Shepherd and Wedderburn

Peter Alderdice

Peter is an experienced banking lawyer who acts on finance transactions and advises on financial services regulation.He leads Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Financial Services practice, providing specialist advice on the regulation of banks, building societies and other financial institutions. His advice covers both regulated and unregulated financial services, including the preparation of product terms and conditions for mortgages, business banking, payment services and e-money. He also advises on conduct of business rules and prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms.He acts for financial market infrastructure and other market participants on clearing, settlement, collateral and netting arrangements, and advises on hedging agreements and other derivative contracts across the financial and energy sectors.Peter has extensive transactional experience. He has acted on syndicated lending and structured finance deals; on real estate financings across the UK; and on securitisation transactions, covered bond programmes, forward flow arrangements, warehouse financings and central bank facilities involving assets located in Scotland.Peter also leads the firm’s Islamic Finance practice. He has developed account and mortgage documentation for Islamic banks, and acts on Shariah-compliant real estate financings for banks and sponsors in the UK.

David Anderson

Recognised as one of Scotland's leading commercial litigators, David specialises in construction disputes and has a particular interest in the energy sector. He has acted on behalf of developers, contractors and utilities in a wide variety of disputes, particularly those arising from renewables projects. He frequently acts on behalf of clients in expert determinations, adjudications, litigations and arbitrations, under both Scottish and English law. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, and has sat as an arbitrator in a number of high-value arbitrations.

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.

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.

Andrew Blain

Formerly our Managing Partner and Head of Corporate, Andrew advises clients on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and group reorganisations with a particular focus on the Real Estate sector.

Alison Blair

Alison is a director in the Banking and Finance team, advising both lenders and corporate borrowers (especially the latter) on a range of financing transactions.She also works closely with other UK firms on Scottish aspect of cross-border transactions. Her particular expertise includes refinancings, corporate acquisitions, property finance, invoice and asset-based finance and project finance. Alison also has significant experience in the hotels sector, and in the food and drink sector.

Joanna Boag-Thomson

Joanna’s key areas of focus are intellectual property, life sciences, information technology, data protection, and freedom of information. She also advises on commercial contracts, particularly e-commerce.Joanna is a Law Society of Scotland-accredited specialist in intellectual property law, and has been for over 20 years. She advises on and negotiates complex multi-party collaborations, R&D agreements, and also more straightforward IP licences. She helps clients to structure their deals to manage risks and pinpoint opportunities. She also helps brand-owners to fully exploit those properties in compliance with the law, in a variety of ways from competitions and prize draws to strategic partnering arrangements with other brands. In IT deals, she acts for both purchasers and suppliers on key deals in many sectors including high street and investment banks, utilities, education sector, food and drink clients, and high-growth technology companies providing SaaS services. Joanna also advises on data protection, cyber security and freedom of information. When clients are faced with complex or contentious data protection or FOI requests, she guides them through strategic responses and avoiding potential pitfalls. She has successfully represented clients facing investigations by the UK and Scottish Information Commissioners. She also helps clients who have experienced data breaches and cyber security incidents to manage the potential repercussions.Joanna is also Chair of Prosper (formerly the Scottish Council for Development and Industry).

Ian Bowie

Ian advises on property-related matters in a wide range of sectors, including energy, natural resources and the drinks industry. He has taken the lead on the property aspects of many of the significant electricity transmission reinforcement/upgrade projects across central and southern Scotland since approximately 2013; handles all of the property work for the largest family-owned aggregates business in central Scotland; and handles all of the property work for Chivas Brothers Limited in relation to its extensive portfolio of Scottish distilleries.

Elaine Brailsford

Elaine is a Consultant in our Litigation team. Working closely with our Real Estate, Banking, and Private Wealth and Tax teams, she advises on commercial and private client disputes as well as a whole range of rural-disputes.Elaine has vast experience in the Court of Session, Sheriff Courts, Land Court, and Lands Tribunal. Since becoming a C, her focus has been to support the firm in relation to risk matters. She is the firm’s Professional Indemnity Insurance lead, and works closely with our General Counsel on a range of risk related matters.

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.

Nathaniel Buckingham

Nathaniel is a partner and well-regarded construction disputes lawyer, focused on helping clients to navigate and resolve construction disputes, with a commercial and practical approach.His background as a chartered civil engineer, working for a major consultancy for seven years before moving into the law, provides the foundation and context for his legal practice. Nathaniel's work is varied across the construction industry, with particular specialisms in the major projects, private finance, and hotels sectors. He is also experienced in adjudication, mediation, and the commercial court processes in Scotland and England, and works with clients to use those tools within the best resolution strategy.

