Anderson Strathern strengthens Private Client team with Tax Director hire

17/03/2021
Martin Campbell, Carole Tomlinson and Alison Pryde (by Chris Watt)
  • Alison Pryde joins firm from Gillespie Macandrew 
  • Alison Pryde brings nearly 30 years’ experience providing tax advisory services with a focus on rural landowners, family businesses, landlords and high net worth individuals  
  • Alison Pryde will be one of eight chartered tax advisers at the firm’s 50-strong Private Client practice 
  • Anderson Strathern experiencing an increased demand for private client services over the last twelve months  

SCOTTISH legal firm Anderson Strathern has strengthened its Private Client team with the hire of Alison Pryde from Gillespie Macandrew as a Tax Director.  Alison Pryde brings nearly 30 years’ experience providing tax advisory services, with a particular focus on rural landowners, family businesses, professional partnerships, landlords and high net worth individuals.  A law graduate from the University of Aberdeen, she was previously a senior tax manager with Chiene + Tait, RSM and EY.  She will be one of eight Chartered Tax Advisers at the firm, working alongside a team of around 50 specialist lawyers, accountants and tax experts led by Carole Tomlinson, Partner and Head of Private Client at Anderson Strathern.  

The firm’s tax team provides compliance and planning services to a range of clients including individuals, families, landowners, businesses, partnerships and trusts.  Anderson Strathern is a full service law firm and its private client tax team works in tandem with all other departments in the firm, in particular Rural, Land & Business, Residential Property, Corporate and Family, in addition its independent financial planning business, Anderson Strathern Asset Management.  The firm has experienced an increased demand for private client services over the last twelve months.     

Carole Tomlinson, Partner and Head of Private Client at Anderson Strathern, said: “We continue to focus on having the preeminent private client practice in Scotland and Alison’s appointment fits very much into this strategy.  The last twelve months have presented an array of challenges for people and it’s increasingly important for us to have the best mix of specialist lawyers and tax experts to make life easier for our clients.  We’ve also experienced an upswing in client activity and so we’re building the team out to match this growth.” 

Alison Pryde, Tax Director at Anderson Strathern said: “Anderson Strathern has an outstanding reputation for building strong relationships with individual clients and families that they work with – I was particularly impressed at hearing that the department I’m joining has worked with one family across seven generations.  They’re also known for creating innovative tax solutions that are bespoke to each of their clients and I’m excited to be joining such a forward-thinking firm.”

Commenting on the recent UK Budget, Martin Campbell, Partner and Director of Tax Services at Anderson Strathern added: “The freezing of a range of personal tax allowances, exemptions and bands means it is more important than ever for people to be protecting their wealth by maximising the tax benefits available to them while minimising their tax exposure.  Inevitable tax reforms and the potential devolution of further taxes to the Scottish Government in the future will only make it more important for clients to seek specialist tax advice at the earliest opportunity.” 

Martin Campbell added: “Looking ahead to the so-called Tax Day on 23rd March, we are expecting to see a raft of tax consultations being published by the UK Government that will provide more detail on other areas of potential tax reform that may ultimately form part of an Autumn 2021 UK Budget.”

Last week, Anderson Strathern announced a merger with Shetland-based legal firm Neil Risk Solicitor and Estate Agent. 

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