Leading Scottish law firm strengthens Lender Services with senior appointments
Aberdein Considine has moved to strengthen its banking litigation team with two senior appointments.
Natalie Mortimer has joined the firm as the Head of Compliance for the Lender Services Practice Group.
Natalie has moved to Aberdein Considine from Virgin Money where she was Head of Risk, Compliance and Quality. She brings over 15 years’ experience in a range of risk related roles in financial services, specialising in personal finance compliance. She has worked across a range of disciplines including 2nd line Fraud and Financial Crime, 2nd line Compliance, Operational Risk and Credit Risk oversight.
In her most recent role Natalie was responsible for establishing a first line risk capability and function for all operational areas for Virgin Money, one of the UK’s largest lenders. She also had responsibility for oversight of all operational quality, customer remediation and incident management.
In a further senior appointment Thomas Lillie, who is already a Partner with the firm, has been promoted to Head of Legal for the Lender Services Practice Group.
Thomas, who qualified as a solicitor in 2009, has over 14 years’ experience within the legal sector. He specialises in commercial and financial services litigation and moved to Aberdein Considine in 2017 to lead the firm’s lender services litigation practice in England and Wales. Thomas also holds trustee and non-executive director positions in the charitable and community based financial services sector.
Commenting on the new appointments Myra Scott, Partner and Head of the Lender Services Practice Group said:
“Our banking litigation practice has been growing at an incredible pace over the last few years and given the multi-jurisdictional nature of our operations it’s absolutely critical that we invest in and retain the very best legal and financial services talent.
Attracting someone of the seniority and calibre of Natalie from a major UK institution reflects the reputation we have built in the financial services industry and we’re delighted she has agreed to join our senior management team.
Thomas is a highly valued and respected member of the team and his promotion is a recognition of both his hard work, expertise and commitment, and the growth of the business.”
With 19 offices and a headcount of just under 500, the firm is growing into one of the country’s largest – and following a number of acquisitions has been heavily focussed on expanding its legal teams and specialisms.
The Lender Services Practice Group, which includes the banking and finance litigation team, represents the majority of UK banks and financial institutions, including Royal Bank of Scotland, Nationwide Building Society and Lloyds Banking Group.
The international Legal 500 guide recently named Aberdein Considine as a ‘Top Tier’ firm in the field of Debt Recovery for the third consecutive year.
The guide, which has been published for over two decades, is highly regarded by lawyers and clients alike due to its independent research-based assessment of law firm and lawyer capabilities.
The firm was also named Best Law Firm at the recent Mortgage Finance Gazette Awards in London, in recognition for its lender work.
