Shepherd and Wedderburn

Alastair is a partner, head the banking and finance litigation practice and is a recognised specialist in this field. He leads the firm’s specialist finance sector and the asset based finance cross divisional practice group. Alastair has particular interest in professional negligence (insurance litigation), fraud, contentious trust and executries and charity related matters, and has specialist knowledge of consumer credit legislation. Acting for both public and private sector clients, in particular many leading financial institutions, on contentious and non-contentious dispute resolution and risk management issues affords him a wide perspective of the issues at play and an insight that ensures he achieves the best possible outcome. He also advises on wider commercial disputes involving commercial contracts and company law and has extensive experience in all aspects of alternate dispute resolution, representing major clearing banks in multi-party mediations, acting as arbiter’s clerk in contract disputes, representing clients in the preparation of matters for expert determination and raising proceedings using the abbreviated procedure offered by the Commercial Court in both the Sheriff Court and the Court of Session. Alastair’s clients include Portfolio Recovery Associates Inc., Close Brothers Group, Clydesdale Bank plc, HM Revenue and Customs, ScottishPower Group, and KPMG Group.

Andrew Kinnes

Andrew is a partner and specialises in banking and securitisation. As well as acting for a wide range of corporate clients, Andrew has also acted for a significant number of UK and overseas banks and financial institutions. On the mainstream banking side, Andrew’s focus is on leveraged and property finance. He has also recently been involved in a number of high-profile workouts. Examples of recent work include acting on behalf of the borrower and borrower manager in connection with a £129m commercial mortgage-backed bond issue, the proceeds of which were used to fund the development of the BBC’s Scottish headquarters at Pacific Quay, Glasgow. Chambers comments: ‘Andrew has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the law, he is extremely strong technically and his enthusiasm is quite infectious.’

Andrew Blain

Andrew is the firm's managing partner and a corporate lawyer. He advises a range of listed and private companies on corporate matters including restructuring, joint ventures, acquisitions and disposals. His clients reflect his focus on the real estate, financial services, transport and waste sectors. Andrew's past work includes acting for iomart Group in its acquisition of United Communications Limited; acting for Scarborough Group International in its sale of a minority interest in Scarborough Thorpe Park Holdings Limited to Hualing Group, a Chinese conglomerate and acting for Safestay plc in the purchase of the Smart City Hostel and student accommodation.

Andrew Hall

Andrew is a partner and an expert in property. He has considerable experience in commercial and residential development, strategic land, regeneration projects and property finance. Since 1998 Andrew has specialised in residential property development and heads the firm’s housebuilding group, acting for a wide range of volume housebuilders and landowners in the purchase and disposal of sites for development. He has particular expertise in large-scale multi-developer sites. In addition, Andrew is part of the firm’s property finance group and advises a number of UK banks. His clients include Taylor Wimpey, Miller Homes, I&H Brown, Persimmon Homes, The City of Edinburgh Council, BAE Systems, Lloyds Banking Group, Clydesdale Bank, The Wheatley Group, East Renfrewshire Council and East Dunbartonshire Council. In Chambers and Partners 2017, Andrew's clients say "He has very good commercial awareness and is very good at delivering transactions."

Andrew Holehouse

Andrew is a partner and a recognised pensions law expert. In particular, he is noted for his work in electricity supply and distribution industry pensions, and is the draftsman of the protected persons regulations on pensions, which have applied to the electricity industry since its privatisation. He has acted on a number of groundbreaking pensions arrangements, including advising the trustee of the ScottishPower pension scheme’s £2bn Longevity swap – a relatively new and complex financial instrument. He advises trustees of major occupational pension schemes and private and public companies on the full spectrum of pensions law issues including pensions liability and risk management, buy-in and buy-out insurance, benefit design and change, acquisitions and disposals, pension scheme restructurings, winding up pension schemes, and employer financed retirement benefit schemes. Andrew is a Committee member of the NAPF Scotland Group as well as a full member of the Association of Pensions Lawyers, and of the Law Society of Scotland Pensions Law Working Party. Admitted in Scotland, England and Wales.

Caroline Shand

Caroline advises on all aspects of real estate matters but with a particular emphasis on institutional investment, property finance and commercial development acting for a wide variety of investors (including traditional pension funds, private equity and foreign investors) and lenders. She is dual qualified in both Scots and English law and her time spent working in London with a highly ranked Real Estate team has given her valuable additional experience, which assists in the large volume of cross-border matters she deals with. Caroline is regularly instructed by both clients and English and international law firms to deal with the Scottish end of cross-border matters in both property finance and portfolio investment where her City experience means she is able to deliver the highest levels of knowledge and service to both the client and referral law firm with a one team approach. She has also dealt with numerous commercial leasing transactions over the years for landlords and tenants in the office, industrial and retail/leisure sectors.

Charles Scott

Charles specialises in business law with a particular expertise in harbour law and shipping, including ship purchases and sales, financing, chartering and shipbuilding contracts. With a legal career spanning more than 35 years, he is well known in business circles in Aberdeen and surrounds for his commercial acumen as well as for advising private clients in their estate planning, trusts and wills. His portfolio of clients rely on his knowledge and expansive perspective of business and personal legal needs.

Chris McGill

Chris is a partner in the private client practice of the firm. Specialising in private client and charities work, he advises private individuals, families and trustees on issues such as succession planning, wills and trusts, and personal taxation. With an increasingly mobile and international client base, Chris also regularly advises on issues such as domicile, international taxation and estate planning. For charities, Chris provides constitutional, regulatory and governance advice to charity trustees throughout the UK. Chris is accredited by The Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in Charity Law. Admitted in Scotland, England and Wales.