Gillian Campbell

Gillian heads our Private Wealth & Tax and Charities teams in the north of Scotland. She advises individuals, families, businesses, landowners, and trustees on a wide range of matters.Specialising in tax-planning, she also has significant expertise in complex executry work and contentious estates. She often works closely with our Agricultural and Rural, Corporate, and Real Estate teams, and with other trusted advisers such as accountants and financial planners.Gillian is a fully qualified member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the global professional association for specialists in family inheritance and succession-planning, and holds the STEP advanced certificate in UK tax for international clients. She has also been a tutor – on the Private Client course at the University of Strathclyde, and on the Diploma in Professional Legal Practice courses at Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen.

Neil Campbell

Neil's core practice areas are property finance, securitisation and structured finance, acquisition finance and corporate and commercial banking.He acts for a number of lenders ranging from UK institutional lenders (including clearing banks and building societies) to private credit providers, debt funds, investors and lenders active in the SME lending space. Neil often works with the firm’s Restructuring and Business Advisory team on the finance aspects of debt restructurings and distressed business and property work-outs. In 2015, he completed a nine-month secondment in the corporate and business banking legal team of Clydesdale Bank, and in 2021 was seconded to the structured and asset-backed real estate finance team at Clifford Chance in London.He retains an interest in law reform, having worked at the Scottish Law Commission earlier in his career, and he is a member of the SLC’s advisory group on Execution of Documents (and was previously a member of the advisory group on Moveable Transactions). He has also previously tutored on business and commercial law at Edinburgh Law School and Glasgow Law School.

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.

Gillian Carty

Gillian is Chair of the firm. In that role she provides guidance, leadership and oversight to the rest of the board, and drives progress on all of the firm’s strategic objectives. She is the Board sponsor for the firm’s People Strategy, and is actively engaged in the firm’s work to develop future leaders and to improve access to and progression within the legal sector for those from underrepresented groups.She is also highly active in client-facing work, acting for corporates, banks and other lenders, and individuals, and is experienced in acting for UK government departments and agencies. A specialist in insolvency law (and accredited as such by the Law Society of Scotland), she deals with both contentious and non-contentious matters. Her particular focus is on insolvency litigation, banking and finance litigation and debt recovery. Gillian is very highly regarded for the depth of her technical knowledge in the field of restructuring and insolvency, and for her shrewd commercial approach. She is experienced in mediation, and in advising clients on the strategies and approach to achieving resolution of disputes. She also has a wealth of advocacy experience, having represented clients before the courts and tax tribunal on many occasions.For over ten years, she tutored on the Joint Insolvency Examination Board training courses – helping students to develop their technical and practical knowledge in administrations, CVAs, receiverships, directors’ duties and professional ethics. She is also frequently asked to contribute to conferences, insolvency courses, and bespoke training for clients.Gillian is an experienced mentor, and works with more junior colleagues to support them in their personal and professional development.

Gavin Charlton

Gavin is a partners and leads the firm's employee share incentive practice. He helps clients with the design, implementation and operation of all manner of share plans and employment related securities. These include ‘growth share’ plans and Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI) share options, for public and private companies, together with larger listed company executive remuneration and Long Term Incentive Plans.He has extensive experience of helping both solely UK-based and international businesses, and his practice also extends to advising on employee benefit trusts and assisting businesses transition to employee ownership.In addition to traditional share plan design elements, Gavin and his team also provide ongoing practical assistance in areas such as grant process management, performance condition monitoring, participant communications and the treatment of leavers. This also extends to getting 'deal-ready' for upcoming M&A activity, and helping businesses with their share plans in corporate transactions.

Kevin Clancy

Kevin is Head of Commercial Disputes and the lead partner of the firm’s Workplace Risk and Regulation group. The team has a particular focus on health, safety, environmental and other regulatory offences; licensing compliance; fatal accident inquiries; and acting for defenders in personal injury claims.Kevin has advised public and private sector clients in many disputes, including breaches of health and safety legislation, licensing issues, corporate crime, compliance (including anti-bribery and anti-corruption) and regulatory offences. A solicitor-advocate with civil rights of audience since 2015, Kevin has represented clients in the UK Supreme Court, Court of Session, Sheriff Court (both civil and criminal), Tribunals, Liquor Licensing Boards, and elsewhere. Between 2016 and 2019 he was appointed as temporary junior counsel to the Advocate General for Scotland.In 2017, Kevin was seconded to the Crown Office, where he prosecuted cases within the Health and Safety Investigation Unit and the Wildlife and Environmental Crime Unit. He also has experience as a tutor, at the University of Glasgow between 2005 and 2006, and at the University of Edinburgh between 2011 and 2020.

