United Kingdom > Scotland > Public sector
Education
Education
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- Anderson Strathern Edinburgh
- Dundas & Wilson CS LLP Glasgow
- Lindsays Edinburgh
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- Brodies LLP Edinburgh
- Maclay Murray & Spens LLP Glasgow
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- Biggart Baillie LLP Edinburgh
- MacRoberts LLP Glasgow
- McGrigors LLP Edinburgh, Aberdeen
- Shepherd and Wedderburn Edinburgh
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- Burness LLP Glasgow, Edinburgh
- Pinsent Masons LLP Glasgow, Edinburgh
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- Brechin Tindal Oatts Glasgow
- Thorntons Law LLP Dundee
Anderson Strathern’s education team has ‘impressive strength and depth’. Headed by Alun Thomas, the group is advising the University of Edinburgh and the Edinburgh College of Arts on a proposed merger. New clients include the University of West Scotland and the North Highland College.
Dundas & Wilson CS LLP is ‘excellent’ in terms of ‘knowledge of the HE sector, advice, strength in depth and value for money’. Laurence Ward’s team advises the University of Glasgow on a range of matters including IP and IT, and is sole legal adviser to the University of Dundee.
Leigh Davidson heads the team at Lindsays, which is advising the University of St Andrews on a commercial collaboration with the St Andrews Entrepreneurial Partnership. David Wood is recommended.
Brenda Scott heads the team at Brodies LLP, which provides a wide range of advice, and was successful in a competitive tender for instructions from new client Scotland’s Colleges.
Maclay Murray & Spens LLP advises on a wide range of matters including construction projects and commercialisation of IP. Hilary Kane heads the group, which was appointed by Central College Glasgow to advise on the City of Glasgow College merger.
Biggart Baillie LLP is busy across the education sector, and has particular strength in higher and further education, where clients include University of Strathclyde, University of Aberdeen, Glasgow Caledonian University, Heriot-Watt University, and the University of Dundee. David Ratter heads the team.
MacRoberts LLP’s education group ‘offers the reassurance of strength through depth – it is an effective and informed team’. Katy Wedderburn heads the practice, which represents clients such as Glasgow Caledonian University, and the Royal Academy of Music and Drama. Senior associate Gina Wilson is ‘especially strong’.
McGrigors LLP’s education team includes Victoria Miller, who has expertise across facilities management, outsourcing, and infrastructure matters; and Tracey Menzies, who assists University of Aberdeen in relation to its property portfolio.
Shepherd and Wedderburn provides ‘pragmatic advice that demonstrates understanding of the sector’, and has ‘breadth and depth of knowledge’. Neil Maclean leads the group, whose clients include the University of Strathclyde, Craigholme School, Hutchesons’ Grammar School and the University of Edinburgh.
Chris Mackay and James Forbes jointly head Burness LLP’s education practice, and draw on their expertise in the construction sector. The practice is advising on the Orkney Islands schools projects, and represents the University of St Andrews on a number of issues.
Senior associate Chris Martin is the main contact in Pinsent Masons LLP’s education team. It is advising the University of Edinburgh on its wave generator facility project; and East Renfrewshire and Midlothian Council regarding the pathfinder joint schools project.
Health
Health
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1
- Anderson Strathern Edinburgh
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- Brodies LLP Edinburgh
- Dundas & Wilson CS LLP Edinburgh, Glasgow
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- Harper Macleod LLP Edinburgh
- MacRoberts LLP Edinburgh
- Tods Murray LLP Edinburgh
Robert Carr heads Anderson Strathern’s cross-departmental health and social care sector group, which advises health and social non-departmental government bodies, and professional regulatory bodies such as the General Medical Council and General Dental Council. The team also advises on healthcare property transactions.
Brodies LLP’s healthcare practice, led by Keith Patterson, advised shareholders of Mpathy Medical Devices and Gyne Ideas Limited regarding the sale of share capital to Coloplast AS. It is a panel adviser to the Scottish Government Health Department, and has particular expertise in PPP projects.
