Of course, the rural and agricultural sector has been crucial to the country’s economy for centuries, with 80 per cent of the land mass currently categorised as rural and 73 per cent as agricultural, contributing some £3 billion each year to our economy and supporting more than 67,000 jobs from the Borders to the Northern Isles.

Life in these sometimes remote communities though is demanding and demands rigour and resilience – qualities readily recognised by Lois Newton, Perth-based partner in the land and rural business team at Gillespie Macandrew LLP, who has worked in the firm for more than 10 years. 

A native of Haddington in rural East Lothian, she’s passionate about all matters concerning the rural community and increasingly that involves marshalling a constant stream of legal and legislative traffic arriving at the farmhouse door.

The Scottish government, for instance, is pushing through a Land Reform Bill intended to boost community ownership and requiring greater transparency; there are new requirements for landowners around environmental protection; changes regarding agricultural policy, subsidies and funding – plus of course the issue of agricultural property relief (APR), which is a concern for farmers passing on property to the next generation.

While land reform is not a new issue, Lois says that attitudes to climate change and biodiversity have escalated in consequence. “People are asking: ‘what can we do? How can we help halt climate change?’,” she says.

“This is affecting our clients across a wide range of areas – from grouse numbers to salmon rivers, where fluctuating water levels can interfere with migration and spawning.”

There are new Scottish government regulations and demanding statutory targets planned in relation to climate change and biodiversity, which are for the Scottish ministers to reach – but to do so, she stresses, they will need the landowners and managers of rural Scotland to help them.

“The volume of regulation is huge: everything is changing so rapidly that landowners or anyone working in the rural community must be very aware of what those changes are and the challenges – but also the opportunities – that they bring,” says Ms Newton. 

“These affect a diverse range of people, from landowners to farmers to rural businesses, and the activities they are involved in go beyond what you would typically expect, ranging from forestry and tree planting to rewilding and biodiversity projects.”

Lois believes that in future we can expect that more rural agricultural funding will take the shape of schemes promoting practices that enhance biodiversity. “While change is also often uncomfortable, rural Scotland has consistently shown its adaptability and biodiversity restoration and enhancement may be the next opportunity to do so again,” she adds. 

She has advised people in the rural sector for 15 years and herself feels very much at home in the Scottish countryside. Following completion of her postgraduate diploma at the University of Edinburgh, Lois joined Gillespie Macandrew in 2010 to embark on her legal traineeship and was appointed a partner there in 2022.

“Throughout my traineeship, I worked in four different practice areas within the firm. As soon as I started rural law, it absolutely clicked with me that this was the sector I would like to specialise in. I found the work extremely interesting and really enjoy supporting clients to overcome challenges as well as identifying ways for their rural businesses to thrive,” she says.

Continuing her passion for working with people in that sector, in 2023 Lois was appointed a trustee of the RSABI (founded as the Royal Scottish Agricultural Benevolent Institution), a charity that supports people in Scottish agriculture by providing practical, emotional and financial support, as demand for the charity’s support services continues to grow across Scotland.

Throwing their weight into supporting that cause, last month Gillespie Macandrew sponsored the RSABI’s Scone Palace Challenge, a weekend of teams from the rural sector taking on varied activities that engaged a global audience on Facebook with viewers in Norway, Holland, Australia and the US and raised more than £80,000 for people in Scottish agriculture.

“The rural community has fostered a culture of resilience and much of that has come through succession and legacy and being able to pass experience down through generations,” says Ms Newton. 

While new entrants into farming face acknowledged difficulties such as access to farmland, high upfront costs and housing issues, the rural sector has moved beyond its traditional roots and embraces innovation, with opportunities there for those willing to put in some effort.

Ms Newton remains optimistic: “There is such a wide spectrum of opportunity and with so much going on, the rural sector is by no means a sleepy hollow. The wealth of openings should help attract young people to the sector.” 

For example, the Natural Capital Market Framework under the Scottish government is trying to open more routes for investment that deliver multiple natural capital benefits, not just single‑issue carbon credits.

Forestry and Land Scotland has a pipeline of woodland and peatland projects to capture additional carbon, seeking private and public partners.

“These are opportunities and many of the advisers and others coming into that sector are from the younger generation. They can see the value in what’s going on and are bringing real life to a lot of these markets, enjoying openings that perhaps didn’t really exist before.

“There is also the increasing role of technology in this sector as with many others and we are looking at the different uses of land, how to build biodiversity projects and how to involve the community. It’s a fascinating sector to work in and can be hugely rewarding for a career.”

Ms Newton emphasises the importance of understanding clients’ unique geographical and business contexts. Her personal geography has shifted from the long beaches and expansive arable farms of East Lothian to life in Crieff, its ‘feet in the lowlands and its head in the Highlands’, with her husband and two young sons.

She appreciates the value of collaboration, whether knowledge sharing between law firms or with bodies such as Scottish Land and Estates and the Tenant Farming Commissioner, and enjoys getting out to meet Gillespie Macandrew’s clients in situ.

“There are times where it’s much better for us to be out on the land. Farming is a multi-generational industry so you can have three generations around the table, helping everyone to understand the views of others and how that fits into the bigger picture,” she says. 

“It all comes back to the rural community and rural environment, which is where I feel at home,” she adds. “It’s not solely about giving legal advice; it’s a wider remit, dealing with the environment that they’re in and it’s one that’s changing  dramatically. 

“Essentially my job is to provide support, to allow our clients to keep thriving as rural businesses in Scotland and help them decipher what challenges and opportunities are coming down the track.”