Clare Foster

Clare is a partner in the banking team (who leads our project finance practice) and is head of Clean Energy at Shepherd and Wedderburn. She is widely recognised and a highly regarded practitioner in the project finance market, with a particular focus on power sector projects (particularly in the renewables arena) and infrastructure projects. Qualified in both Scottish and English jurisdictions she advises clients on projects spanning the energy sector spectrum (including onshore wind, offshore wind, biomass, energy efficiency, tidal and small scale renewables) and infrastructure sector (including health, education, accommodation, transport and waste management). Clare has been involved in some of the highest profile (and in some cases world firsts) finance transactions in these sectors. Clare’s work includes advising UK Green Investment Bank on the development and deployment (both in Scotland and England) of its first product, the Green Loan (with five projects signed to date across the UK), acting for the Renewable Energy Investment Fund in providing project finance debt and equity to MeyGen Limited (the world’s first commercial tidal array project), and advising the senior creditor group on the Scottish aspects of one of the largest and most complex road projects involving bond financing in the UK – The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route NPD Roads Project. Clients have stated that Clare ‘…impresses with her understanding of the financing of projects’. One source described her as ‘phenomenally good’. Clare regularly acts as lead counsel representing lenders, consortia/sponsors and authorities both north and south of the border and usually leads the multi-disciplinary team required to bring deals swiftly to financial close.

Colin Innes

Colin is a partner and accredited specialist in planning law. Regarded in Scotland as a planning legend, he advises clients in the private and public sectors on both contentious and non-contentious planning matters. On the contentious side he represents clients at public inquiries, hearings and also advises in respect of court challenges to planning decisions. He has significant expertise in relation to energy related projects including thermal plant, renewable energy and grid. He is also involved in other major infrastructure projects including road schemes and major mixed use schemes. Accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a planning specialist, Colin advised Vattenfall Wind Power Limited on their Aberdeen Bay consenting, famously challenged by the Trump Organisation LLC and Trump International Golf Links Scotland Limited. Most recent work includes advising DF Concerts on the relocation of T in the Park, Scotland's iconic music festival. Chambers and Partners notes: 'Colin Innes is recognised as a leading light in the sector and particularly acclaimed for his expertise in renewables and retail work. Sources praise his "tremendous and valuable knowledge," and call him "a class act – hugely impressive."'

Colin Robertson

Colin is a partner in our real estate team specialising in acting for developers, investors and funders of energy and infrastructure projects. Colin has extensive experience of advising on the real estate aspects of onshore and offshore windfarms, tidal projects, solar and hydro developments, conventional gas and biomass plants. Clients include ScottishPower Group, AG Power, RWE Group, Vattenfal, 2020 Renewables, North Sea Midstream Partners, Moray Offshore Renewables and Mainstream. Colin also acts for a variety of property investors, developers and occupiers in relation to industrial, office and retail premises in Scotland. Clients include Thomas Cook Group and Henry Boot Developments.

Colin Archibald

Colin is a partner in commercial litigation, with a particular focus on real estate litigation and contentious construction work. He is an experienced advocate, presenting cases on behalf of clients across a range of dispute resolution forums, including litigation, arbitration, adjudication, expert determination and mediation. Colin has applied his strong technical and project management skills in handling an extensive range of significant, complex and high-value property disputes including property contract disputes, overage payment claims, professional negligence, dilapidations claims, title issues, and a variety of other landlord and tenant disputes for a broad client base, with a particular focus on landlord and developer clients, and housebuilders including Miller Homes and Taylor Wimpey.

David Mitchell

David is a partner specialising in property. He advises a broad based commercial practice including British Land, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets, BlackRock, CBRE Global Investors, Hermes Investment Management, William Pears Group, LondonMetric, Warehouse Reit plc/Tilstone and Palmer Capital. He has particular experience in the field of development having been involved in a number of significant office, retail and mixed use projects across Scotland. In addition David heads up the real estate function of the firm’s restructuring and insolvency group and advises a number of UK banks and insolvency practitioners on the property aspects of restructuring and insolvency. In Chambers and Partners, clients describe him as ‘responsive, and he always acts in our best interests.’

David Anderson

David is a partner and is recognised as one of Scotland’s leading commercial litigators acting in high profile and high value disputes. He has substantial experience of advising in the construction and energy sectors. Over the past year he has acted on behalf a wide range of blue chip clients including Kier Group, Scottish Power and BAE Systems plc. David is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators and regularly sits as an arbitrator. He has recently completed an appointment as the chairman of a tribunal in a complex construction arbitration where the sums in dispute are in excess of £50m. David’s ability to deal with largescale disputes in a focused and effective manner to achieve a successful outcome means that he is highly sought after. Clients describe David as ‘very focused and impressive, with a calm approach.’

Edwin Mustard

Edwin is a partner within the pensions team and advises companies, trustees, and financial institutions on all aspects of pensions law including general scheme advisory work and documentation, scheme mergers and reconstructions, clearance applications to the Pension Regulator, changing benefit provisions and closure to future accrual, employer debt issues, Pension Protection Fund entry and pension disputes. He chairs the Scottish group of the Association of Pension Lawyers and is regularly listed in legal directories as a leader in the field of pensions law, being recently described as an ‘outstanding lawyer’.

