Addleshaw Goddard

Alan Shanks

Alan is head of the Finance and Projects division in Scotland. He is a banking partner specialising in advising clients on financing in the energy sector, including oilfield services, renewable energy, shipping and related services. Alan acts for a number of major companies and financial institutions in the UK and internationally, with particular experience in MENA and Caspian transactions. Alan was a central figure in the establishment of the firm’s Aberdeen office. He previously led HBJ Gateley's Dubai office.

Alastair Cowan

Alastair is dual qualified for both Scotland and England/Wales and has helped to drive the department’s expansion plans since joining the firm in 2010, with a formidable reputation as a deal maker and strategic adviser. Acting for an impressive list of clients which includes institutional, private and overseas investors, as well as private property companies, Alastair has extensive experience of the real estate market, particularly investment acquisitions and disposals, student accommodation, asset management and development, such as: Acquisition, subsequent asset management, development and break up of several mixed use portfolios, including a predominantly retail portfolio of 42 properties for £120million, and a predominantly industrial and office portfolio of 20 properties for £60million; Acquisition and development of six separate sites for student accommodation, comprising a cumulative total of well over 1000 studios for Hong Kong and Singaporean regulated funds, managed through a UK based FCA regulated private equity investment house; Acquisition and break up of several cross border residential portfolios, including a portfolio of 1,363 properties for £157million from a major UK high street bank, and a portfolio of 511 units across 18 blocks for in excess of £50million; Asset management of several shopping centres on behalf of both a listed UK REIT and a large private property company; The recent acquisitions of various retail, industrial and office properties in Scotland for an institutional fund for a cumulative total of almost £40m; the disposal of a portfolio of 8 retail parks and properties to a UK institution for in excess of £60m; He is valued for his understanding and commercial awareness of the pressures – he is creative and finds a solution rather than a problem.

Andrew Ley

Andrew is a leading corporate lawyer who focusses on working closely with the entrepreneurial owners and management teams of, and investors in, high growth companies. He leads the firm’s food and drink and capital markets teams in Scotland, providing advice on fundraising, growth by acquisition, strategic relationships, contracts, joint ventures and exits. The exits include public and private company mergers and acquisitions, management buyouts and capital markets flotations. Andrew is a highly pro-active business developer with a track record of creating opportunities for clients and intermediaries. Clients comment ‘Andrew Ley is technically brilliant’ and Andrew has a ‘fantastic capacity to grasp the vitally important aspects of the deal and help parties get the very best outcome possible’.

Andrew Walker

Andrew is very experienced in general transactional corporate work, including acquisitions, disposals, buyouts and equity investments, and commercial contracts of a wide variety. He also has significant experience advising on intellectual property matters, particularly in the context of deals or commercial contracts, and UK and EU competition law issues. Andrew has a specific interest in assisting high-growth business, often but not exclusively in the technology and food and drink sectors. He has been a key adviser for many years to a global leading provider of wrap platforms for financial and wealth management markets, supporting their national and global growth. Andrew is a Notary Public and Writer to the Signet

Anna Brown

Anna has over 25 years experience acting for a broad range of corporate clients from small technology start-ups to large listed plcs across a broad range of sectors. These include biotech, software and other technologies, energy, infrastructure and real estate, financial service and leisure. Anna undertakes a wide range of corporate transactions including mergers and acquisitions, equity funding for businesses, joint ventures, reorganisations and reconstructions. She has particular expertise and has a long track record of successfully floating companies on AIM and the Main Market, secondary fundraisings on market as well as takeovers and schemes of arrangements to take companies private again.Her pragmatic, solutions driven advice is highly valued by clients. Anna is noted by Chambers as "renowned for her work in the infrastructure and technology sectors. She advises several prominent clients in the technology sector on a range of corporate matters".

Anne Struckmeier

Anne is a Partner and head of Contentious Construction in Scotland. She specialises in construction and engineering disputes, with considerable experience in a number of sectors including PFI/PPP, energy, utility infrastructure, education, retail, health and safety, and disputes arising from waste management. She also has a contentious shipping practice, covering the full spectrum of disputes in the sector. Anne is experienced in the full range of dispute resolution forums, including mediation, adjudication, expert determination and court action. She is an accredited specialist in construction law with the Law Society of Scotland and dual-qualified in Scotland and England and Wales. She is also a solicitor advocate.

Carrie Armstrong

Carrie is dual-qualified in Scotland, England and Wales, with specialisms including hotel and pub acquisitions and disposals, retail leasing and asset management for UK-wide national retailer clients, portfolio acquisitions and disposals for clients. She is also steadily growing her niche practice acting and advising on SIPP acquisitions and disposals for a number of prominent SIPP providers. She also specialises in property tax and advises in relation to both LBTT and SDLT.

Catriona Smith

Catriona provides specialist corporate and banking advice to many of the major banks in the UK and a variety of corporate borrowers. She has a particular focus on the shipping, energy and offshore supply chain sectors. Based in the Aberdeen office Catriona maintains a strong practice handling major transactions in the onshore – and offshore renewables, offshore supply chain and shipping sectors. Her finance experience includes specialist ship finance, conventional and Islamic financing structures and bond issues, and she deals regularly with ship and energy finance transactions across multiple jurisdictions and time zones. Catriona recently acted for a UK leader in a major port refinancing and redevelopment and acted for a UK leader in a financing of an onshore windfarm development.

