The relationship between Highland chiefs and the Edinburgh legal profession had its origin in the period following the establishment of the College of Justice in 1532. Relations existed between Edinburgh lawyers and many chiefs in the later 16^th century but the relationship became closer in the early 17^th century and a group of lawyers emerged who specialised in Highland clients. A significant change took place in the later 17^th century as a large number of Highlanders became lawyers in Edinburgh themselves. The rise of these "clan lawyers" meant that the client-lawyer relationship was more likely to be governed by kinship in the later 17^th century than it had been in the 16^th century. Around 1550 a significant change took place in the nature of the lawyers that chiefs employed in the locality. Incoming Scots speaking lawyers from outside the kindred took over the top positions as notaries public and legal servitors. By the later 17^th century members of Highland kindreds became lawyers in the burghs bordering the Highlands. Another group of lawyers operated within the Highlands, outwith the households of the chiefs, in the later 17^th century. Legal costs were an increasing financial burden on the chiefs as legal fees escalated in the early 17^th century. The chiefs borrowed extensive sums of money from the legal profession and the management of debt became a central part of the legal work carried out for the chiefs. By the later 17^th century chronic indebtedness was a major cause of social change in the Highlands.