Elaine Brailsford

Elaine is a partner in commercial litigation, primarily focusing on commercial, financial and property related disputes. She has vast experience in the Court of Session, Sheriff Courts, Land Court and Lands Tribunal, and works closely with our real estate and banking teams. Elaine's work includes groundbreaking property litigation, including the cases on dilapidations and extraordinary repairs under a commercial lease, and a recent case for damages in relation to the encroachment by a major house builder into neighbouring land; a major litigation involving breach of warranty claims in a sale of a business, and the resulting professional negligence claim against solicitors; leading the team involved in complex pension litigation in relation to equalisation of rights; and a long running case involving an oil rig where claims exceed $65m, acting with our banking team she brought the first case of its kind in Scotland where an administration order was made in respect of a non-UK company with heritable assets in Scotland.

Elaine Hunter

Elaine trained and qualified in Scotland and thereafter re-qualified in England and Wales in 2000 whilst working in London for a city firm.She has more than 20 years' experience in the real estate sector, including involvement in major UK-wide property transactions, multiple property "portfolio" deals and cross-border work.Elaine has long-standing relationships with a number of the firm’s clients across a variety of disciplines and heads up the Scottish-based arm of our English Property Unit.Clients include energy companies, investors, developers, hotel operators, house builders, manufacturers, housing associations, funders, retailers and healthcare providers. Examples are: Mactaggart & Mickel Homes Limited; Caring Homes Healthcare Group Limited; Clydesdale Bank PLC; BDL Select Hotels; BayWa r.e. UK Limited; Vattenfall; Falck; and Macdonald Resorts.

Elaine Todd

Elaine is a partner specialising in property. She is highly experienced in all aspects of property related transactions with particular experience in investment, development and landlord and tenant work and in dealing with the property aspects of PFI/PPP projects. Clients range from major institutional investors, leading development and investment companies in Europe and local investment/development companies to private individuals who are investors, landlords or tenants.

Euan McLeod

Euan heads up our transactional construction team. He has a Masters degree in Construction Law and specialises in providing procurement advice at the outset of projects; drafting and negotiating construction and engineering contracts from both the employer’s (both public and private sector) and contractor’s points of view; and then providing strategic advice during the project. Euan also assists clients in the resolution of contractual disputes and has extensive experience of advising on high value and complex projects throughout the UK and in Europe. He also advises clients on their template contracts and framework agreements. In Chambers and Partners, sources say he is ‘self-motivated, self-starting, efficient, and a hard-line negotiator who understands our position.’

Ewan Macleod

Ewan is a partner and accredited as a specialist in planning law by the Law Society of Scotland. He has extensive public hearing and inquiry experience with particular expertise in housing, retail and waste issues. Top ranked by leading directories, Ewan advises developers and planning authorities in relation to development plans, significant planning applications including planning gain issues, appeals, court challenges and compulsory purchase. Ewan also advises on a range of environmental matters including regulated processes, nuisance and contaminated land. His most recent work includes advising Taylor Wimpey and CALA Homes on a significant residential development in Newton Mearns; Murray Estates in connection with its 1300 house development in West Edinburgh; ARES in relation to development proposals at Kingsway East Retail Park, Dundee and Scarborough Muir Group on a significant compensation claim related to the new Queensferry Crossing Bridge project. Other clients include Gladman Developments, Hallam Land, Sainsbury’s, British Land and Miller Homes. Chambers and Partners notes: ‘Ewan Macleod is praised by sources for his commercial solutions to complex legal problems. An expert in strategic retail and residential development, he has a "good understanding of both sides of a case and is able to interpret that clearly."

Fiona McKerrell

Fiona is a specialist restructuring and insolvency lawyer and advises all classes of stakeholders on corporate restructuring, turnaround and insolvency matters. Her areas of expertise include acting for insolvency practitioners in formal insolvencies, advising lenders in respect of security enforcement, restructurings and managed exits and acting for corporates and boards of directors facing financial challenges. Fiona has experience of working across a significant number of sectors, with particular focus on professional service firms, energy, retail, transport and logistics and hospitality and leisure businesses. She is known for providing straight-talking commercial advice.Admitted in Scotland

Fiona Buchanan

Fiona is a partner in the Banking & Finance team and advises on a wide variety of banking matters, ranging from conventional secured and unsecured loans to Scottish SMEs, funding cross-border corporate buyouts and restructuring of debts of 'distressed' borrowers, to advising major UK and foreign financial institutions on structured multi-jurisdictional capital markets financing, including securitisation (RMBS, CMBS and whole business), covered bonds and other innovative funding techniques. Fiona also acts for sellers and purchasers of commercial and residential mortgage loan books in both the non-performing and performing space. She also gives opinions on a range of additional banking matters. Recent transactions include: acting for DBS Bank Ltd in Scotland in relation to a £291m secured loan to fund the acquisition of a portfolio of UK student accommodation; acting in Scotland for North Yorkshire Building Society and Amber Homeloans Limited in relation to their sales of portfolios of mortgage loans to Morag Finance 1 S.A R.L.; acting in Scotland for the Northview Group in relation to its RMS 29 and RMS 30 securitisations of residential mortgage loans; acting in Scotland for Erste Bank in relation to the financing of a number of Scottish registered aircraft.

Gareth Parry

Gareth is a partner and construction and engineering specialist. He has substantial experience in in the energy sector, including carbon capture and storage; combined cycle gas turbines; onshore and offshore renewables, and combined heat and power. He has significant expertise in road and port projects and projects within the education sector and has substantial procurement experience advising major contractors, procuring authorities, developers, major sub-contractors and other professionals. Gareth is a regular speaker on construction law matters and a prolific author in the field of construction regulation. He co-wrote the Annotated Guide to the Construction Design and Management Regulations and is co-author of Scottish Engineering Contracts. Admitted in Scotland and England and Wales.

George Frier

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.

