Dentons

Fiona is a counsel in Dentons' Glasgow office. She is a member of the Disputes, Regulatory and Investigations practice group. Fiona is also a Solicitor Advocate with extended rights of audience in Scotland's civil courts and has represented clients before the Court of Session, Sheriff Appeal Court, Sheriff Court, Scottish Land Court, Lands Tribunal for Scotland and also at public hearings and inquiries. Fiona’s focus is on property disputes and she has a strong track record in complex property litigation. Her practice spans a wide range of issues including: recovery of arrears; rent reviews; termination of leases; recovery of possession; notice disputes; keep open obligations; dilapidations; consent not to be unreasonably withheld; insolvent tenants; disputes concerning issues of construction/interpretation; rectification; title disputes; variation and discharge of title conditions; encroachment; servitudes; wayleaves; nuisance; electronic communications code; and schemes for development under crofting legislation. Fiona is also experienced in planning and environmental disputes. She regularly represents clients in hearings and inquiries before the Department of Planning and Environmental Appeals and in subsequent statutory appeals and judicial review. Fiona has advised on various aspects of compulsory purchase. In addition to her knowledge of the law and court process, Fiona regularly advises clients on alternative forms of dispute resolution, including the use of expert determinations, arbitration and mediation.

Steph is a partner in the Technology, Media and Telecoms practice based in the Firm's Glasgow office. She advises UK and international clients on commercial contracts, intellectual property transactions and strategy, technology projects and data privacy matters across various sectors, including engineering, technology, retail, financial services, food and drink, and life sciences. Having trained at the Firm, Steph spent more than 10 years in the TMT team before taking up a role with a FTSE-250 global engineering company for five years. Her in-house experience as Head of Group Legal allows her to bring a commercial view, pragmatism and a solid understanding of the client's perspective to her advice. Steph is qualified in Scotland and has also passed the New York Bar Exam. She has been a member of the Law Society's Technology Law and Practice Committee, and tutors in Commercial Contracts at the University of Glasgow. She has been recognized as a rising star by Legal 500 and as most notable by Managing IP.

Alexis is a partner in Dentons’ Glasgow office. She is a member of the Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice, and has a particular expertise in charity law. Alexis advises high net worth individuals in all aspects of personal estate planning, including wills, powers of attorney, trust formation and administration, succession planning and charity formation. She also advises charity trustees on the ongoing administration of charitable organizations including compliance/regulation and mergers/amalgamations.

Andrew is a partner in the Firm’s Infrastructure and PPP department. Andrew specializes in project finance and major projects. He has considerable experience of infrastructure finance transactions, including PFI/PPP and energy projects, and has advised on many of the UK's significant and pathfinder PPP projects. He regularly advises the public sector, sponsors, funders and contractors on infrastructure projects across a broad range of sectors, including education, energy, health, housing, transport and waste. Andrew is rated as a leading individual for Projects in The Legal 500.

Bill is a Corporate partner in our Edinburgh office. He specializes in private M&A, joint ventures and equity funding transactions with a particular focus on the energy and corporate real estate sectors. He has more than 25 years' experience, both in private practice and in-house, and is qualified under both Scots and English law.  Earlier in his career, he was one of two legal counsel in Scottish opto-electronics company, Kymata, where he was responsible for the legal affairs of its overseas subsidiaries in the US, Canada and the Netherlands as well as corporate M&A and financing transactions. He has also spent several months on secondment to the Falklands Business Unit of UK-listed Premier Oil, where he supported its legal, drilling and logistics teams in relation to its Sea Lion project and drilling operations with Noble Energy. In the energy sector his work spans both upstream oil and gas, and renewable energy. He has a particular interest in renewable energy projects and has worked with landowners, developers and industrial operators on a range of projects, including wave and tidal energy, onshore wind developments, anaerobic digestion and biomass, ground- and roof-mounted solar, energy from waste, and onshore aquaculture and hydroponics projects. He regularly advises on private wire electricity supply, feedstock supply and heat offtake arrangements as well as M&A, equity funding and shareholder/corporate governance arrangements.  Bill also provides a broad range of corporate and commercial advice to clients in relation to corporate/joint venture structuring, acquisitions and disposals via a variety of corporate structures (onshore and offshore and through limited companies, LLPs, limited partnerships and community interest companies), joint ventures and corporate governance compliance and risk management.

