The Edinburgh-based commercial law firm has recruited Laura Irvine as its 11th partner to head up its newly launched Regulatory Practice.

Laura and her team will provide legal advice and support throughout investigations, from the early stages, including dawn raids, recovery of evidence and interviews, through to the conclusion of any court proceedings.

Davidson Chalmers managing partner, Andrew Chalmers, said: “Our new Regulatory Practice will support clients across a range of key sectors, including construction which is being increasingly regulated. The industry is constantly under scrutiny due to safety issues and, more recently, due to modern slavery and even data governance issues.

“We are delighted to have Laura on board to head up this new practice. She is a hugely talented, experienced and respected legal professional who brings added depth to Davidson Chalmers. Her appointment marks another exciting development in the growth of the firm, enabling us to provide the highest level advisory service for businesses involved with the regulators and on data protection matters.

“Laura’s appointment and the launch of the new Regulatory Team further underlines our focus as a firm on providing specialist legal and commercial expertise in growth sectors of the Scottish market.”

A data protection and cyber security specialist, Laura wrote the Law Society of Scotland’s Guide to GDPR published earlier this year. She also chaired a series of GDPR roadshows run by the organisation prior to the new data protection laws being introduced in May this year.

As a criminal solicitor advocate and former procurator fiscal depute, Laura brings in-depth legal expertise in relation to how to deal with health & safety breaches, environmental breaches and corporate crime. She is also a director of the Scottish Business Resilience Centre.