Gillian Carty

Gillian is a partner in our Dispute Resolution practice and advises on both contentious and non-contentious insolvency matters with a particular focus on insolvency litigation, banking and finance litigation and debt recovery. She acts for a number of banks, financial institutions and insolvency practitioners and advises on a range of litigation matters including breach of fiduciary duty claims against directors; challenges by insolvency practitioners to pre-insolvency transactions; security and guarantee enforcement for secured and unsecured creditors as well as a variety of banking litigation and tax appeals. Gillian is a licensed insolvency practitioner and is accredited as a specialist in insolvency law by the Law Society of Scotland. She has worked on a number of high-profile insolvency assignments including advising the administrators of Heritable Bank (the Scottish subsidiary of the Icelandic bank, Landsbanki) and advising on the administration of legal practices. She is the lead client partner for the Insolvency Service advising on public interest litigation and directors’ misconduct and disqualification proceedings.

Gordon Downie

Gordon is a partner within our regulation and markets team and an acknowledged leader in the field of UK and EU competition law and regulation. His particular focus in recent years has been on the role and functioning of markets in regulated sectors in the UK and overseas (such as the energy and water industries) and in connection with the provision of key public services. Gordon's clients include regulatory bodies, regulated entities and other stakeholders (such as complaint-handling bodies). Gordon's clients include ScottishPower, the SEM Committee and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland (WICS).

Greig Honeyman

Greig is a partner in the private client team and has extensive legal experience in looking after family businesses, SMEs, private clients and professional partnerships. Greig is recognised as being solid, reliable and determined. Admitted in Scotland.

Hamish Lean

Hamish Lean has been accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in agricultural law since 2000 and deals with an exclusively agricultural and rural client base. He has a particular interest in agricultural tenancy law but advises frequently in respect of the purchase and sale of agricultural land, the formation, structure and winding up of agricultural businesses, onshore renewable energy projects and agricultural subsidy matters. He is regularly invited to speak publically in relation to agricultural law matters and appears frequently in the Scottish Land Court representing agricultural landlords and tenants in relation to tenancy disputes. His recent cases in the Scottish Land Court in 2017 include acting on behalf of the landlord in respect of the case of J&S Wight Ltd v the McGowan Family where the applicants sought to establish a fully secure agricultural tenancy over the farm of Duntilland. The landlords were successful in establishing that no secure agricultural tenancy existed. He acted on behalf of the tenant in the case of Lewis v Hunter which involved an attempt by the landlord to irritate an agricultural lease on the grounds of alleged breaches of the lease. The tenant was successful in her defence to the action. He acted on behalf of the appellant in the case of Morrison v Scottish Ministers when the Land Court upheld an agricultural subsidy appeal against the Scottish Ministers. All of these cases were reported in 2017.

Hamish Patrick

Hamish is a partner in the finance and restructuring group and has a broad practice in debt finance and restructuring, including conventional corporate banking, asset finance, receivables finance, derivatives, capital markets, innovative funding structures and funding restructuring and reorganisation. He is also involved in policy, systems, regulatory and opinion work for financial institutions and in law reform with government and other public and private sector stakeholders. Hamish has, in particular, played a leading role throughout his career in the development of market standards and innovations in securitisation, in structured funding using Scottish limited partnerships and in cross-border mechanisms for restructuring and enforcement of debt, through co-ordinated insolvency and otherwise. Hamish’s clients include central institutions, UK clearing bank groups and European, North American, Asian and other financial institutions, funds and other funders as well as borrowers and public bodies. He has a PhD in cross-border security and insolvency and speaks and publishes regularly on finance, security and insolvency issues.

Hugh Smith

Hugh is a partner specialising in property. He has a broad based practice covering a range of areas but principally focused on renewable energy, rural property and the hotel and leisure sector. In the energy sector, Hugh advises in relation to onshore windfarms and hydro schemes acting in both cases for developers, landowners and funders. In the hotel and leisure sector he advises on acquisition, sale and licensing. Clients include The Balmoral Hotel, Crerar Hotels, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets, Sutherland Estates, Electricity Supply Nominees, Infinis, Brookfield Renewables, Gamesa, AES Wind Generation and Green Highland Renewables.

Iain Wishart

In the Scottish market, Iain provides lenders and borrowers with the best possible levels of service. He has more than 14 years of experience as a banking & finance lawyer, gained during his time in a senior in-house position with a major bank and in private practice in the banking and capital markets division of a Magic Circle firm. In the UK space, Iain has a thriving referral practice and provides Scots law expertise and a seamless service to top tier English and international firms and their clients. Iain encourages his team to think differently and to constantly evaluate the way they work. He has developed bespoke procedural frameworks and service goals to make the lives of clients and referrers easier while delivering quality and controlling costs. Iain draws on the biggest dedicated banking and finance resource in Scotland to provide clients operating in the Scottish market with real estate finance, Islamic finance, wealth, insolvency and banking advice. As part of the ‘Scots Counsel’ team at Shepherd and Wedderburn, Iain also works closely with Magic Circle and other elite City of London firms to deliver a broad range of transactions from large scale loan book diligence, real estate and acquisition finance to securitisation and restructurings, all to the highest possible levels of knowledge and service.

Iain Drummond

Iain is a partner and solicitor advocate. He is highly experienced in construction, engineering, PPP/PFI and negligence disputes. He appears regularly in the Commercial Court of the Court of Session and conducts arbitrations. He has a large adjudication practice across the UK, in particular concerning civil engineering, energy and infrastructure projects. Iain also has a substantial mediation practice, conducting mediations across the UK, and advises some of the leading adjudicators in Scotland. Iain has been accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in construction law since 2003 and is a member of the Law Society of Scotland's professional negligence, specialist accreditation panel.