David Kirchin

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".

David Anderson

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.

David Horne

David specialises in corporate and commercial law, particularly corporate finance, acquisitions and disposals, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, commercial contracts and private equity deals. He has experience of a wide range of industry sectors, including metals, real estate, manufacturing, sports, energy, IT and outsourcing. Having worked in-house for over 18 years as director and group company secretary for Murray International Holdings, David also has a good understanding of other areas of legal practice, including employment and real estate, and provides ‘real life’ business expertise to clients.

David Cruickshank

David is a partner in the Firm's Energy and Infrastructure practice, specializing in domestic and international renewable energy projects. David has a wealth of experience in the infrastructure and energy sectors advising both developers and funders on large-scale infrastructure and power projects during his time at Dentons, Linklaters, Shearman & Sterling and Barclays Capital (where he was a director in the Energy & Utilities team). He specializes in the renewables and alternative energy sector with particular expertise in the wind, solar, hydro and biomass sectors. As the co-chair of the Dentons Energy Transition group, he has an excellent understanding of the importance of decarbonization programs to both public and private sector clients and is also involved with a number of clients in their COP26 initiatives. David has most recently worked for: a large multinational on the development of its hybrid PPA projects incorporating conventional, solar and battery power; and a host of investment funds, developers and utilities on a series of renewable M&A transactions for both consented and operational projects in the UK. In addition to his expertise in energy, he also advises the UK government on large-scale infrastructure and procurement programs.

David Hughes

David has specialised in employment law for more than 17 years and is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in this field. He is also a solicitor advocate with extended rights of audience in the Court of Session and Supreme Court. David practices in all areas of employment law, including conducting appearances in the Employment Tribunal and EAT throughout the United Kingdom. David predominantly advises employers, dealing with the full range of employment law issues including unfair dismissal, discrimination, TUPE, senior executive exits and redundancy, and has many years’ experience advising on employment law issues in the oil and gas industry in particular. David works across our offices in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. David has a particular interest in workplace mediation and is a certified mediator. He has undertaken mediation in commercial and employment law disputes and has also conducted judicial mediation in the Employment Tribunal. Having a particular interest in training and development, David was senior tutor in employment law at Aberdeen University in the post graduate Diploma in legal practice from 2013 – 2017 and undertakes many training courses for clients on all aspects of employment law, HR practice and procedure, mediation skills and management skills.

Ed Watt

Ed is a recognised leading commercial shipping lawyer and head of the firm’s shipping group. Ed has acted in the sale or purchase and registration of more than 200 vessels, and is a recognised expert in dual registration of ships in the Caspian Sea. With an international practice acting for ship owners, builders and banks, Ed has led negotiations and completions in over 20 countries. His experience covers the full range of transactional and commercial needs of clients in the shipping, offshore renewable energy, and oil & gas sectors. He specialises in the sale, purchase and registration of ships, in particular offshore vessels; commercial agreements, time charters and tender negotiations for major projects; ship building contracts and complex bareboat lease structures. "Ed Watt continues to operate on an almost bewildering international scale" Scotsman Legal Review

Euan Wilson

Euan is a partner in the Infrastructure team with 23 years' experience and specializes in large infrastructure and project finance transactions such as PFI, NPD, hub, BSF and LIFT. As a dual-qualified lawyer, Euan has worked on projects throughout the UK. Euan has a particular focus in the area of secondary market PFI/PPP transactions and is recognized as a market-leading figure in this area, advising large UK investment funds and a range of other significant market players. In addition, Euan provides strategic advice to equity investors and directors on dozens of operational projects (from a client book of more than 60 operational projects). Clients include Aviva, Dalmore Capital, Semperian, Sir Robert McAlpine, AMP Capital (Irish infrastructure fund), Morgan Sindall Investments, 3i Infrastructure and Network Rail.

Heather Pearson

Heather heads the social housing and regeneration team in Scotland, and advises on commercial contracts, property, development, funding, regulatory and governance issues. She is immersed in and maintains a strong affiliation and high profile in the sector. Heather combines her significant real estate experience with her deep knowledge of the sector, acting for developers and funders, advising on strategic options, joint venture partnering arrangements, complex acquisitions, and disposals and asset management. She also has experience in the healthcare sector and works closely with the energy team in delivering community energy schemes.

Helena Brown

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.

Iain Sutherland

Iain is a senior partner in Dentons' Corporate team and is based in our Glasgow office. He advises on a broad range of corporate and commercial matters including mergers and acquisitions, MBOs/MBIs, private equity, venture capital, joint ventures and corporate restructurings. He regularly co-ordinates multi-disciplinary teams and manages complex domestic and international projects across a range of sectors.