Brian is a partner in Dentons’ Glasgow office. He is a member of the Real Estate practice group. Brian deals with all aspects of real estate work within Scotland. His main areas of practice are estate management, acquisitions and disposals, development and regeneration, leasing and real estate finance, including bridging finance. Brian has developed a particular expertise in student accommodation, BTR/multifamily, and retail and logistics. In the context of estate management, Brian has experience of acting for a broad spectrum of clients as diverse as airports, postal organizations and offshore investment funds. He acts for both public and private sector organizations. Brian is the current chair of the Investment Property Forum (IPF) in Scotland.

Brian is a Corporate partner in the Firm's Edinburgh office and has been with the Firm since 1997. He has broad experience of a wide range of UK and international corporate and commercial work, and specialises in public and private M&A and equity capital markets transactions. He is also a Reporter to the Court of Session in Scotland in respect of company schemes of arrangement and reduction schemes, cross-border mergers, Part VII insurance, and banking business and ring-fencing transfer schemes. Brian is dual qualified in Scotland and in England and Wales, and is particularly active in the food and beverage, industrials and real estate sectors.

Before joining the Firm in 1998, Catriona worked in Brussels and London. She is qualified as a solicitor both in England & Wales and in Scotland. Although she has a wide-ranging practice, her particular areas of expertise are cartels and contentious competition proceedings. She has acted in a number of major EU and UK cases, including several successful leniency applications. She has extensive experience of private damages cases in England & Wales, Scotland and other jurisdictions, acting for both claimants and defendants, and in the Competition Appeal Tribunal and in the ordinary courts. She was recently described as an opponent in litigation as “someone to have on your side, not against you". Her practice also includes advising on merger clearances, competition complaints, state aids and public procurement as well as other areas of European and competition law. Catriona has experience of anti-dumping proceedings and European Court challenges. Catriona has for a number of years contributed to Getting the Deal Through's publication Private Antitrust Litigation and contributed the Scotland chapter to a major textbook on International Competition Litigation.

Colin joined Dentons (formerly MMS) as a partner in the Real Estate department in March 2013, based in the Glasgow office. He specialises in shopping Centre acquisitions, disposals and asset management; property development; forward funding and forward commitments and tax efficient structures.

Craig is a counsel in our White Collar and Government Investigations team. He is an award-winning Accredited Counter Fraud Specialist with a particular interest in cyber crime, asset tracing and civil recoveries. He is an experienced civil litigator and has a wealth of experience in advising domestic and international clients on high-value, complex, cross-border white collar crime matters in addition to a wide range of commercial disputes. Craig regularly advises clients on the proactive steps that can and should be taken by businesses to mitigate the ever-increasing threat posed by cyber crime. He also has experience of advising clients in the immediate aftermath of a cyber attack, on the steps that should be taken to respond to the attack and on managing the litigation/regulatory risks presented by it. Craig is a member of the Cybercrime Practitioners Association and regularly presents on cyber and white collar crime matters throughout the UK.