James Dobie

James is a partner and recognised expert in real estate advising national developers and retailers across the whole range of development work through site acquisition funding, letter and investment sales. Clients include Miller Developments, Sainsbury’s Supermarkets, The University of Edinburgh, EE Limited, Cirrus, Mobile Broadband Network ,EDI Group, Sainsbury’s Bank and Iberica. James has twice been shortlisted in the 'Solicitor of the Year' category of the Scottish Legal Awards and has the held the accolade of Sainsbury's UK Legal Advisor of the Year in recognition of his commitment, added value input and high standard of work. Chambers and Partners 2016 rates James as Band 1 and comments: The "excellent" James Dobie is well regarded by commentators. He works on a range of development matters for both retailers and developers. "He's the perfect mix of commercial and pragmatic," says one source, continuing: "He understands both our business and the individuals here, and the requirements of our business, which comes across in the documentation."

Jamie Grant

Jamie is a highly regarded real estate lawyer, with decades of experience and in-depth expertise in property and environmental law (in particular in contaminated land) honed from advising clients in energy and renewables; infrastructure; ports and harbours and hotels and leisure.Projects include onshore wind and hydro schemes, bio-mass and anaerobic digestion schemes, a tidal scheme and advising a landfill operator in the largest mineral ownership dispute to come before the Scottish courts in recent decades. A combination of legal expertise and a passion for the water (a keen sailor) means Jamie is sought out by clients with interests in harbour and port related matters where he has more than just legal experience. Jamie is a regular author of legal briefings and updates and has contributed to and commented on consultations on The Scotland Act 2012, Energy Act 2013, electricity market reform and property rates relief reform.

Joanna Boag-Thomson

Joanna is a partner in the media and technology practice whose key areas of expertise are technology transfer, IT/IS outsourcing transactions, collaborations and brand exploitation and she advises clients on a range of matters from multi-partner industry/academic collaborations to major sponsored events. Joanna has been a Law Society of Scotland accredited specialist in intellectual property law since 1998 and teaches this at postgraduate level. She has had particular success in attracting high-value and challenging deals, thanks to her pragmatic and knowledgeable advice. Joanna has an impressive client base which includes Scottish Enterprise, Skills Development Scotland, Pernod Ricard Group, Artemis Investment Management and Genius Gluten-Free Foods.

John MacKenzie

John is a partner, head of the firm’s UK-wide commercial litigation practice and an experienced solicitor advocate. He deals with a range of commercial litigation and has particular expertise in intellectual property and IT matters. He has rights of audience before the Scottish and English courts, appearing regularly before the Court of Session and the Scottish Appeal Court, and is one of the few solicitor advocates to have appeared before the General Court of the Court of Justice of the European Union. John advises on IP infringement issues and in particular online brand protection for clients from a variety of sectors, UK-wide, including energy and utilities, banking, IT and manufacturing. He has considerable experience in leading and managing high value claims backed by third party litigation funders. He sits on the Lord President’s Consultative Committee on Commercial Actions. He sits on the ADR Committee of the International Trademark Association and on the Lord President’s Consultative Committee on Commercial Actions in Scotland.

John Rutherford

John is a partner in our corporate team and is senior partner in the Aberdeen office. John advises boards, directors, owner managers and shareholders on M&A, investments, disposals and other corporate work and has many years experience in the oil and gas service sector.

John Gallacher

John has more than 25 years’ experience of the distressed property market, providing strategic advice to banks, lending institutions, insolvency practitioners and other recovery and reconstruction professionals, with a view to minimising risk and maximising opportunities, on real estate asset recovery and reconstruction assignments. His experience covers a number of sectors including development (both residential and commercial), leisure, retail, healthcare and light and heavy industries in both the occupier and the property investment markets.

John Grady

John is a partner in the regulation and markets practice and has extensive experience across electricity, gas and water markets, developed both in private practice and in house at ScottishPower. He has particular expertise in contractual and regulatory matters in the utility sectors. Since the late 1990s, John has advised on significant utility matters both in the UK and elsewhere, including interconnectors, trading arrangements reforms in the UK and Ireland, , BETTA, Electricity Market Reform, the RIIO-ED1 CMA price control appeals and the introduction of competition into the water industry. John advises on regulatory and commercial matters more widely including in respect of offshore wind and other major utility and energy projects. John advises more generally on competition law, including investigations under Competition Act 1998 by the CMA and Ofgem.

Keir Willox

Keir is a partner in our Aberdeen office and works as part of the Corporate Finance team in Aberdeen. He specialises in all aspects of corporate law and has considerable experience in management buy-outs/ buy-ins; company acquisitions and disposals; business transfers; advising on shareholder agreements, articles of association and joint venture agreements. He also advises clients on company formations and provides advice and guidance on a range of general commercial contracts such as franchise agreements, distributor agreements, supply agreements and general terms of business. Some of Keir’s most recent deals in 2017 have included:Project ClydeAssisting a financial planning client based in Aberdeen acquire the entire issued share capital of a Glasgow based financial planning company – deal size was approx.Project GraniteAssisting a financial planning client based in Aberdeen acquire the entire issued share capital of another financial planning company locally based in AberdeenTDC (Aberdeen) LimitedActing for TDC (Aberdeen) Limited in connection with the expansion of its trading group by the acquisition of (a) a local Aberdeen based electronics company and (b) a local Aberdeen based electrical engineering business with premises located in a prime area of Aberdeen providing good access to the harbour and South of AberdeenSearchwise LimitedActed for Searchwise Limited in connection with the disposal of its refurbishment business to Irish Sea Contractors Limited

