Corporate and commercial: Edinburgh and Glasgow

Hall of Fame
The lawyers at the very top of the profession, widely known and respected by peers and clients for their longstanding involvement in market-leading work.
Neil Burgess
Hall of fameBrodies LLP
Neil leads the Corporate and Commercial practice at Brodies and is a partner in the corporate team. He has extensive UK and international experience. His practice covers a broad spectrum of corporate and commercial transactions, both domestic and cross-border, advising a range of multinational and national companies and institutions. He advises on M&A, private equity investments, MBOs and MBIs, joint ventures, commercial contracts, corporate governance and restructuring. He regularly advises clients on matters of a key strategic nature, running high value, complex transactions and co-ordinating multi-disciplinary legal teams, and providing pragmatic and commercial advice. Neil has particular expertise in M&A and private equity, with a strong focus on growth capital and private equity clients and transactions, and cross-border and domestic M&A. His experience spans a number of sectors, including manufacturing and engineering, facilities management, food and drink, technology and energy.
David Kirchin
Hall of fameAddleshaw Goddard
David leads the corporate team in Scotland and is also a central figure in the development of the firm’s new Aberdeen office. He has significant experience in corporate and banking work, including M&A, investment, corporate finance and acquisition finance. David has a broad range of clients, including banks, private companies, equity investors and SMEs, and has particular expertise in the oil and gas sector, particularly advising service companies. Prior to joining the firm, David worked as in-house counsel at BP in Aberdeen. He continues to work in a quasi-general counsel role with a number of the firm’s key clients. David is noted by Chambers to be "extremely impressive; calm and relaxed and very knowledgeable".
Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
David Anderson
Addleshaw Goddard
David is a corporate and commercial lawyer based in the firm’s Edinburgh office. David is recognised in the Scottish legal market as a go-to corporate lawyer in the digital / technology sectors. David is immersed in the technology (particularly fintech) world both locally in Scotland and across the UK. His practice advises established digital businesses such as FNZ, up and coming or fast growing technology businesses, investors into digital and fintech businesses and blue chip financial services organisations investing into digital businesses or the procurement of their technology.
Alison Gilson 
Shoosmiths
Alison is a corporate partner and head of the firm’s Edinburgh office. She has extensive experience advising on a wide range of corporate transactions, including mergers and acquisitions, MBOs, investments, disposals and joint ventures. She also has significant experience advising on shareholder arrangements, group reorganisations and corporate governance matters. Alison acts for clients across a wide range of sectors and has developed particular expertise working with businesses in the healthcare, technology, transport and media sectors. Her transactional experience includes advising: Extreme E, an international racing series that brings off-road electric racing to remote parts of the world to highlight climate change, on a range of corporate matters including the recent strategic investment into Extreme E by Formula E; Electric Sea Racing Limited on its launch of the "E1 Series" and its partnership with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia whose investment will enable them to create the world's first electric powerboat racing championship; national commercial vehicle hire business MV Commercial Limited on various share and business acquisitions and disposals; Sandbox International on edtech acquisitions in Brazil, Spain and the US; digital tech business Engine B on its funding rounds; Carewatch Care Services Limited on a series of acquisitions in Scotland, England and Wales and then on the sale of various divisions in a complex transaction that required the completion of 6 transactions within 4 weeks.  
William McIntosh
Brodies LLP
Will is a corporate partner at Brodies LLP, specialising in domestic and cross-border M&A and Private Equity transactions. He has over 25 years’ experience, practising in the UK and France, and is co-chair of the international Private Equity Committee of the American Bar Association. He has particular sectorial expertise in tech and life sciences. With a previous career in intellectual property, he is now heavily focused on tech M&A/PE deals. He advises a number of US and European PE/VC funds, as well as high growth companies and multinationals. His corporate clients include software “unicorns” and listed companies, as well as sectorial leaders in technology, biosecurity, life sciences and energy.
Shuna Stirling
Brodies LLP
Shuna is a partner in Brodies corporate team. She is a recognised expert in corporate law, ranked in both Chambers and Legal 500.Shuna has 25 years’ experience advising on acquisitions, disposals, joint ventures, investments, MBOs and corporate restructuring work. She also provides general commercial and corporate governance advice to a broad range of Scottish, national and international clients ranging from private individuals/owner managed businesses and SMEs to some of the UK’s largest corporates and multi-national organisations.In addition, Shuna is known in the marketplace as a “go to” for corporate real estate work, advising on the corporate aspects of investing in real estate through a variety of different corporate wrappers, both onshore and offshore.Sectors focuses include food and drink, healthcare, real estate, energy, IEM and motoring.
