What Patience & Buchan does

Patience & Buchan was an Aberdeen-based family law firm operating from 10 Golden Square that served individuals and families in the Aberdeen area with legal representation across divorce and separation, financial settlements, child custody and contact, prenuptial agreements, cohabitation rights, conflict resolution, and international family law matters. The practice was led by Partner Lorna Buchan alongside team members including Ashley Simpson, and operated on a professional-services revenue model combining hourly billing, fixed fees for specific services such as immigration consultations, and conditional fee (No Win No Fee) arrangements for personal injury matters. The underlying technology was limited to standard legal practice management and client relationship systems, with the thorntons-law.co.uk website serving as the primary digital touchpoint for service information and enquiry submission; no proprietary AI, automation, or platform technology is evidenced.

In October 2025, Patience & Buchan merged with Thorntons Law LLP, one of Scotland's largest independent full-service law firms with roots tracing back to 1857. Following the merger, the Aberdeen practice operates as part of Thorntons' family law department from the same 10 Golden Square location under the Thorntons banner, with the existing team continuing to serve clients and all client documents, wills, and title deeds securely transferred to Thorntons. The combined practice now distributes legal services through the Aberdeen office (in-person consultations) plus remote channels (phone 01224 648222, email, website enquiry), and former Patience & Buchan clients gain access to Thorntons' full Scottish service offering including property law, private client services, immigration, and commercial legal advice across the firm's offices in Inverness, Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Angus, Perth, Fife, and Aberdeen.

Name

Patience & Buchan

Legal name

Thorntons Law LLP

Website

https://patienceandbuchan.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Acquired

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Patience & Buchan was an Aberdeen-based family law firm that merged with Thorntons Law LLP in October 2025, now operating as Thorntons' family law department serving individual clients in Aberdeen with divorce, child custody, and financial settlement representation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Family Law Legal Services

NAICS

Legal Services (5411), Offices of Lawyers (541110), Offices of Lawyers (54111), Trust, Fiduciary, and Custody Activities (523991)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Family & Private Client (Trusts & Estates) Law (BPAHAAAK)

akta.pro secondary industry

Trust Administration & Fiduciary Accounting Services (FSAAANAF)

Keywords

• Family law services
• Divorce solicitors
• Child custody law
• Financial settlements
• Prenuptial agreements

Headquarters

HQ city

Aberdeen

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Legal Services Fees: Professional legal services billed to clients for family law matters including divorce, child issues, financial settlements, and related services. Fees may be structured as hourly rates, fixed fees for specific services, or conditional fee arrangements (No Win No Fee) for personal injury claims.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Patience and Buchan was an Aberdeen-based family law practice providing solicitor-led representation in divorce and separation, financial settlements, child custody and contact matters, prenuptial agreements, cohabitation rights, conflict resolution, and international family law. Following the October 2025 merger with Thorntons Law LLP, the same Aberdeen team continues to deliver these services from 10 Golden Square under the Thorntons brand.

Product overview

Patience and Buchan was a family law practice based in Aberdeen, Scotland. Following its merger with Thorntons Solicitors in October 2025, it now operates as part of Thorntons' family law department. The firm offered family law services with a focus on divorce and separation, child issues, and related matters. The core services included Family Law Services and Child Issues. The firm operated from 10 Golden Square, Aberdeen, with key team members including Partner Lorna Buchan and Ashley Simpson.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Family Law Services

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Thorntons Law LLPflagshipStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 October 2025In October 2025, Patience and Buchan merged with Thorntons Law LLP, one of Scotland's largest independent law firms with roots dating back to 1857. The merger combines Patience and Buchan's established Aberdeen family law practice with Thorntons' full-service legal capabilities. The Aberdeen team (Lorna Buchan, Ashley Simpson, and colleagues) continue serving clients from 10 Golden Square, now operating as Thorntons. All client documents, wills, and title deeds were securely transferred to Thorntons. Existing clients maintain continuity of service while gaining access to Thorntons' expanded service offerings including property law, private client services, and commercial legal advice.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Digby Brown LLP: Scottish law firm with a strong personal injury and court-actions practice that overlaps with the PI capability now accessed by Patience & Buchan clients through the Thorntons network.
• Jones Whyte LLP: Glasgow-based Scottish law firm focused on family law, private client, and property services. Comparable to the Patience & Buchan family-law offering as a smaller, family-law-specialist competitor within Scotland.

Broad incumbents

• Brodies LLP: Largest Scottish law firm offering full-service legal advice including a sizeable family-law practice. Comparable to the Thorntons/Patience & Buchan combined platform as a broad Scottish full-service competitor with deep family-law expertise.
• Morton Fraser: Scottish full-service law firm with private-client and family-law expertise. Comparable to Thorntons/Patience & Buchan in the integrated family-law plus wills/trusts/probate service stack across Scotland.
• Anderson Strathern: Scottish full-service law firm with strong family-law and private-client practices, including wills, executry, and succession planning. Comparable to the Thorntons/Patience & Buchan combined offering in family and private-client work.
• MacRoberts LLP: Scottish full-service commercial and private-client law firm. Comparable to Thorntons/Patience & Buchan as a broad Scottish legal-services platform with overlapping family-law and private-client capabilities.
• Thorntons Law LLP: Acquiring firm and now parent of Patience & Buchan. One of Scotland's largest independent full-service law firms (roots to 1857) with offices across Scotland. Directly comparable as the umbrella under which Patience & Buchan now operates, offering the same family-law services plus property, private client, and commercial practice.
• Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP: Major Scottish full-service law firm offering private client, family, and property services. Comparable as a broad Scottish incumbent competing with Thorntons/Patience & Buchan for family-law and private-client work.
• Harper Macleod LLP: Major Scottish full-service law firm with established family-law, private-client, and property teams across multiple offices. Comparable as a large Scottish incumbent offering the same integrated service stack that Patience & Buchan now accesses via Thorntons.

Regional players

• Ledingham Chalmers LLP: Aberdeen-headquartered full-service Scottish law firm with significant family-law and private-client capability. Most direct geographic competitor to the Patience & Buchan team within the Aberdeen legal market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/ThorntonsSolicitors
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thorntons-law-llp
• Instagraminstagram.com/thorntons_graduates

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Patience & Buchan