In order to improve the range of services available to its members the STFA and Terra Firma Chambers have negotiated an arrangement which allows STFA members to obtain counsel’s opinion for an agreed fee and within an agreed time scale. 

The STFA already operates a scheme where its members can get half an hour of free legal advice on agricultural tenancy matters over the telephone from the solicitors firm Blackadders.  In addition it maintains a panel of approved solicitors which its members can use for their legal work if they want to.  This new scheme allows any member of that panel of solicitors to instruct an advocate from Terra Firma Chambers to provide a written legal opinion for an STFA member on any legal problem without the uncertainty of knowing how much it might cost or how long it will take. 

The Board of the STFA are delighted to have negotiated this arrangement with Terra Firma Chambers.  STFA chairman Angus McCall said, “We are very pleased to have negotiated this arrangement with Terra Firma.  Agricultural law has become so important to tenants and is so complex that rapid, high quality specialist advice at an affordable rate is essential at an early stage.  Terra Firma Chambers is part of a modern new look approach to advocacy in Scotland and STFA welcomes the opportunity to work with its land based specialists.” 

Terra Firma Chambers includes some of the most experienced agricultural lawyers at the Scottish Bar and has already made a name for itself in developing a modern business approach to the services its members provide.  Emma Philip, Terra Firma’s Practice Manager said, “I am delighted that the STFA have decided to make this scheme available to its members.  It shows our desire to give the clients the best service we can at a reasonable cost.”   

Full details of how the scheme operates can be obtained from Emma Philip or any member of the STFA panel of solicitors.