Jamie McIntosh

Partner

Kirsty Nicholson

Kirsty leads the largest English real estate team based in Scotland. After qualifying in Scotland, she re-qualified in England and worked as a real estate lawyer in the city. She maintains an excellent reputation and profile with clients in the City and across the UK, combining exceptional technical ability with hard work and a constant commitment to achieve the best results for her clients. Kirsty has extensive experience in all aspects of commercial real estate work, including acquisitions and disposals of large property portfolios, high-value investment properties and ongoing management work, with a particular focus on the leisure and hospitality and residential investment sectors. Kirsty recently advised private investors on the acquisition of a £75m central London hotel and advised The Capital Pub Company plc as it built up a portfolio of more than 30 central London pubs before selling to Greene King.

Malcolm McPherson

Expertise: Malcolm is one of the leading corporate lawyers in Scotland. He specialises in corporate affairs, advising many companies at a strategic level and looking for deal making opportunities across the business world. Experience: Malcolm is a non-executive director of many successful Scottish companies. 

Maura Connolly

Maura is Partner and Head of the Dispute Resolution Group. She also leads the Employment Law Group in Ireland. Maura’s disputes practice has involved the management of large scale litigation. This has recently included Commercial Court proceedings relating to professional negligence in the financial sector, management of a large e-discovery process, acting in a landmark case relating to the “Gig Economy” and the status of workers. In addition to representing clients in the Courts, particularly the High Court and Commercial Court, Maura has advised extensively on alternative dispute resolution procedures including mediation. Maura’s practice includes advice on regulatory matters, including professional conduct investigations and decision making, administrative law and legal proceedings. She has advised on statutory investigations, tribunals of inquiry and directors’ liability for statutory offences. Having practised for many years in the area of employment law Maura’s practice includes advising employers and employees on all aspects of employment law including contentious and non-contentious matters. She has been involved in many commercial transactions and has considerable experience of employment law issues arising in the context of mergers and acquisitions, including transfer of undertakings issues. She also advises on a contractual matters, development of policies and procedures, management of disciplinary, performance, absence and other processes. This includes regularly appearing in the Workplace Relations Commission, the Labour Court and the Civil Courts. Data privacy and dealing with data access requests under GDPR is a feature of many cases in which we are involved. Most recently she has advised extensively on Covid-19 related issues, restructurings, redundancies and legislative changes.

Miles Ede

Miles is head of Real Estate in Scotland and specialises in portfolio acquisition and asset management for both occupiers and investors. Miles works with some of the best-known names in the telecoms sector, leading European investment trusts, FTSE 100 companies and private property companies among many others. Miles is also a member of the firm’s Real Estate Division Executive board board.

Murray Jack

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.

Neil Addis

Neil acts for clients involved in all aspects of real estate work, ranging from occupier clients (retail and business space) to clients acquiring and selling both investment and development property. In terms of development work, Neil has recently been involved in acquiring a number of sites for care homes and student accommodation, as well as for food retail. On the investment side, Neil has a number of very active clients who have been involved over the last few years in a many acquisitions and disposals, ranging from a multi-use development in the North of Scotland (Hotel/retail and pub) to a large office investment in the centre of Edinburgh. In terms of occupier work, Neil acts for some well know high street names in the retail and restaurant trade. In addition, he represents a highly acquisitive care home operator having completing numerous deals for them over the last few years. Neil looks after the firm's property finance team, and has dealt with some high profile funding deals, across all sectors including care homes, shopping centres, student accommodation, garden centres, office space and retail. He maintains a high profile with most major funders in the property finance sector and regularly acts for The Royal Bank of Scotland, Bank of Scotland, Clydesdale Bank, HSBC, Barclays, Santander and Svenska Handelsbanken, to name a few.

Simon Catto

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.

Stewart Maciver

Stewart is a partner in the Firm's Infrastructure practice. He has extensive experience of acting on infrastructure and project finance transactions, including PFI/PPP projects, energy/utilities projects and government concession arrangements. He has advised across a range of sectors, including health, education, roads, railways, waste management, water, renewable energy and telecoms, and has acted for private sector participants, public authorities and funding institutions. Stewart has more than 20 years of experience in his field and is qualified to practice in Scotland, and in England and Wales. Stewart is recognized for his work in the Legal 500 directory.

Tim Cooper

Tim specialises in all aspects of insolvency, restructuring and recovery across a wide range of industry sectors. His experience includes multi-disciplinary corporate restructuring, management and bank-led distressed turnaround, restructuring and distressed acquisitions. Tim has particular experience in the asset-based lending sector, distressed refinance and pension scheme-related distressed restructurings. Career highlights include: in 2013, Tim led a multi-discipline, firm-wide team advising on the high-profile liquidation of The Scottish Coal Company; in 2014, Tim advised the administrators of Ferguson Shipbuilders. More recently Tim has acted for the administrators on the trading administration of Penman Engineering Ltd.

Tom Speirs

Tom specialises in banking and finance work and acts for all of the major banks in the UK on transactional and advisory work. He has worked on a large number of corporate and banking projects with a broad range of capital values. He has been instrumental in ensuring the firm remains on the panels of most UK banks as well as a number of European and other overseas banks. Tom is regarded by a number of lenders as a market leader in financing businesses which provide frontline and associated healthcare support services. His substantial catalogue of completed transactions in this field is testament to his experience and quality of service.