They bring with them a combined 55 years’ experience to the firm’s Waterloo Street office in Glasgow. It takes the firm’s team numbers in the city to 12.

A Chartered Accountant and licensed Insolvency Practitioner, Barry Stewart has over 25 years’ expertise gained in all aspects of personal and corporate recovery. George Lafferty has three decades of similar experience and is specialist in corporate and personal insolvency, as well as Debt Arrangement Scheme (DAS) management.

Both new recruits offer clients the benefits of their strong accountancy backgrounds, with significant corporate restructuring expertise gained in national business advisory firms.

They’re also experienced in steering business growth - having previously set up and run an insolvency firm for eight years and expanded it into what was at the time, the largest personal insolvency practice in Scotland, with over 60 staff. In addition, they set up and ran their own boutique insolvency firms, 180 Advisory Solutions in Glasgow and Insolvency Help Ltd in Dublin.

Mr Stewart said of the appointments: “Leonard Curtis’s reputation, multi-disciplinary offering and scale means that we’re able to offer the most bespoke solutions to our clients which, I’m delighted to say, come from all sectors and in all sizes.

“We’re advising SMEs that find themselves in every conceivable quandary, and it’s this variety of appointments that George and I both find very appealing. Likewise, the quality and experience of the Glasgow team was a real attraction to the company. We simply wanted to be a part of it.”

Mr Lafferty added: “The pandemic has hit businesses in a way that no-one could have imagined, and we’re pleased to now be in place to support as many of Scottish SMEs and their advisors as we all navigate such difficult times.

“Spotting the warning signs early is always key. Fortunately, under the right specialist guidance, like ours, many companies are agile enough to quickly adapt, refocus and recover. We hope we can help as many as possible to do so.”

Daniel Booth, director of Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group, commented: “Once again we’ve attracted two heavyweight professionals, which is testament to the reputation we have built for ourselves in Glasgow - and across Scotland - since we first opened our doors here just four years ago, almost to the day.

“The appointment of Barry and George marks the start of the next phase of our ambitious strategic growth in the country. With more local appointments and developments planned, I’d like to wish them both the very best as they take on what are very important roles in realising our ambitions here.”