Sam Clarke

Sam is a partner and an experienced banking lawyer, advising financial institutions, developers, investors and operators on real estate finance transactions in the UK and Europe.His work covers investment, development and bridging financing. He has a particular interest and expertise in loan-on-loan and related structured finance matters. Sam also advises on acquisition finance matters and general corporate lending. He works across all asset classes with a wide geographical spread, with recent experience in student accommodation, later living, offices, hotels and large-scale residential/mixed-use schemes.

Stephen Colliston

Having acted for the public sector, sponsors and senior lenders in many sectors, Stephen fully understands the drivers for all stakeholders in large complex infrastructure projects, including the constraints around public sector procurement and how to run evaluation processes to achieve the right result.He has extensive experience of projects using PFI/PPP, NPD, hub, City Region Deal and other models. His work in assisting the private sector and funders allows him to fully understand the financial implications of these projects. Together, this extensive and varied experience assists clients in getting to a fair conclusion, whether that is closing new projects, varying operating projects, settling disputes, or ultimately on project expiry.

Neil Cowan

Neil operates across a broad practice area within the banking and finance team, advising companies, major UK lenders and international financial institutions, and working closely with leading City of London, international and regional law firms. Neil has tutored Scots law for the Open University in Scotland, and has previous experience working in-house within the corporate arm of an international, UK-headquartered banking institution.

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.

Gordon Downie

Gordon is a leading expert on UK public and administrative law, and on UK and EU competition law. His clients include regulatory bodies, regulated entities, public authorities and other stakeholders.He has a particular emphasis 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.

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.

Carly Duckett

Carly is an Associate in our commercial disputes team based in Edinburgh. Carly is qualified in Scotland and in England and Wales and has acted for clients throughout the UK across a variety of sectors, including hospitality and leisure, sports, finance and retail.Carly has been recognised by the Legal 500 as a Leading Associate in Commercial Litigation and was nominated for Rising Star of the Year in Commercial Litigation at the Legal 500 Scotland Awards in 2024. She was also named as one of The Sunday Times’ The Business 25 Women in Law to Watch 2024.

Clare Foster

Clare is the head of Shepherd and Wedderburn's Clean Energy sector and, as a Partner in our Banking team, also leads our Project Finance practice. She has been involved in many high-profile and innovative finance transactions in the energy and infrastructure sectors. Clare has been active in the UK energy sector since the late 1990s. In the clean energy sector, she advises a variety of clients on projects spanning various clean energy technologies (including onshore renewables (wind, hydro, solar, biomass and battery), offshore wind (fixed, floating and tidal), carbon sequestration and decarbonisation). Clare’s involvement in infrastructure started in the late 1990s. Her experience extends across all procurement models – including PFI, PPP, NPD and latterly Hub – and she has worked for a variety of private and public sector clients across a significant number of infrastructure transactions in the transport, healthcare, education and defence sectors. In both sectors Clare represents developers, lenders, consortia/sponsors, and authorities both north and south of the border; she typically leads the multi-disciplinary team required to bring deals swiftly to financial close. Clare is often asked to speak at industry events on topics such as onshore and offshore wind, sustainability, ports and finance. She is a frequent contributor to the legal and national press on clean energy topics, and was a director on the board of industry body RenewableUK between 2019 and 2022. Clare also led the Edinburgh Climate Compact from 2020-2025. She remains an active member, working with leading businesses and employers in Edinburgh to take action to contribute to decarbonisation and to radically reduce the capital city’s carbon emissions.

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.

Christopher Garden

Chris specialises in the resolution of disputes in range of areas. He has particular experience in contentious insolvency, and he is accredited as a specialist in Insolvency Law by the Law Society of Scotland.His other principal areas of practice are commercial disputes, including those relating to professional negligence and contract; disputes relating to wills and executries; disputes in relation to companies, particularly shareholder disputes and claims under share purchase agreements; and debt and asset recovery.Chris always looks to resolve matters at an early stage, and is skilled in alternative methods of dispute resolution such as mediation and negotiation. When necessary, he also has considerable experience of representing clients in court proceedings. He also has expertise in funded litigation, and can help clients to properly consider all funding options, including obtaining insurance or funding from a third-party.