Dundas & Wilson CS LLP’s healthcare team earned instructions from ISS Mediclean as well as from public sector clients including the Health Protection Agency and NHS Tayside. Amanda Methven heads the group.
Harper Macleod LLP acts for healthcare professionals, care agencies and medical equipment manufacturers, and also undertakes a significant number of healthcare real estate projects. It continues to act for the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC). The practice is now headed by Fraser Hardie.
Duncan Osler’s healthcare team at MacRoberts LLP advises the Fife Health Board, the Highlands Health Board, and NHS Ayrshire & Arran, and has seen an increase in instructions from NHS Lothian regarding the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh.
Clients note the ‘excellent and prompt level of service’ at Tods Murray LLP, which has developed expertise in healthcare infrastructure, particularly PPP projects. Clients include Consort Healthcare, Randolph Hill, St Columba’s Hospice and Prospect Healthcare. Stephen Colliston heads the practice.
Local government
Local government
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1
- Brodies LLP Edinburgh
- Dundas & Wilson CS LLP Edinburgh
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- Anderson Strathern Edinburgh, Glasgow
- Biggart Baillie LLP Edinburgh
- Burness LLP Glasgow
- DLA Piper Scotland LLP Edinburgh
- Pinsent Masons LLP Glasgow, Edinburgh
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- Maclay Murray & Spens LLP Glasgow, Edinburgh
- Shepherd and Wedderburn Glasgow
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- Harper Macleod LLP Glasgow
- MacRoberts LLP Edinburgh, Glasgow
- McGrigors LLP Glasgow
- Morton Fraser Edinburgh
- Simpson & Marwick Edinburgh
Brodies LLP’s public sector services group is led by Jackie McGuire. It was reappointed as legal adviser to Midlothian Council; defended East Renfrewshire Council in a judicial review; and is advising Aberdeen City Council on a redevelopment project.
‘Exemplary in all areas’, Dundas & Wilson CS LLP is a key player in local government work and advises Stirling Council, West Lothian Council and the City of Edinburgh Council, among others. Ann Faulds heads the team, which has ‘strength and depth as a particular advantage’. Ailsa Ritchie is also recommended.
Fiona Killen and Robert Fife lead Anderson Strathern’s local government practice. The team has been successful in recent tenders to local authorities including the City of Edinburgh Council, the Highland Council and East Renfrewshire Council.
Biggart Baillie LLP’s clients include Perth & Kinross Council, Abderdeenshire Council and Fife Council. The team, headed by Wayne Lawrence, advised the Highland Council on its £70m second-generation ICT outsourcing project.
The ‘excellent’ Stephen Phillips heads Burness LLP’s public sector practice. The firm is advising several councils regarding the South East Territory hub initiative, including Edinburgh, West Lothian and East Lothian.
DLA Piper Scotland LLP is advising Glasgow City Council on procuring residual waste services. Sharon Fitzgerald ‘offers first-class advice on procurement-related matters’, and practice head Hazel Moffat is also highly recommended.
Gordon McCreath and consultant David Nash in Pinsent Masons LLP’s public sector group are advising City of Edinburgh Council and Midlothian Council on two PPP waste projects. Yvonne Dunn heads the team, which is acting for five councils and other entities that form the hub North territory in setting up the ‘hubco’, helping to facilitate the Scottish government’s hub initiative.
Maclay Murray & Spens LLP’s public sector group ‘appreciates the obstacles to acting on advice which can occasionally arise in local government’. It won panel appointments to the City of Edinburgh Council and East Renfrewshire Council. Amanda Jones is ‘prompt and willing to go the extra mile’.
Shepherd and Wedderburn’s council clients include City of Edinburgh Council, the Highland Council and Dundee City Council. Highlights in 2010 included advising on the procurement of Western Isles Council’s hybrid education PPP project. Rhona Harper heads the group.
