border and international disputes, nuptial agreements, cohabitation cases and child cases. Keen interest in ADR, experienced interdisciplinary collaborative lawyer, qualified as Family Law Arbitrator under FLAGs rules; Law Society accredited Specialist in Family Law; Law Society accredited Family Law Mediator; dual-qualified in Scotland and England and Wales.

Lesley Gordon

Lesley Gordon

BTO Solicitors LLP

Partner Lesley is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in family law and has practiced exclusively in this area for 28 years. She heads BTO’s team of family specialists and is considered one of the foremost experts in Scotland. She has a wide breadth of experience in all aspects of family law with both a contentious and non-contentious practice. Lesley deals principally with the financial issues arising from the formation or breakdown of relationships, including those involving an international dimension. She has particular experience in high net worth cases litigated in the Court of Session involving the valuation of companies and the interface between partnership law and family law. Lesley also has significant expertise and a strong success rate in pursuing high value, complex, cohabitation claims. Lesley is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as CALM mediator and receives regular instructions from family law colleagues in other firms in both child and financial mediations. She draws on her experience as a mum and her range of skills in day-to-day negotiation and is renowned by clients and peers for her calm, unflappable demeanor, incisive approach and exceptional service delivery. Lesley is also one of the first group of family Arbitrators trained in Scotland and is secretary and national committee member of FLAGS (the Family Law Arbitration Group Scotland). An experienced collaborative lawyer, Lesley is longtime chair of the Edinburgh Consensus pod and is passionate about Collaborate Practice and the benefits it offers to separated families. Lesley is often called upon by other lawyers to provide expert opinions in a variety of specialist family matters including professional negligence cases. Lesley is regularly requested to contribute to media coverage of family law matters and in speaking roles.

Shona H Smith

Balfour+Manson LLP

Partner in litigation department and Head of family law. Accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a family law specialist.  Work includes issues surrounding separation and divorce, breakdown of cohabitation both on separation and death, cohabitation agreements and pre and post nuptial agreements. Works both in the Sheriff Court and the Court of Session. She is also a family law mediator and arbitrator.

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