A SOLICITORS and estate agency has launched its own family law division.

Garden Stirling Burnet (GSB) has set up the new department with a combined 70 years of legal experience, which will cater for East Lothian as well as Edinburgh and the Scottish Borders.

Claire Christie, Kathryn Wilson, Angela Craig and Amanda Richardson make up the four-person division.

Legal director Claire, who is from Musselburgh, is relishing the opportunity to give back to her home county and is “keen to get started”.

She said: “We wanted to take an institution which has a long-standing reputation within the local community and add the highest-quality family law advice to its repertoire.

“To have the opportunity to build something up from scratch is wonderful.

“I did a similar thing at a large Glasgow practice when it wanted to open a family law branch in Edinburgh so to have an opportunity like that again on a larger scale is really exciting.

“I’m an East Lothian resident myself so I understand how important it is to build relationships with the local community and I hope the experience our team will bring will provide a positive outcome for all those seeking legal advice in family law.”

The new law division comes after the acquisition of Garden Stirling Burnet by law practice Friends Legal last September. The takeover created a business with more than £7m-a-year turnover and 60 staff in six offices across Scotland.

Garden Stirling Burnet has a 22-strong team across its four offices in Dunbar, Haddington, North Berwick and Tranent and has ambitions to double the headcount and turnover of the firm within the next three years.