Harper Macleod LLP advised local authorities on a number of property, housing and regeneration matters in 2010. Edinburgh City Council and the Highland Council are clients. Derek Hogg heads the team, in which other key individuals are Professor Robert Rennie, Lorne Crerar, James McMorrow, David Steel and Len Freedman.
MacRoberts LLP advises on the full range of local government matters, and has particular expertise in employment law. The team, led by Duncan Osler, saw an increase in instructions relating to procurement, joint working, restructuring, redevelopment and regeneration schemes, and is noted for its ‘exceptional knowledge’.
McGrigors LLP’s public law team has been advising City of Edinburgh Council on an £85m infrastructure deal. Senior solicitor Jamie McRorie is highly recommended, and Alan Boyd retired from the partnership in 2010 but continues to advise as a consultant. Belfast-based Stuart Cairns was appointed to head the firm’s UK-wide public law practice.
Morton Fraser was appointed to all three of City of Edinburgh Council’s legal panels. Jonathan Seddon heads the team, which has handled some significant contentious matters for its local government clients.
Simpson & Marwick has established a reputation for representing public bodies in contentious matters and investigations, including acting as agents in the Supreme Court. Ranald MacPherson and new partner Katy Nisbet are ‘experts in their fields’, and ‘take a robust approach’.
Parliamentary and public affairs
Parliamentary and public affairs
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1
- Anderson Strathern Edinburgh
- DLA Piper Scotland LLP Edinburgh
- McGrigors LLP Edinburgh
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- Biggart Baillie LLP Glasgow
- Harper Macleod LLP Glasgow
- Maclay Murray & Spens LLP Glasgow
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- Brodies LLP Edinburgh
- Dundas & Wilson CS LLP Edinburgh
Anderson Strathern’s parliamentary and public law group acts for the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman and the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission. Fiona Killen heads the group.
DLA Piper Scotland LLP’s parliamentary and public sector group is headed by Hazel Moffat, who ‘picks up issues quickly and thoroughly, and cuts to the chase’. Moffat remains an appointee to the Scottish parliament’s legislative drafting panel. The practice is also advising the Scottish Funding Council regarding higher education tuition fees, while other clients include the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland, the General Teaching Council for Scotland, and Transport Initiatives Edinburgh.
McGrigors LLP has a well-established reputation in public law and public policy work; the team, led by the ‘measured, experienced and well-connected’ Alastair Ross, has ‘excellent in-depth knowledge of Scottish parliamentary process and procedures’. Michelle Cullis joined the team in 2010 from parliamentary monitoring agency NewsDirect.
Biggart Baillie LLP’s team in this area is ‘excellent, with perceptive and in-depth sector knowledge’. Practice head Neil Amner is well regarded for his experience and contacts. The team is external legal adviser to the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body, and has advised the Scottish and Glasgow Chambers of Commerce on transport and environmental policy positions.
Harper Macleod LLP’s parliamentary and public affairs team is headed by the highly regarded Derek Hogg, with James McMorrow also ‘very capable’. The group provides commercial and contracts legal services for the Scottish Government Legal Directorate.
Michael Dean leads Maclay Murray & Spens LLP’s parliamentary and public affairs team, which sits on legal panels of the Scottish government and the UK government (OGC Buying Solutions Legal Service).
Brodies LLP provides ‘good, efficient and attentive service’, advising clients on parliamentary powers and acting for global insurers in litigation that raises significant Scottish constitutional law issues. Practice head Christine O’Neill has ‘considerable experience’, and Roger Cotton is ‘extremely reliable, flexible and good on dealing with key issues and the detail’.
Dundas & Wilson CS LLP’s public affairs team, led by London-based Colin Boyd QC, has expertise including promoting and implementing private bills. Highlights included acting for the National Grid on the legal framework for a proposed Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project. Key clients include the Scottish Government Legal Directorate, Transport Scotland, Historic Scotland, and Land Securities.