Immigration specialist promoted to partner at Thorntons

One of Scotland’s leading immigration solicitors, Jacqueline Moore, has been promoted to partner at full service Scottish law firm Thorntons.

Jacqueline joined the Thorntons employment and immigration team in February 2023 and has quickly made her mark on the firm, driving growth of the specialist team, and positively impacting individual and business clients.

Based in Thorntons’ Edinburgh operation but servicing clients across the country, Jacqueline is an accredited specialist in Immigration Law by the Law Society of Scotland, and top ranked as an individual practitioner by Legal 500 and Chambers and Partners.

Jacqueline joins the firm’s partnership following her extensive work supporting a range of organisations within sectors including hospitality, technology, education and healthcare, to find solutions to their recruitment challenges through the use of the immigration system. This includes right to work support, advising on employee life cycle issues for sponsored workers, global talent visa applications and sponsorship compliance. 

Utilising her technical knowledge of the UK’s points-based system, Jacqueline offers commercial and pragmatic advice to HR managers and business owners, ensuring compliance with immigration law to protect clients against the risk of civil and criminal penalties.

In addition to supporting businesses, Jacqueline has been helping countless individuals and families make successful UK visa and British citizenship applications which extends to offering specialist services to high-net-worth individuals settling in Scotland from overseas.

Jacqueline said: “Immigration law is all about helping people, bringing families together, supporting businesses to grow and enabling people to start new lives in Scotland. It’s been extremely rewarding to work alongside my fellow specialist immigration practitioners and wider employment law team to make a meaningful difference to our clients.

Since joining Thorntons I’ve been continually impressed with the supportive and nurturing culture of the business and its highly skilled teams. It’s clear to see the growth of its operation through investment in talent, development and efficient processes. I’ve loved being able to contribute to that growth and I hope to continue this in my new role as partner.”

Thorntons managing partner, Lesley Larg added: “We are committed to exceptional levels of client care, growth of our specialist teams and development of everyone across the firm.

Jacqueline has been a fantastic addition to our employment and immigration team, complementing existing skill sets and driving transformational services for our clients. As partner we look forward to seeing the positive influence she has on the wider business.” 

In addition to being a leading immigration expert, Jacqueline is also active in the wider business community, promoting gender equality through her support of Look Up Above and Beyond (LUAB). 

Jacqueline is a founding member of LUAB a collaborative project set up by Naeema Yaqoob Sajid and Diversity+, which brings together both individuals and organisations to explore how the Scottish legal industry can work better for both employees and employers, particularly to prevent senior female talent leaving the sector.