Mairi Carlin joins as a professional support lawyer. Previously a pensions legal director at Pinsent Masons and then latterly at Brodies, Ms Carlin has a broad range of expertise advising employers, including many household name providers, as well as trustees on the whole range of pensions issues.

She has also advised on the technical aspects of SIPPs/SSAS provision and has provided corporate support on pensions aspects of mergers and acquisitions. Her particular specialism centres on public sector pensions issues including on private to public sector outsourcings, TUPE transfers and private to public scheme transfers. She has always taken a keen interest in training both clients and more junior colleagues.

Ms Carlin’s appointment is the latest in a series of new hires in Scotland for the firm’s pensions practice following the arrival of senior lawyer Helen Woodford late in 2023 and solicitors Sophie Kirk and Shannon Wright-Davies a few months earlier.

Ms Woodford previously held senior roles in national and multi-national law firms such as Womble Bond Dickinson and has specialised in pensions law for over two decades, gaining a wide variety of experience acting for both trustees and sponsors operating in many sectors, including energy, manufacturing, retail, transport and the charity and not-for-profit sector.

Ms Kirk specialised in private client advice before moving to Burges Salmon’s Pensions team, bringing valuable trust law experience with her. Ms Wright-Davies joined having previously been a member of the pensions team at CMS Edinburgh.

The four recruits join solicitor and notary public Sarah Moody (nee Fairley), who advises clients in relation to both defined benefit and defined contribution schemes, with a particular interest in the employment law aspects of pensions provision, due to her former specialism as an employment lawyer.

Richard Knight, head of pensions and lifetime savings at Burges Salmon, says: “It’s a pleasure to welcome Mairi to our fast-expanding Edinburgh team.

“The recent appointments of Mairi, Helen, Sophie and Shannon significantly enhance our pensions offering in Scotland and affirm our commitment to the Scottish market and to our Scottish clients, building on our reputation as one of the largest, most specialist pensions team in the UK.

“We’re also delighted to welcome a further senior associate joining our team in April.

“The Defined Benefit Funding Code coming into force in April, the Mansion House reforms and the increased focus on ESG from the regulator mean pensions schemes are today facing ever-greater challenges and we’ve scaled up our team to support our clients navigate through this volatile regulatory environment.”