Alexis Graham

Alexis is a partner and member of both our Private Wealth and Tax team and our Charities team, and is also head of the Glasgow office for Private Wealth and Tax.She advises high-net-worth individuals in all aspects of personal estate-planning, including wills, powers of attorney, trust formation and administration, Family Investment Companies, succession-planning, philanthropy, inheritance tax-planning, asset protection and estate administration. She has particular expertise in advising business owners in respect of succession planning and acts for many household names throughout Scotland.She also advises charity trustees on the ongoing administration of charitable organisations, including compliance/regulation and mergers/amalgamations, and frequently provides trustee training.Outside of her role within the firm, Alexis also sits as a charity trustee.

Fraser Grant

Fraser is a partner and advises a broad range of clients, particularly in the real estate and energy sectors.His real estate experience includes advising on development projects from inception to disposal, the sale and purchase of investment assets, landlord and tenant, real estate finance and corporate sales and joint venture arrangements. In energy, his focus is onshore wind, new nuclear and grid stability.

Stuart Greenwood

Based in our Rural Property and Business team, Stuart advises on all aspects of rural property transactions, including the sale and purchase of farms; forestry matters; and renewable energy projects.His particular focus is on the sale and purchase of large estate, forestry and agricultural properties, as well as their ongoing management. Stuart is an expert in renewable and green energy matters, including the sale and purchase of carbon units arising from woodland planting and peatland restoration projects. He also has extensive experience in charity and community matters, having acted in a number of high-profile community acquisitions and projects.He has written a series of carbon agreement templates which have been used in multiple acquisitions throughout Scotland, and is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in agricultural law.

Petra Grunenberg

Petra leads our Rural Property and Business Team. Having worked in the rural sector for over two decades, she is one of its leading legal advisors in Scotland. While she specialises in succession planning and partnership matters, she also advises on a wide range of property transactions, bank security work, agricultural holdings, and renewable projects. Accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in Agricultural Law, Petra has a deep understanding of the entire sector, and is often asked to speak at events or write articles. She is a member of the Royal Highland & Agricultural Society of Scotland (RHASS).

Emma Guthrie

Emma is a partner in the firm’s Real Estate Department, and advises on a wide variety of commercial real estate matters. She frequently handles complex and high-value deals, including acquisitions, sales, refinancings, cross-border matters, and multi-sector projects.Emma advises landlords and tenants across the private, public and third sectors on a wide range of asset management transactions. Her experience spans offices, large retail parks, industrial estates and other types of commercial property.She has been a Co-Chair of Real Estate Balance’s NextGen Committee since November 2023. She is an active member of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Groups ‘S+W Pride’ and the Gender Focus Group, and a strong supporter of the work of the firm’s Social Mobility Group.

Andrew Hall

As Managing Partner of Shepherd and Wedderburn, Andy leads the day-to-day management and operation of the firm.With the firm’s Chair and its Partnership Board, he is also responsible for delivering our strategy and ensuring that we continue to develop deep and long-lasting relationships with clients.Andy previously headed up our Property and Infrastructure division, and he continues to be Client Care Partner for several clients including a number of housebuilders, landowners, affordable housing providers and public sector bodies. He has over thirty years’ experience in all aspects of real estate, specialising in commercial and residential property development. His experience includes leasing and investment, property finance, land promotion, infrastructure projects, urban regeneration and strategic land projects.

Lucy Hall

Lucy is a banking and finance partner. She specialises in real estate finance and acquisition finance.She advises lenders and sponsors in both investment and development finance transactions across the full spectrum of sectors and real estate assets, including PBSA, BTR, office and retail. Clients include UK and international banks and debt funds on the lending side; and propcos, investment and asset managers, corporate groups and family offices on the sponsor side.Lucy has extensive experience including leading on cross-border and senior and mezzanine transactions.

Kirsty Headden

Kirsty is a pensions law specialist who helps trustees and employers to navigate complex pensions issues with confidence.She is particularly experienced in resolving historic member benefit issues, advising on statutory debt implications, redrafting pension scheme documentation, acting in relation to scheme mergers and consolidations, and managing sensitive member disputes.Most recently she has guided schemes through Guaranteed Minimum Pension equalisation and conversion, and advised on risk transfer projects including buying out benefits with insurers.

