Harper Macleod LLP

Senior Partner

David has carried out the legal work for developers, landowners or planning authorities on some of Scotland's largest renewable developments including Windy Standard (1996), Novar (1997), Beinn Ghlas (1999), Deucheran Hill (2001), Bowbeat (2002), Crystal Rig (2004), Causeymire (2004), Rothes (2005), Paul's Hill (2006), Steven's Croft (2007), Dalswinton (2008), Green Knowes (2008), North Rhins (2010), Crystal Rig Extension (2010), Mark Hill (2011), Rosehall (2012), Rothes II (2013),Mid Hill (2014), Crystal Rig III (2016) and Brockloch Rig (2017). He also acquired the Afton, Neilston and Solwaybank wind farms for investors and worked on the installation of pv panels on over 500 properties for Knowes and Berwickshire Housing Assocs. The work of David and his team`s has contributed over three gigawatts of built capacity to Scotland's renewable energy targets.

He has also assisted on wind, solar and consultancy projects in England, Wales, N. Ireland, France, Chile and Turkey.

David is also the lead Partner for Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) in their roll-out of large parts of the National Forest Estate for wind and hydro projects.

He acted as legal adviser and company secretary to the Scottish Renewables Forum from 1999 to 2020 (seeing the organisation grow to over 300 members and a position as the leading forum for the Renewables’ industry in Scotland). He has been a non executive director of the Natural Power Consultants since 2008, a member of Scottish Renewables` Wind Working Group and Economics and Markets Working Group, has contributed a host of articles to Industry magazines and spoken at, and chaired, numerous industry conferences, including a series of webinars on the lead-up to COP26, 12 SHREC events, 4 WS Energy conference events, talks at Edinburgh and Stirling Universities and running a successful renewable energy workshop at Glasgow University over 4 years.

He as previously described by The Scotsman newspaper as ‘the man acknowledged as Scotland’s authority on renewable energy law’ and he won the prestigious Partner of the Year Award at previous Scottish Legal Awards for his work in Renewable Energy and led the Harper Macleod team to the Energy Team of the Year title at the 2011, 2013 and 2016 Scottish Legal Awards.

David writes and speaks extensively on renewable energy in Scotland, including a series of annual reviews on developments in the sector:

2018: Renewables Trump the naysayers as momentum swings in Scotland 2017: A rollercoaster year for renewables in Scotland 2016: A Power Struggle 2015: Can Scotland still drive a renewable future? 2014: Scotland’s renewable energy: what way will the wind blow next?

David has acted as legal adviser to the Scottish Renewables Forum since its inception in 1999 (seeing the organisation grow to over 300 members and a position as the leading forum for the Renewables' industry in Scotland). He has been a member of Scottish Renewables` Wind Working Group and Economics and Markets Working Group.

LLB (Hons) Dip LP NP