New COO takes role at fast-growing Aberdeen law firm

Esson & Aberdein founder reunites with his former close colleague

A SUCCESSFUL businessman has been appointed to deliver growth for a legal start up in Aberdeen, after being lured away from one of the city’s biggest law firms.

Joseph Bowie has spent 10 years building up one of the best-known debt and asset recovery services in the UK from the Granite city, but is now joining his former mentor in a new venture.

He has been appointed as Chief Operating Officer at Esson & Aberdein, which was launched earlier this year by high-profile lawyers Joni Esson and Rob Aberdein.

Managing director Joni said: “Joe is a well-known figure in Aberdeen’s legal circles and he is an outstanding professional with an incredibly sharp business mind. His appointment gives our entire team confidence that we are going places – and fast.

“His ideas, talent and energy will turbo-charge what we are doing and help us deliver on our very clear ambition, to provide better and more accessible legal services to the people of Aberdeen.”

Joseph joins the firm from Aberdein Considine, where he first started working with Rob a decade ago and where they established a renowned lender services division.

Rob added: “We worked closely for more than six years, so having Joe back on the team at such a critical time is brilliant. I know he will be as passionate as Joni and I are about changing and improving legal services in Aberdeen.”

Joseph, a former pupil of Turriff Academy, is a married dad-of-two young daughters and lives with wife Natasha in Inverurie.

He said: “To be joining the most exciting law firm in the North-East is an amazing opportunity.

“We know there are longer-established and better-known names operating in Aberdeen and the North-East. So, we need to assemble the best team possible and we are already well on the way with that.

“Then we need to build our reputation and earn the trust and respect of the marketplace. That is all about winning hearts and minds and showing integrity.

“I completely buy in to the values and strategy that Joni and Rob have set out – especially making a meaningful difference in the community – and I believe they will help the business grow very quickly as clients also buy in to a better kind of law firm.

“Our immediate focus is growth across Aberdeen, but as we develop multiple services we will be looking across Scotland and the UK. We definitely want to offer pan-UK legal solutions.”

He joins Esson & Aberdein at a time it is undergoing rapid expansion, which has already seen it outgrow the offices where it launched in Aberdeen’s West End. It has now relocated to the third floor of the distinctive Charter Building in Rubislaw.

Joseph added: “Our new offices are superb and fit exactly with the kind of law firm we are developing here – modern, sleek and contemporary, but also eminently approachable and with a sense of fun. There is also plenty of scope for expansion, which we will definitely need.”

While its main focus currently is on conveyancing, estate agency, wills, executries and family law, Esson & Aberdein is aiming for growth across litigation, debt and asset recovery, commercial property and a full range of legal, property and financial services.

In 2020 Rob Aberdein launched Moray Group, an umbrella brand for multiple professional services firms. Its first acquisition was Glasgow-based lender services specialist, Alston Law. That was followed by the takeover of high end legal and estate agency firm, Simpson & Marwick in Edinburgh. Earlier this year it also launched Esson & Aberdein in the North-East.

Moray Group has a financial target of achieving a turnover of £10m by the end of 2022. On the legal side its focus will be on, estate agency, conveyancing, debt recovery, wills and executries, powers of attorney, family law and accessible corporate law for SMEs.

With offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and North Berwick, the group intends further rapid expansion, driven by acquisitions of well-established legal firms with untapped potential. It will also bolt on services including financial services and property letting.