Stephanie Hepburn

Stephanie specialises in conflict resolution. As the head of our Rural, Residential and Private Wealth Disputes team, Stephanie advises on a variety of contentious matters in those sectors. She also supports clients in the real estate sector on a range of property disputes.

Leigh Herd

Leigh is a partner and specialises in disputes arising from construction, engineering and other major projects.She is particularly experienced in the utilities and clean energy sectors (including ports and harbours), in both Scotland and England, and has an excellent working knowledge of all the typical construction contracts currently in use, with a particular specialism in NEC3 and NEC4.While her expertise includes litigations in the Court of Session in Scotland, she is also experienced in alternative methods of dispute resolution: adjudication, arbitration, expert determination, and mediation. Indeed, she has a unique insight into ADR in the UK through her previous role as Vice Chair and Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Scottish Branch of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators. Leigh remains heavily involved in the wider ADR community in Scotland, and she frequently arranges and presents at seminars and conferences.Leigh was also previously the External Examiner for the LLM in Construction Law at the University of Strathclyde.

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.

Morag Hutchison

Morag is a partner and advises employers – both UK-based and international – on all areas of UK employment law. Most of Morag’s work is with employers, but she also works with senior employees who need employment advice.She is particularly expert in employee relations issues (having spent time on secondment with clients in their ER teams) and TUPE, and is great at delivering training on employment law to people managers and HR teams in a way that is informative, practical and interesting. Morag also specialises in supporting our corporate team on the people aspects of corporate deals.

Colin Innes

Colin heads up our Planning and Environmental team. He has extensive experience of advising on the planning and environmental aspects of major development projects, especially in the energy sector.He has particular expertise in dealing with European/National designated sites. He represents clients at public inquiries and hearings, and advises on court challenges to planning decisions. Colin is a legal associate of the Royal Town Planning Institute, and a member of RUK and Scottish Renewables Planning Policy Onshore Groups. He is accredited as a planning specialist by the Law Society of Scotland.

Richard Jones

Richard is a very experienced specialist pensions lawyer. He advises trustees of major occupational pension schemes and corporate bodies on all aspects of pensions law and is a full member of the Association of Pension Lawyers. He has considerable experience in advising pension scheme trustees on the legal aspects of investment matters, including advising on risk-transfer transactions, investment management agreements, custodian agreements and pooled fund documentation. He also has particular expertise in public sector pension matters, including advising on Local Government Pension Scheme admission agreements and dealing with pensions issues under outsourcing contracts and TUPE transfers.

Eleanor Kerr

Eleanor is a partner and highly experienced in a wide range of estate planning matters. She advises individuals and families on all aspects of inheritance tax and capital gains tax; the preparation of wills and living wills; administration of estates; the formation and administration of trusts; asset protection; and adults with incapacity legislation.She specialises in complex trusts and estates and in assisting entrepreneurs and other high net worth individuals with their succession and tax planning. Key to this is close collaboration with clients’ other professional advisers, such as accountants and financial advisers.Eleanor is a full member of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP), the global professional association for practitioners who specialise in advising families on inheritance and succession planning across generations.

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 Knight

Andrew is a partner and advises clients on the full spectrum of employment law issues – from defending employer clients in employment tribunal proceedings to advising clients on the people aspects of mergers, acquisitions and restructuring exercises.Those clients span a range of sectors including energy, manufacturing, entertainment, food and drink, transportation, healthcare and the third sector. With particular expertise in offshore energy, his knowledge of the sector helps him to secure successful outcomes in complex situations, including those with an international element.Andrew regularly appears for clients in employment tribunal and employment appeal tribunal proceedings throughout Great Britain. He has represented clients before the Aberdeen, Bristol, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester and Newcastle employment tribunals and the employment appeal tribunal in Edinburgh, successfully defending claims on behalf of clients for breach of contract, discrimination, unlawful trade union inducement, unfair dismissal, unlawful deduction from wages and whistleblowing, among many others.He also frequently delivers training to senior managers and human resources teams on a broad range of employment law topics, and often speaks at industry events such as All Energy, the cHeRries conference, DisruptHR and CIPD North of Scotland and Islands.

