Sport

Leading partners
The strongest partners in their field, leading on market-leading deals and endorsed by peers and clients alike.
Bruce Caldow
Harper Macleod LLP
Partner Bruce specialises in employment law and heads the firm's employment law practice.  As a Law Society of Scotland Accredited Specialist, Bruce advises in relation to both contentious and non-contentious matters, acting primarily for employers along with executive and senior-level employees, including in disputes before the Employment Tribunals and Employment Appeal Tribunal.  Bruce advises on all aspects of employment law across each of the public, private and third sectors, with Bruce regularly working with clients to create and apply policy, to make decisions about risk management, with technically astute advice focussed on practical delivery of achieving objectives.  Bruce’s practice extends beyond Scotland with Bruce regularly advising our clients who have UK-wide operations and beyond.  Equalities advice is also a key feature of Bruce's practice, advising clients on compliance, culture and resolution of contentious issues, not only within the workplace but more widely, also in relation to property, goods and services.  Business immigration is an increasing area of Bruce’s practice with clients recently including businesses and individuals alike seeking Bruce’s guidance and support through planning and implementing recruitment or leave to remain issues.  Bruce edits sections on Employment Precedents for Sweet & Maxwell and authors Lexis Nexis PSL section on the Public Sector Equality Duty – Scotland.   Bruce also leads the firm’s sports law practice. In this role Bruce advises the firm’s many sports clients in relation to regulatory, disciplinary and governance matters. Clients include Scottish Rugby, for whom Bruce is the national team's lawyer, sportscotland, Scottish Swimming and Scottish Gymnastics Association. Bruce is a chairman for the SFA judicial panel and regularly chairs judicial and appellate panels further to the judicial protocol.  Bruce writes regularly on sport and the law in a number of publications and is member of the editorial board of the leading publication "Sports Law Administration and Practice". Bruce has previously undertaken lengthy secondments assisting In-House Legal Counsel to World Rugby. Bruce also coordinates the India country desk, part of Harper Macleod’s international offering.
Simon Catto
Addleshaw Goddard
Simon is head of the dispute resolution team in Scotland and a solicitor advocate. He regularly handles complex and high value cases in both Sheriff Court and the Court of Session with a particular focus on commercial, contractual, insolvency and sports related disputes. Simon specialises in the full range of commercial, contractual and insolvency disputes. His clients range from insolvency practitioners, banks and public limited companies to small privately owned companies and partnerships. Clients also include UK football clubs and professional sportsmen in the fields of football and athletics. Simon is the appointed solicitor member of the board of the Scottish Court Service. He is also a member of the firm’s Scottish and UK managing boards.
Tom Thomas
Harper Macleod LLP
Partner Tom specialises in intellectual property and technology related matters (including outsourcing) as well as mainstream corporate acquisitions, sales, structures, drafting and negotiating commercial arrangements, and agreements. Tom also has extensive experience within the renewable energy and sport sectors. Tom is senior partner in the firm's Intellectual Property & Technology practice and is listed in the International Who’s Who of Business Lawyers. He was previously a member of the panel of independent experts appointed by Nominet UK, the UK level domain name authority, to adjudicate on domain name disputes. His experience includes: Acting for the Scottish Professional Football League (formerly the Scottish Premier League) in relation to its broadcast and sponsorship agreements since 1998 including recent agreements with Sky, BT Sport, the BBC, YouTube, BBC ALBA and overseas rights distributor MP & Silva. Advising Glasgow 2014 Ltd in relation to the host broadcast agreement for coverage of the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow; advising sportscotland and various sports governing bodies in relation to corporate and commercial matters. Advising the Forestry and Land Scotland in relation to various wind and hydro renewable energy initiatives and their implementation. Advising the Highlands and Islands Enterprise in relation to its £146million next generation broadband agreement with BT. Advising various agencies and directorates of the Scottish Government in relation to commercial contracts and corporate matters Advising a Scottish public body in relation to an outsourcing and shared IT services venture with several other Scottish public bodies. Advising various community organisations in relation to renewable energy projects. Advising Webhelp in relation to various outsourcing agreements to the mobile telecommunications and financial services sectors in the UK. Tom is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Intellectual Property Law.
Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.
Helena Brown
Addleshaw Goddard
Helena is an IP, IT and commercial expert with over 15 years' experience advising on a range of legal areas such as high profile technology sector investments and acquisitions, high profile public bodies and charities and on strategic data protection issues and more. Helena is also a fully accredited Practitioner in Data Protection, and also has extensive experience in providing support on complex freedom of information matters. Helena supports and advises on international data transfers, service offshoring and subject access requests.
Leading associates
Rising stars with regular involvement in their team's key work, and recognition from peers or clients as being ones to watch.
Andrew Maxwell
Harper Macleod LLP
Senior Solicitor Andrew can provide advice to employers and employees on all aspects of employment law including TUPE, restructuring and business reorganisation, redundancy, unfair dismissal, employment status, equal pay, discrimination generally, discrimination arising from disability, complex disciplinary and grievance process and settlement agreements on a frequent basis. Additionally Andrew has significant experience of drafting and revising bespoke employee-related documentation such as contracts of employment, HR policies and procedures, and employee handbooks specifically tailored to the needs of individual clients taking into account best practice and each organisations own unique culture. Andrew has successfully delivered training on employment related matters both in-house and externally to clients, including collective consultation, disciplinary investigations, absence management, mediation and discrimination. Andrew’s knowledge, experience and relatable manner mean he can advise companies and individuals at any level.
Sarah McCormick
Brodies LLP
Sarah is a senior associate within our Litigation team. She has represented clients at all levels of the Scottish court system, including at the UK Supreme Court, and regularly represents clients in both arbitration and mediation proceedings. Sarah is one of only three lawyers in Scotland appointed to the Programme Legal Advice Panel for BBC Scotland and regularly provides pre broadcast advice (most often concerning defamation, privacy, and contempt of court) direct to journalists, producers, and editors at BBC Scotland. She also represents corporates, individuals and third sector clients in connection with social media issues and reputation management. Sarah also has extensive experience of all types of real estate disputes. She frequently advises a wide range of institutional landlords, developers, housebuilders and corporate tenants on dilapidations and lease enforcement, service charge disputes and termination, as well as contentious issues arising from both commercial and residential developments.

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