Douglas is a Partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice in the Glasgow office. He is a Solicitor Advocate (with extended rights of audience) and has extensive experience of all manner of commercial disputes before courts and tribunals of all levels in Scotland. Douglas has particular expertise in the following areas: Corporate and Contractual Disputes – in particular warranty and covenant claims, frauds, shareholder and partner disputes and title issues. Recent highlights include: AMA (New Town) Limited v. Law 2013 SC 608 (confirming that a vendor in a property sale is entitled to insist upon payment from a purchaser who fails to purchase timeously, in breach of missives). Public Law and Judicial Review – in particular public procurement challenges. Recent highlights include: Healthcare at Home Limited v. CSA 2014 SC (UKSC) 247 (understood to be the first case under the Public Contracts (Scotland) Act 2006 to be considered by the UK Supreme Court). BT plc v. CSA (a challenge of the procurement process relative to the SWAN IT infrastructure for public services in Scotland). HFD Construction Limited v. Aberdeen City Council [2013] CSOH 125 (a judicial review of a decision by Aberdeen City Council relative to the manner of disposal of its former headquarter site). Insolvency – with experience in all contentious aspects of both corporate and personal insolvencies. Recent highlights include: Joint Administrators of Heritable Bank plc v. Winding Up Board of Landsbanki Islands HF 2013 SC (UKSC) 201 (a Supreme Court appeal relative to the impact of a foreign determination of a claim in an insolvency upon the ability to claim set-off). Contentious Trusts & Executries – having advised on a wide variety of disputes concerning wills and trusts, including: challenges in respect of the capacity of the deceased applications to reduce transactions made in breach of trust applications to establish the formal validity of testamentary writings negligence claims advice in connection with executor and trustee duties Debt Recovery – considerable experience of pursuing the recovery of bulk debts, both in the UK and further afield. Douglas also has an avid interest in Sports Law and has most recently defended a substantial claim by a former coach of one of the oldest rugby clubs in Scotland. He is a SFA certified football referee. Douglas is also a former vice convenor of the Strathclyde University Ethics Committee and a former member of the lay advisory board to the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons in Glasgow.

Douglas is a partner in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice in the Glasgow office. He is a Solicitor Advocate (with extended rights of audience) and has extensive experience of all manner of commercial disputes before courts and tribunals of all levels in Scotland. Douglas has particular expertise in insolvency disputes, having acted in connection with some of the largest and highest profile insolvencies in Scotland, including several with significant cross-border elements. He also has significant experience of acting on both sides of shareholder and boardroom disputes. Public procurement disputes also form a particularly noteworthy part of Douglas's practice, having pursued a large number of such challenges on behalf of a wide range of businesses, including the first challenge to be considered by the Supreme Court under the Scottish Regulations.

Eleanor is a Partner in the Trusts, Estates and Wealth Preservation practice, based in the Glasgow office. She specialises in all aspects of inheritance tax and capital gains tax planning (including formation and administration of trusts), as well as the preparation of wills, administration of executries and the Scottish law relating to charities.

James is a partner in the Banking and Finance team based in Edinburgh. He has extensive experience of advising lenders and borrowers in relation to a broad range of complex financing transactions, including in relation to property finance, acquisition finance, corporate/plc lending, funds finance and restructuring transactions.

Dual-qualified in Scotland and England, Kirsti is a construction dispute resolution lawyer with 24 years' PQE. She is Head of our Edinburgh office.   Kirsti deals with multi-million-pound construction disputes arising out of the transport sector (rail and roads), energy-related projects (rig construction and refurbishment, offshore decommissioning and renewables) as well as regularly advising and representing parties in PFI/PPP projects (schools, hospitals, prisons and roads) throughout the UK. Key clients include Bouygues E&S Solutions Limited, Taylor Wimpey, Jacobs, Capita and Network Rail. Kirsti has an LLM (with Distinction) in Construction Law. She has extensive experience of all forms of dispute resolution including court proceedings, arbitration, adjudication and mediation. She is a Member of the Society of Construction Law and the Scottish Arbitration Centre and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Kirsti was the Chair of Oil and Gas UK's Decommissioning Working Group, which drafted the first LOGIC standard form decommissioning contract for the North Sea oil industry. She lectures on decommissioning at Aberdeen University.