Philip Knowles

Phil advises UK and overseas clients on in real estate finance matters, both debt and equity finance, primarily in the living, industrial, hotels and leisure sectors. He advises on investment and development finance, on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and restructuring and insolvency. Phil is our lead client partner for a number of our key lender clients.

Suzanne Knowles

Suzanne advises businesses, lenders and insolvency practitioners on all aspects of corporate restructuring and insolvency.This includes debt restructurings, insolvency appointments, insolvent business sales and acquisitions, schemes of arrangement and restructuring plans, and advising boards of distressed corporates. She has extensive transactional experience across a range of sectors, including retail, real estate, charities and healthcare. Following secondments to UK clearing banks, Suzanne has also gained first-hand experience of managing distressed debt connections.

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’.

Matthew Lamberton

Matt is a partner and advises a broad range of clients across a variety of real estate, infrastructure and energy sectors.Real Estate FinanceMatt frequently acts for banks on the real estate elements of financing asset purchases, providing development finance and re-financing existing debt arrangements.Commercial LeasingHe often acts for landlords and occupiers on a variety of commercial leasing transactions across England, with a particular focus on the London office market.InvestmentMatt also helps several family funds with the acquisition, management, leasing, funding and disposal of their assets across various sectors, including offices and retail, with a particular focus on assets situated in central London.Energy InfrastructureHe represents a nationally significant owner and operator of UK energy infrastructure for facilities situated in England, with respect to traditional natural resources and more modern energy sources. Matt also frequently acts for developers in procuring option agreements for developing energy infrastructure and storage projects.

Hamish Lean

Hamish is a partner and he has a farming background and works exclusively in the agricultural and rural sector, with a particular interest in agricultural tenancy law.He advises on the purchase and sale of agricultural land; the formation, structure and winding up of agricultural businesses; renewable energy projects; and agricultural subsidy matters. He also has detailed experience of the relinquishment process applying to secure agricultural tenancies, and has dealt with many private and statutory relinquishments for value. He also frequently appears in the Scottish Land Court on behalf of both agricultural landlords and tenants. He is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in Agricultural Law; is a member of the Agricultural Law Association and the Scottish Agricultural Arbiters and Valuers Association, and is an invited member of the NFUS Legal and Technical Committee. He writes frequently for the press on agricultural law topics and is a regular speaker at seminars to both professional and lay audiences.

Richard Leslie

Richard is a partner and he specialises in the law relating to land and businesses outside of the 30mph zone, most notably in the rural and renewables sectors.He is an advisor to landowners across Scotland, from large highland estates to owner-occupied and tenanted farms, most often on the purchase and sale of rural property – including estates, farms, crofts and country houses, agricultural leases, wind farms, hydro-electric facilities, and telecommunication mast leases. Richard offers a bespoke service, often dealing with novel situations and providing practical legal solutions. When this requires expertise in other legal areas – such as wills, trusts, executries, employment, disputes or taxation – he works closely with colleagues in other parts of the firm.With a special interest in environmental matters, Richard has over 25 years of experience in dealing with renewable energy projects from large onshore wind farms to small run-of-river hydro schemes, and increasingly battery storage and solar farms. He also advises national charities on both the natural and built environment. He is Chair of the District Trustee Board for East Lothian Scouts, a Trustee of the Scottish Ornithological Club (and Chair of the Lothian branch), and a Trustee of Gullane Sports Development Trust.

John MacKenzie

John is a partner 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.

Claire MacLean

A partner who is highly experienced in the Scottish real estate market, Claire specialises in advising developers, investors and funders on energy projects. Those cover a range of technologies, including offshore and onshore wind, solar, battery storage, hydro and pumped storage hydro. Claire also has significant experience of advising clients on the Scots Law elements of cross-border and international transactions – working with investors, purchasers and funders across all aspects of commercial real estate.

Magdalena MacLean

Magdalena is a partner and advises on contentious and non-contentious planning, and consenting and environmental matters, with particular focus on large infrastructure projects.Her experience of contentious matters includes public inquiries, hearings and appeals. She advises on consenting strategies, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), habitats, and species matters including Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA), environmental consenting, and roads law. She has extensive experience in compulsory purchase and necessary wayleaves, advising promotors and affected parties. Magdalena’s experience includes advising clients in regulated sectors, including energy; ports and harbours; and aquaculture. She has in-depth knowledge of the energy sector, including in-house experience gained during secondments. With substantial experience of linear and location-critical projects, she understands the specific challenges they face and advises on appropriately framed consenting strategies.