Liz McRobb

Liz is a partner in the energy and natural resources practice and a recognised specialist advising on large regulatory or commercial projects in the energy and water sectors. She has advised on every major electricity market restructuring in the UK since 1989 and advises water industry clients such as Wessex Water, Bristol Water and South West Water and the Water Industry Commission for Scotland on retail market reform. Liz is a key member of the firm’s renewables team advising clients such as Mainstream Renewable Power, Moray Offshore Renewables and Banks Renewables on projects from inception to commissioning across wind, wave, tidal, biomass and many other technologies. She is a regular speaker on issues such as transmission access and aviation mitigation. Liz also advises clients operating in the defence, logistics, waste and food and drink sectors on all types of major commercial agreements including long term and IT outsourcings, logistics, purchasing, sales and business process. She focusses on the deals that keep a business going and that are essential to ensuring that its products and services reach customers on the right terms. Her clients across the UK on large commercial transactions include Chivas Brothers and BAE Systems.

Louisa Knox

Louisa is a partner within the pensions team and has an extensive range of experience advising on all pensions law issues for trustees and companies. She has significant experience in advising and supporting large occupational schemes on the full range of pensions law matters. Strategic risk reduction measures, including scheme restructuring and closures are a key focus for the advice to Companies as well as the impact of commercial activity on schemes. She is a committee member of the PLSA Scotland Group Committee, ICAS Pensions Committee as well as a full member of the Association of Pension Lawyers. Louisa has in-depth knowledge of constitutional matters as they affect pension schemes and has advised extensively on reforms affecting Scotland as well as the outcome of the EU referendum and Brexit. Louisa is noted as being ‘very good at explaining things and putting herself in our shoes as trustees’ and is strong on ‘difficult and complicated matters’.

Ma'aruf Razzak

Maaruf specialises in commercial property acquisitions, disposals and all aspects of commercial leasing. His experience covers renewable energy leasing matters and development agreements for commercial and domestic property developments.

Malcolm Rust

Partner and head of the Private Client and Charities teams, Malcolm specialises in personal tax, trust and succession planning for entrepreneurs, families and high net worth individuals. Malcolm also advises on wills, financial planning, trust creation, and partnerships with a particular interest in family business succession and structures. As well as his private client caseload, Malcolm has been advising on the law and regulation of charities in Scotland for over 24 years and has been heavily involved advising charity clients on the current regulatory and economic challenges facing those operating in the charity sector in Scotland. Malcolm has contributed to the newest charities publication in Scotland, “A Practical Guide to Charity Law in Scotland” published in August 2016 by Sweet & Maxwell. Malcolm is recognised by the Law Society of Scotland as an accredited specialist in the field of charities law. This highly regarded status, held by only a small number of individuals in Scotland, recognises the expertise and quality of work undertaken by the team, and was awarded after a comprehensive review of Malcolm’s relevant experience.

Michael Henderson

Michael is a partner and expert in property. With over two decades of experience in the property industry, Michael advises on property investment and development, development funding, joint ventures, landlord and tenant, portfolio acquisitions and public sector led regeneration. His clients span private and public sector organisations located in the UK and abroad and include organisations such as the Standard Life investments UK Real Estate Fund, BAE Systems Pension Funds, CBRE Global Investors, Savills Investment Management, Scottish Enterprise, Phoenix Life Limited and John Lewis/Waitrose. Michael is listed in the International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers.

Mike Anderson

Mike Anderson is head of the Aberdeen office. He is a commercial real estate lawyer with considerable experience in advising funders, developers and foreign investors in acquisitions and disposals, commercial lending and leasing. His works spans retail, office and commercial developments.

Neil Maclean

Neil is a partner with the firm and heads our employment practice group. He is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in employment law and has been practising in this area exclusively since 1997. Neil has, over the years, advised a number of significant commercial clients, including Cairn Energy PLC, Heineken UK Limited, Seven Energy (UK) Ltd, United Biscuits (UK) Ltd, IndigoVision Group, ShawCor, Baillie Gifford, Beam Global and Oceaneering. Additionally, he has particular experience in the education sector, where he has advised The University of Edinburgh and the Medical Research Council for many years. Neil has also recently been appointed to advise The University of Glasgow. Neil is a good strategic thinker who delivers pragmatic and commercial advice and is outcome-focused. Neil is also listed as a leader in his field within legal directories, which remark that he is ‘extremely sharp and knowledgeable’, as well as an ‘excellent communicator’. Admitted in Scotland.

Nick Ryden

Nick is a partner and has over 35 years' experience in all aspects of commercial property work in Scotland. Having worked for a wide range of developers, funders, investors and tenants, he has particular experience in the investment and the acquisition and disposal, development, letting and sale of retail parks. As well as being a governor and member of the Anglo American Real Property Institute, Nick is also a member of the Investment Property Forum. His impressive client base includes British Land plc, BAE Systems, Baillie Gifford, Gamesa, HSBC Bank plc, Alliance Trust plc, BlackRock, Cadena/Pradera/AEW, LondonMetric, Cinven Group Limited, GE Real Estate, Kilmartin Property Group, R F Capital, The William Pears Group of Companies, Festival City Theatres, Oceaneering International and PricewaterhouseCoopers. His reputation and profile has earned him a listing in the 2017 International Who’s Who of Real Estate Lawyers and Chambers 2015 recognise Nick as a senior statesman of the real estate sector. Chambers and partners 2015 notes: 'Head of department Nick Ryden holds a Senior Statesman position due to his experience in all areas of commercial property work, particularly with sales and acquisitions of retail parks. Clients describe him as "a very experienced pair of hands."'