Danny Lee
Burges Salmon LLP
Danny is a partner in the firm’s corporate finance team, having joined Burges Salmon’s new Scottish office in 2019. Danny specialises in corporate finance and company law, including M&A, joint ventures, private equity and restructurings. Danny covers a range of sectors, but with a particular focus on the energy sector (notably renewables), food and drink, technology and life sciences/pharma sectors. Recent experience includes: advising Panoramic Growth Equity on its investment in Big Drop Brewing Company; advising Fern Fibre Limited and Octopus Investments on the acquisition of internet service provider M12 Solutions and the Giganet brand together with a £250m funding package; advising Riverstone on the sale of Forsa Energy’s distributed flexible power generation platform to Tiger Infrastructure Partners; advising Calcivis on its equity investment by SIB and Archangels; advising Genus plc on its strategic investment in genetics improvement consultancy, Xelect.
George Frier 
Shepherd and Wedderburn
George is a partner and head of the firm’s food and drink group with a client list drawn principally from the food and drink, technology and engineering sectors. He conducts a wide range of corporate work, including strategic corporate advice, acquisitions and disposals, joint ventures and group reorganisations/restructurings, for international and domestic  clients. He is also a member of the firm’s family business and wealth protection group . Recent deals include acting for AIM listed Collagen Solutions PLC on its AIM fundraise and Bond issue to Norgene Ventures; for Satellite Solutions Worldwide Group PLC in its acquisitions of the broadband division of Avonline PLC, the broadband  business of Australian Skymesh Pty Ltd and Bordernet Pty Ltd; and AIM fundraising and acquisition of Quickline Communications Limited; J.R.Dalziel Limited, various acquisitions; Blackwood Plant Limited, Vendor financed MBO; Chivas brothers Ltd in its disposal of the Glenallachie Distillery; Scottish Seafarms Ltd in its acquisition of  development site for their new £30m  freshwater aquaculture facility with associated hydro scheme.
Stephen Trombala
Shepherd and Wedderburn
Stephen is a corporate finance partner whose primary focus is on the upstream oil and gas and ICT industries. He has extensive equity capital markets, mergers and acquisitions and private equity experience and advises both funders and corporates. Recent work includes acting for a number of independent E&P companies across a range of matters, including capital raisings, portfolio rationalisations and takeover transactions. Clients include Cairn Energy, Bowleven, Celtique Energie, IndigoVision and FanDuel. He is recognised as a leading practitioner, and in one legal directory he is described as ‘a talented, hard and fast worker with terrific public company expertise’.
Brian Moore
Dentons
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Murray Jack
Addleshaw Goddard
Murray has extensive experience of advising on a wide range of corporate transactions with a particular focus on private M&A, private equity, and venture capital deals. His clients include large corporates, private equity funds, high growth companies, and high net worth entrepreneurs and investors. Murray's expertise includes advising clients operating in the transport, technology, life sciences, healthcare, food and drink and renewable energy sectors. In addition Murray has capital markets experience with a particular focus on AIM.
David Lightbody
Brodies LLP
David advises on all corporate matters, with a focus on business sales and purchases, investments, joint ventures and restructurings – often with an international element.His clients range from individual business owners to AIM and main market listed plcs. He has spent time working in-house, on secondment to the M&A function of a major global bank, overseeing the legal aspects of strategic corporate transactions.
Paula Skinner
Harper Macleod LLP
Partner Paula is head of the entrepreneurial team at Harper Macleod that focuses on advising entrepreneurs on all legal aspects of their business.  Her personal specialism is advising entrepreneurs on corporate transactions such as investments (including equity crowdfunding), acquisitions/disposals and restructures.  She works with businesses at all stages of their life cycle – from inception of idea to funding to exit.  Paula previously worked in-house at a venture capitalist and within the investment team at Scottish Investment Bank.  Her team completed over 186 transactions over the past 3 years, 74 of them being equity investments and 27 being M&A transactions.  You can review some of the deals Paula and her team have been involved in at our up-to-date corporate deals table. Paula has in the past participated in an entrepreneurship course by Babson College at the University of Strathclyde.
Emma Barclay
BTO Solicitors LLP
Partner Emma is experienced in advising a broad range of clients on all aspects of corporate and commercial law, including mergers and acquisitions, commercial contracts, group re-organisations, investments and joint ventures. She also has experience in relation to banking and finance transactions and restructuring, acting for institutional investors, funders, companies seeking investment and banks, as well as renewable energy transactions.
Derek McCombe
Dentons
Owen McLennan
Dentons
Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Paul Breen
Brodies LLP
Paul specialises in company and commercial law and is experienced in dealing with a wide range of company law issues, including investments, mergers and acquisitions, bespoke commercial contracts and arrangements and ongoing company regulation. He is also experienced in project managing large scale and complex cross-border acquisitions and in dealing with corporate governance arrangements in a broad range of sectors.

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