Linzi is a partner in our Edinburgh office, specialising in construction and engineering dispute resolution. She has extensive experience in advising UK and international clients, providing them with pre-litigation and litigation expertise. Linzi's practice includes advising on multi-million-pound onshore and offshore construction projects arising out of a wide variety of industries such as infrastructure (buildings, hotels, shopping centres, housing developments), energy (oil and gas decommissioning), renewables (offshore and onshore windfarms) and transport (roads and ports). A key focus for Linzi is also advising PPP/PFI clients throughout the duration of the facilities management term and providing advice on an array of issues including, for example, the end of the defects liability period. She advises in respect of all major UK construction standard form contracts, as well as bespoke agreements, and has a wealth of experience in court actions, along with mediation, adjudication and international arbitration. After studying at University of Glasgow (and University at Buffalo), receiving a First Class Honours Degree, Linzi joined Dentons in 2010 as a trainee and qualified as a solicitor in Scotland in 2012. During her time at Dentons, she has also undertaken a seven-month secondment to EDP Renewables in preparation for them successfully bidding for a CfD. Acting as general counsel, Linzi was negotiating contracts and advising on an array of commercial matters which has allowed her to better understand the commercial needs of her clients.

Lorna is a partner in the UK Tax team, and is a chartered tax advisor as well as a solicitor.  She has more than 18 years' experience advising on the UK tax aspects of corporate and real estate transactions from a legal and tax planning perspective. This includes structuring commercial transactions and tax-efficient employee incentivization arrangements, advising on direct taxes, SDLT, LBTT, capital allowances and VAT. She is well positioned in the marketplace to advise on both Scottish taxes and the rest of UK taxes. Lorna is an active member of the Tax Law Sub-Committee of the Law Society of Scotland, and the Scottish Property Federation Tax Committee. She is ranked Band 1 for Tax in Scotland by Chambers & Partners and ranked Tier 1 for Tax in Legal 500, and is recognized for providing a balance of being good on the technical tax detail but absolutely pragmatic and commercial in terms of ensuring clients' objectives are met timeously.

Mark is a partner in Dentons' Employment and Labor practice. He has specialised in employment law since 1995. He advises on all aspects of employment law including Executive contracts and severances, TUPE transfers, collective employee relations, large restructuring and redundancy programmes, negotiation and termination of contracts and unfair dismissals. He is recognized as having both top class technical legal knowledge and an extremely pragmatic approach whether he is providing strategic advice or guiding clients through a complex dispute. He has nurtured long standing relationships with a number of significant clients of the Firm in a wide variety of sectors, both public and private, with a particular focus on the Food & Beverage and Finance sectors. This is a testament not only to this knowledge but also to his ability to understand their businesses and to give clear, practical and effective advice which focuses on achieving the client’s objectives. In employment matters he strives to achieve the client’s aims with the minimum of disruption but also represents them in both the Employment Tribunal and the EAT when required, whether in Scotland or England. Over the years he has dealt with hundreds of unfair/constructive dismissal and wrongful dismissal claims. Mark combines his employment law practice with an ever growing practice in employment related pensions advice such as steering clients through updating their pension scheme’s governing documentation and advising and negotiating pensions claims. He also advises on pensions aspects of TUPE transfers, severance arrangements and public sector outsourcing arrangements. Mark has advised on many different restructuring arrangements, including several in the public sector which involved voluntary severance arrangements and enhanced benefits under public sector pension schemes (such as the LGPS and Scottish Teachers Superannuation Scheme).

Mark is a partner in Dentons' construction team. In addition to his law degree, Mark holds B.Sc. (Hons) and LL.M. degrees in the application of IT to law, and is co-author of a book entitled Construction and Procurement Law. He advises on all aspects of transactional construction work including construction procurement issues, letters of intent, construction contracts, professional appointments, collateral warranties, partnering agreements, framework agreements, development agreements and alliancing agreements.