Nigel Sievwright

Nigel is a director in the Infrastructure team. He is qualified in Scotland and in England and Wales and has extensive experience advising on PPP, PFI, NPD and hub projects, with particular expertise in the health and education sectors. Nigel has taken an interest in service and payment mechanism related aspects of these projects and has substantial experience of providing advice to projects in the operational phase. He recently advised the funders of the new West Calder High School and the Gorbals and Woodside Health and Social Care Centres. Nigel is currently advising on significant variations to health and education projects as well as projects being procured under Scotland’s hub initiative.

Patricia Hawthorn

Patricia is a partner and expert in planning and environmental law, with a focus on energy and natural resources. Patricia advises developers on consenting strategy in multi-application scenarios. Her practice covers the early stages of the development consenting process, strategic environmental assessment and environmental impact assessment, planning due diligence and the cross over with environmental permitting, which blends well with the contentious focus of the planning team. In addition to development consenting, Patricia provides general environmental support on corporate and property deals (due diligence, warranties and environmental indemnities) and on environmental prosecutions. Clients include Mainstream Group, EDP RENOVÁVEIS, S.A. and Vector Aerospace. In 2015 Patricia was appointed chairman of Scottish Renewables, the industry body and voice of renewable energy in Scotland, and she is a member of RenewableUK’s consents and licensing group. In Chambers and Partners 2015, sources comment ‘she’s definitely a specialist in the area.’

Patrick Bell

Patrick is a leading transactional finance lawyer and a partner in the banking & finance practice. His clients include a number of commercial and investment banks as well as funds, corporates, sponsors and developers. Having advised both lenders and borrowers, Patrick has wide experience of the issues faced by different parties to transactions and his international experience (in South East Asia, and in central and Eastern Europe) means that he is particularly adept at dealing with issues in bringing complex cross-border transactions to completion. Patrick’s practice encompasses mainstream corporate lending, acquisition finance, infrastructure & project finance and real estate finance.

Paul Carlyle

Paul is a partner and heads the firm’s media and technology team, dividing his time between the London and Edinburgh offices. Paul specialises in intellectual property law and advises clients in all sectors from high technology to branding and media clients. Paul also sits on the intellectual property law reform committee of the Law Society of Scotland.

Paul Donald

Paul is a partner and expert in real estate handling a broad range of commercial property transactions for a diverse client base. He is highly experienced in investment acquisitions and disposals, development work, leasing for landlords and tenants, security transactions and the provision of general property tax advice. Paul's client base extends to the private and public sectors, and includes pension funds, property companies, developers, a number of high-profile companies and PLCs with occupational requirements and banks and other funders, and includes such names as: British Airways Pension Fund (acquisition, development and letting of The Silver Fin Building in Aberdeen), Canada Life, Azure Hotels (acquisition and refinance of the Radisson Blu in Glasgow and acquisition of the Residence Inn by Marriott in Edinburgh), The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society, Tarmac, Morbaine (pre-let and acquisition of an out-of-town retail development in Fort William), Clydesdale Bank, Viridor Waste Management, Premier Foods Group, F&C Asset Management, Martin Currie (re-gear of its lease of Saltire Court in Edinburgh), Whyte and Mackay (relocating its head office to St Vincent Plaza in Glasgow and acquisition of its new storage and distribution warehouse in Grangemouth), Empiric Student Property (forward funding of its student accommodation development at the Alexander Turnbull Building in Glasgow), AECOM, Skanska, Kleinworth Benson (significant office lettings at City Park in Glasgow), Ervia, Thameside Metropolitan Borough Council, Deutsche Asset and Wealth Management (forward funding of its office development at 110 Queen Street, Glasgow), Dunbar Golf Club (advising on prospective enabling development proposals), Scottish Hockey Union (advising on occupational requirements at Glasgow National Hockey Centre), HSBC and Bank of Scotland.

Paul Hally

Paul is a partner and chairman of the firm and heads up the finance and restructuring practice. He is one of Scotland’s best-known corporate lawyers, with a number of major energy and financial companies featuring in his client list including Cairn Energy, Lloyds Banking Group and European Assets Trust. He is also a highly experienced insolvency practitioner and. His particular specialism is complex restructuring and insolvency work involving the application of his wide range of banking, insolvency and corporate experience. He acts as a reporter to the Court of Session in Edinburgh on significant corporate transactions and is the convenor of the business policy panel of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Recent work includes acting on various debt to equity restructurings, acting as Reporter on capital reduction applications by Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Standard Life and Cairn Energy’s international investment treaty arbitration against the Government of India.

Peter Misselbrook

Peter is a highly experienced real estate lawyer with particular expertise in the rural, agricultural and farming sector. Rural Scotland represents 95% of the land area and around a fifth of the population. His experience and client portfolio reflects the diversity of this vibrant economic sector. An established name in rural legal circles, Peter acts for number of large estate owners and farmers, commercial operators, investors, developers, landlords, tenants and for a medium size Nursing home group. He also acts as the lead solicitor for Invercauld Estates and the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland.Peter is a former Chairman of The British Association for Shooting and Conservation and President of the European Hunters Association and has held outside appointments with the Home Office and with the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.

Peter Ryden

Peter is a highly experienced Consultant in the Private Client team, specialising in trusts, estate planning, wills and charities.

Richard Leslie

Richard is a partner in the real estate team and specialises in rural and renewables work. He advises on the purchase and sale of rural property including estates, farms, crofts and country houses, agricultural leases, wind farms, hydro-electric and telecommunication mast leases, mineral prospecting leases and all aspects of law relating to land out with urban areas. Richard prefers to meet clients on their own 'patch' to gain a greater understanding of their business and legal requirements. Richard has a particular interest in all aspects of environmental work including renewable energy projects, nature conservation and contaminated land issues and he has acted in over 25 wind farm projects and a number of hydro-electric schemes. In Chambers and Partners 2015 client feedback included: 'He was responsive, alert and gave good advice.'

