Heritage

The Scottish Legal Practice of J. & H. Mitchell W.S. was founded in Highland Perthshire in 1836.  Situated in Pitlochry, near the very centre of Scotland, the firm has occupied its current premises since 1965 and has had a Branch Office in The Square, Aberfeldy, since 1966.

 

James Mitchell was the first Solicitor to practice in Highland Perthshire.  He was known as a “Notary” and set up his practice in 1836 at a house at Dysart, on the western edge of Pitlochry.

 

He was joined by his son Hugh in 1875, when the current firm name was established.  James ceased practice in 1891 and Hugh in 1928, having achieved more than 50 years as a Solicitor in Perthshire, which was much celebrated both locally in Pitlochry but also by the Society of Procurators and Solicitors in the City and County of Perth.

 

Buckham Liddell had joined the firm in 1902, having been advised for health reasons that he would have to leave ‘Auld Reekie’, which seemed to do the trick as he was still working at the time of his death, at the age of 80, in 1950.

 

Buckham had been joined by his sons Donald in 1934 and Hamish in 1950.  Donald and Hamish did much to establish the firm as it is currently constituted in relation to its principles, character and methodologies.  Donald died in a car crash in 1976 and Hamish retired in 1997, a little shy of achieving 50 years as a Partner.

 

Donald’s younger son Colin joined the practice in 1980 and became its Senior Partner in 1996.  He was joined by Lesley Gray from Aberdeen in 1998 and Duncan Thomson from Edinburgh in 1997, all of whom have recently retired as Partners.

 

The current Partners of the firm are Paul Keith,  Alan Innes and Sarah Brown. For more information on each of our Partners please see the About Us section of our website.

 

There have also been some long-serving members of staff over the years, particularly Charlie Robertson, Betty Brydone, Margaret Pirnie and Christine Campbell and, longest-serving of them all, Martha Robertson.

 

When Colin joined the firm in 1980, he was greatly amused that, at that time, there was a popular Radio 4 programme ‘The Senior Partner’, featuring well-known actor Andrew Cruickshank amongst others, which featured an uncle and nephew who shared a rural legal practice, and a long-serving employee who kept them right, which seemed to mirror – far too accurately – the exact position he found himself in as a new partner in a country practice, serving with his Uncle Hamish and much relying on the local knowledge of the long-serving Martha Robertson!

 

Long service, dedication and loyalty remain hallmarks of both the Partners and members of staff here.

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