Ms Brennan joins from Weightmans, where she was a partner responsible for private client work in Scotland. She has previously held senior positions at several leading law firms.

She will lead the department’s development across both Edinburgh and Glasgow, with a particular focus on growing the practice and building on the expertise already within the team.

Her specialisms include estate planning, inheritance tax planning and succession planning for families and family businesses. She is also a regular speaker at legal conferences, sharing her expertise on developments affecting private client practitioners.

Ms Brennan said: “What attracted me to Gibson Kerr was its focus on providing specialist advice to individuals and families. Private client work is at the heart of the business, rather than an additional service offered alongside a larger commercial practice.

“There is already an excellent team in place and I’m looking forward to building on that expertise, developing the department and expanding our presence across the central belt.

“We’re also seeing substantial changes to the legal and financial landscape, particularly around inheritance tax and succession planning. These developments are creating new challenges for families and business owners, making access to experienced, specialist advice more important than ever.”

Scott Rasmusen, managing partner at Gibson Kerr, said: “Attracting someone of Donna’s calibre is a real statement of intent for Gibson Kerr. She has spent three decades building an outstanding reputation in private client practice and brings the experience and ambition to take an already successful department to another level.”