FORMER LEGAL CONSULTANT JOINS GROWING EDINBURGH OFFICE

A leading accountancy firm has expanded its presence in Edinburgh with the appointment of one of the city’s best-known former lawyers.

Greig Honeyman (pictured above) will advise leading figures at Douglas Home & Co, while tapping into his extensive network of family businesses, trusts, lawyers and corporate decision-makers.

The move to bolster the board comes after Honeyman stepped down from Shepherd and Wedderburn, where he’d spent six years as partner and the last 18 months as a consultant. Currently this well-known Edinburgh figure is a non-legal advisor to some of Scotland’s wealthiest families.

Former Managing Partner of Fyfe Ireland until 2012, Greig joins Douglas Home & Co to help the company in the implementation of its successful growth plan after the Kelso headquartered company opened its Edinburgh office in 2019.

He’ll act as a non-legal conduit for new business, assisting with the company’s long-term strategy and will apply his knowledge and experience to promote the company’s business and corporate finance department.

Greig said: “To be supporting the board and the business ambitions of one of the most exciting brands in Scottish accounting is a great opportunity for me. Douglas Home & Co has incredible growth potential which I’m hoping to help promote in every way I can.  

By working closely with the team members at Douglas Home & Co, I’m hoping to add significant value to the business through my own business and professional connections amassed during many years of working on private client and commercial matters around Scotland.”

He added: “Accountants, lawyers and all other businesses are incredibly busy at the moment. By formalising relationships with key connections, we can bring attention to real solutions that make life easier for the clients and prospective clients of this top firm. 

It is a developing aim of all at Douglas Home & Co that they wish to be able to react faster to clients’ problems than the client can themselves. I hope to play a prominent part in the fulfilment of such aims.

As a special non-legal advisor to many families, businesses and trusts, including family and charitable trusts, I believe I am well placed to advise Douglas Home & Co on matters which will keep it well ahead of its competitors in the future”.

Greig studied at the University of Edinburgh and has since plied his trade for a range of top legal firms such as Honeyman & Mackie and Tods Murray LLP.

Well known as a ‘man of business’ and trusted advisor around the capital, only two months ago Greig gave up his legal practising certificate to focus on non-legal consultancy work.  

Douglas Home & Co originally opened a small base in the city’s Rutland Square in March 2019, however just six months later it expanded to larger offices in Charlotte Square where it continues to help clients across the country.

The accountancy specialist was founded and remains headquartered in the Scottish Borders where it has four offices, with other operations in Edinburgh, East Lothian, Cumbria and Northumberland. It has 70 staff, has served more than 1,000 rural businesses and last year reported a 4% rise in turnover to £4 million.

The appointment comes at a key time for Douglas Home & Co, which is looking to expand further its range of corporate clients to its Edinburgh client-base, while continuing to grow its ever-expanding range of rural and agricultural clients.

Darren Thomson, Chief Executive of Douglas Home & Co commented: “Greig is one of Edinburgh’s best-connected business people – and brings with him a wealth of knowledge that will be a boost to our continued development.

We’re confident that Greig’s vast network from his impressive professional services career in Edinburgh will prove priceless. Alongside that, his advisory skills are second to none, adding a great deal of fresh-thinking to an already highly-performing team.”