Robert Muir

Robert is a Consultant in the private client team, specialising in tax planning, wills, trust creation and administration, asset protection, executry administration, powers of attorney and welfare and finance for the elderly client. With his wealth of experience in private client matters and approachable style, he has the ability to get straight to the heart of clients’ needs. With his genuine interest in people, his clients always receive the best of care and advice. Robert is a member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners and a former tutor in Private Client on the Diploma in Legal Practice course at the University of Edinburgh.

Rod MacLeod

Rod is a partner in the Banking and Finance team. He specialises in commercial and corporate finance, acting in Scotland for corporate borrowers, lenders and funds. He has wide experience in cross-border property and corporate finance deals, with particular expertise in residential, commercial mortgage and trade receivables backed securitisation. He also regularly advises on leveraged funds finance structures involving Scottish limited partnership vehicles and has recently acted for JPMorgan, RBS, Lloyds, Co-operative Bank and Charter Court on cross-border finance deals.

Rodger Cairns

Rodger is a corporate finance partner and head of the employee share incentives team. He has advised public, private and international companies on a wide range of matters relating to share schemes, executive compensation and corporate governance. Working with clients ranging from owner managed businesses to FTSE 100 companies, Rodger’s client base includes: Cairn Energy plc, Ricardo plc and Alliance Trust plc.

Scott McCallum

Scott is a partner with extensive experience in contentious and non-contentious planning and environmental matters. He advises on consenting, planning appeals (including inquiries), planning agreements, environmental impact assessment, habitat regulation assessment, judicial review, pollution incidents and enforcement. Scott has been involved in numerous high value, high profile projects, including advising a range of public and private sector organisations on major energy, transport, waste, retail, leisure and mining projects across the UK. Scott has advised on some of the UK’s largest renewable energy schemes (both offshore and onshore wind) and Biomass/Energy from Waste projects. He has also advised on traditional energy development including coal and gas fired power stations and new nuclear. Clients include Mainstream, DONG Energy, Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult Limited and EDPR.

Scott Ritchie

Scott is a partner specialising in commercial property. He has extensive experience advising on developments, leasing, asset management, acquisitions and disposals. Scott is known for his strong technical skills and commercial awareness and advises in high value complex transactions. Clients include global investors and funders, developers, hospitality and leisure operators, and corporate occupiers.

Stephen Humphreys

Stephen is a partner in commercial litigation, with a particular focus on property litigation, construction and social housing and housing association law, with specific experience in issues relating to landlord and tenant. Stephen also contributes to and acts for clients in relation to recovery and insolvency and sports law, acting for some high-profile clubs and associations for a number of years. Clients he has been advising during the past year include the National House-Building Council, Shettleston Housing Association, Tollcross Housing Association and Kingdom Housing Association and Southside Housing Association.

Stephen Miller

Stephen is a partner in the corporate tax practice, advising on a wide range of direct and indirect taxes including corporation tax, VAT, stamp duty land tax, land and buildings transaction tax, capital gains tax, capital allowances, charity tax and employee taxation. He works closely with our corporate and real estate teams to ensure that transactions are implemented in the most tax efficient manner for clients, including corporate acquisitions, disposals and restructuring, sales and purchases of real estate, and property development and financing. Stephen has over 15 years’ experience and has worked with various industry leading organisations, such as The Miller Group Limited, BAE Systems and Cairn Energy PLC.

Stephen Colliston

Stephen is a partner specialising in PFI/PPP/NPD/hub and Energy projects. Advising both public and private sector clients as well as funders, he has completed projects in a variety of sectors including healthcare, education, street lighting, waste, waste to energy, defence, wind, hydro and fire and rescue. He has significant experience in bid-stage projects and also in advises parties on operational projects in the healthcare, education and street lighting sectors (including secondary market sales, major variations and disputes). Clients advised include Balfour Beatty Investments, Consort Healthcare, Nord/LB, North Lanarkshire Council, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Bank of New York Mellon, Co-operative Bank, Levenseat, Dexia Credit Local and RBS. Stephen’s extensive experience finds him sought out to advise both strategically and operationally on major projects, both at bid stage and during the operational phase. In Chambers and Partners, sources say ‘he’s willing to give a view rather than just telling you what the regulations say – he’ll discuss the implications and find imaginative solutions.’

Stephen Trombala

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’.

Stephen Gibb

Stephen is a partner and has been the firm’s chief executive since 2012. He is responsible for the management and strategic direction of the business. Stephen had been deputy CEO since 2009. Before taking on the role of CEO he advised a variety of UK and overseas clients on corporate matters, including joint ventures, acquisitions and reorganisations, with a focus on the renewables, property, drinks and leisure industries. Stephen is admitted in Scotland and in England and Wales and is an accredited mediator.

Yvonne Brady

Yvonne is a specialist insolvency advisory and appointment lawyer who deals with all forms of insolvency related issues ranging from complex bankruptcy to group restructuring, debt advisory and formal appointment work. Yvonne has a particular expertise in the SME and mid-market sectors across a number of sectors including education, retail, regulated businesses, hospitality and healthcare. She is noted for her jargon free style and ability to deliver client outcomes with minimal fuss.Yvonne is a member of the Law Society’s Insolvency Solicitors Committee, she has been named Scotland’s Star Individual in the field of Corporate Recovery and Restructuring in the Chambers Directory 2017 (for the fifth consecutive year) and is described as “the most experienced recovery lawyer in Scotland”.

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