Partner specialising in all aspects of corporate, financial services banking and insurance regulation. Advised Prudential on the acquisition of Royal London’s annuity book, Mellon on the acquisition of Walter Scott & Partners, Lloyds on various banking business transfer schemes, Chesnara on various insurance business transfer scheme, BoS on its cross-border merger with BOSI and HBOS and BOS on their capital reduction schemes. A reporter to the Court of Session.

Michael is a partner in our Glasgow office. Michael obtained an Honours Degree from Glasgow University and studied EU law at the College of Europe, Bruges. Early in his career, he worked for four years in London with a major international law firm, before returning to establish a practice in a Scottish commercial law firm. Michael has experience in competition law, including cartel proceedings, distribution, state aids and merger clearances. In addition, he has extensive knowledge in the fields of public procurement and export controls. He also has considerable expertise in regulatory law, particularly in the power, post and water sectors. He is an Honorary Consul for the Federal Republic of Germany for Glasgow.

Philip heads up our litigation practice in Scotland and deals with a broad range of commercial disputes. He acts for a wide range of organisations and individuals in a variety of disputes including a number of well-known blue chip hospitality, leisure and retail clients. His focus is on achieving commercial and cost effective results and often advises on risk management approaches and strategies to avoid pursuing a dispute through the courts. He prides himself on giving straightforward commercial advice. He is one of two solicitors in Scotland to be accredited by the RICS as a mediator. Philip has wide ranging expertise and specialisms and advises on contractual disputes, real estate disputes, insolvency, debt recovery, licensing, regulatory, professional negligence, interdicts and financial services disputes. He is regularly asked to present seminars to the RICS in Scotland and is a member of the Property Litigation Association.

Sarah has more than 14 years’ experience in construction and engineering dispute resolution. She is qualified to practice law in Scotland and England and is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in construction law. Sarah advises on dispute resolution work, with a particular focus on resolving issues arising in high-value onshore and offshore construction projects. She has been instructed to act and/or provide advice in relation to numerous adjudications, arbitrations and court actions. Sarah drafts detailed letters of claim, as well as documenting extra-judicial settlements. She provides advice to parties on both bespoke and standard form contract terms during the currency of the project and post-completion. Sarah is frequently consulted on PFI projects, giving advice in relation to obligations under Interface, Services/FM and Project Agreements. Sarah is also a Notary Public.

Stuart is a partner in the Banking & Finance practice, advising on transactions across the UK and internationally. He has specific experience in advising on all types of corporate banking transactions including International Acquisition/Leveraged Finance, Oil & Gas Financing, Renewable Energy Financing, Project Finance, Technology and Growth Finance, Real Estate Investment and Development Financing, Joint Venture Funding, and General Corporate Debt. Stuart's experience in acting for a wide range of banks, other funders and investors, and corporate borrowers, as well as having completed secondments in the banking industry, gives him a detailed knowledge of clients' preferred requirements and an ability to provide clear, commercial and proactive advice. Stuart has recently acted for Aviva, Bank of America, Bank of Scotland, Barclays Bank, Clydesdale Bank, DVB Bank, HSBC Bank, Lloyds Bank, a leading international bank, Santander, The Scottish Loan Fund, Silicon Valley Bank, Aberdeen Asset Management plc, Aberdeen Private Equity Fund, AGR Group, Baxters Food Group, Biofilm Limited, British Polythene Industries plc, Burn Stewart Distillers, The Combination of Rothes Distillers, Devro plc, Edinburgh Investment Trust plc, The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, The Edrington Group, Maven Capital Partners, Muirden Energy, Robert Wiseman Dairies, Robertson Group, Scottish Equity Partners, and Scottish Enterprise.

Susan joined Dentons (formerly MMS) in 1991 and was assumed as a Partner on 1 December 1998. Susan works with firm's Banking & Finance department and handles a wide range of banking and finance work across the UK and Europe including acquisition finance, property finance, plc/corporate lending and Pan-European finance.