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Interlaw Strengthens Operations in Scotland With New Partner Hire

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Interlaw's representative firm in Scotland, Morton Fraser, has strengthened its agricultural and rural property team with the hire of a new partner.

Linsey Barclay-Smith, who has over 20 years' experience in agricultural and rural property law at firms including Turcan Connell and Thorntons Law, is one of only 26 accredited agricultural law specialists in Scotland. 

Ms Barclay-Smith joins lead partner, James Rust as Morton Fraser’s second accredited agricultural law specialist. In her role she will focus on growing the agricultural and rural property team of five, which currently advises a range of clients with interests in rural Scotland, from individual landowners to rural businesses and public sector organizations. The team covers traditional transaction based work with all classes of rural property as well as non-traditional activities, including work with renewable energy developments. 

Mr Rust, partner and head of agricultural and rural property at Morton Fraser, said: “Linsey brings talent and expertise to the table, with a demonstrated ability to pursue growth."

“While our work includes traditional transactions, we’re seeing a growing need for non-traditional activities as a result of diversification, and Linsey’s reputation in our sector precedes her. Her breadth of experience and depth of knowledge means she will be an excellent fit here at Morton Fraser in serving our current and prospective clients. We are all looking forward to working with her as we further grow our business, providing clarity to our clients in these challenging and uncertain times,” he added. 

Ms Barclay-Smith said: “Morton Fraser is a firm I've been watching for a while so to be offered the chance to help grow its agricultural and rural property law team was something I immediately jumped at.  I'm really looking forward to supporting James in growing the team and getting into some interesting work within a buoyant sector which continues to flourish year on year.”