Neil Maclean

Neil leads our Employment team. He helps clients to navigate the complexities of employment and equality law, and also collaborates with our Pensions, Tax, Employee Incentives and Immigration teams to deliver our wider human resources service.Neil has particular expertise in managing complex business transfers and restructuring programmes, including TUPE and redundancy, collective consultation and industrial relations issues, and insolvency. He is also an experienced advocate in employment tribunals and employment appeals tribunals, and has also used mediation to resolve disputes successfully. A frequent speaker at employment law events, he is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in Employment Law.

Ewan MacLeod

Ewan’s core expertise is in providing strategic advice on planning issues. This ranges from advice on development plan allocations and policy through to securing planning permission and advising on planning gain issues, appeals and court challenges.He also advises on related regulatory matters including roads, water and drainage; and on environmental matters such as regulated processes, nuisance, contaminated land, and protected habitats and species. Ewan also has extensive advocacy experience, having represented clients at numerous public hearings and inquiries as well as appearing before planning committees and committees of the Scottish Parliament.Ewan is accredited as a specialist in planning law by the Law Society of Scotland. He sits on Homes for Scotland's National Planning Policy Committee, and is a member of both the Law Society’s Planning Committee and the Scottish Property Federation’s Development Committee.

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.

Cath Macrae

Cath is a partner with a breadth of experience in M&A and private equity, with a particular interest in funds transactions (both investments and secondary sales).Cath also has a strong background in the energy and the technology and life sciences sector; significant experience in financial services; and frequently advises on the law applicable to limited partnerships in Scotland.

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.

Thomas McFarlane

Thomas has wide-ranging experience in the field of litigation and dispute resolution.He advises commercial clients, and individuals, in relation to an array of contractual and delictual claims, including high-volume, high value, complex and novel disputes. He frequently appears on behalf of clients in the Sheriff Courts across Scotland, and has also appeared before various Licencing Boards, as well as the First-tier Tribunal for Scotland, Housing and Property Chamber.Thomas has a particular interest and expertise in relation to contentious executries and trusts matters; disputes in the rural and private client sectors; and professional negligence claims.

Christopher McGill

Chris is a leading private client, trust and charity law practitioner. He advises high-net-worth individuals, families and trustees throughout the UK and overseas on personal tax, trusts and succession planning. He also advises charities on governance, regulatory and constitutional matters.

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

George McKinlay

George is a partner and acts in a number of areas in real estate, including development, property investment, leasing, ports and infrastructure.His clients cover a wide range – worldwide multinationals, ports, listed UK and foreign companies, private companies, private investors, public sector clients and high net worth individuals – and has been involved in a number of large and high-profile private and public sector projects.

Keith McLaren

Keith is a partner and private wealth and tax specialist. He works with individuals, families and trusts across the UK.He advises on succession planning, asset protection, inheritance tax mitigation, executries (probate), incapacity and charities. He has considerable experience of administering complex and large executries, including those with an international dimension.He is also a Trustee of the Coldstones Charitable Trust.

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.’

Lauren McLeod

Lauren’s specialist expertise is in property investment acquisitions and sales, including complex sale and lease-back arrangements. She manages large property portfolios for various investment clients, and has a wealth of experience in landlord and tenant work.She also has experience of delivering development projects. She is lead client partner for a number of our key investment and lender clients.

Laura McMillan

Laura acts for clients in a range of disputes, with a particular focus on insolvency litigation, banking and finance litigation and debt recovery. She has experience pursuing secured and unsecured debt; including winding up proceedings and bankruptcy/sequestrations. Laura advises clients on all aspects of debt recovery and has practical experience in a wide range of insolvency and debt recovery matters. Laura has experience of a variety of Court of Session actions, and represents clients in Sheriff Court proceedings. Laura also has experience of a range of proceedings in the High Court and County Courts.

Katie McNab

Based in our Rural Property and Business team, Katie advises on all aspects of agricultural and rural property transactions, including the sale and purchase of farms, forestry matters, and renewable energy projects.Katie has a focus on the sale and purchase of forestry, large estates, and agricultural properties, as well as their ongoing management. Katie has particular expertise on forestry and natural capital matters, including the sale and purchase of carbon units arising from woodland planting and peatland restoration projects.

Jamie McRorie

Jamie is a specialist in the regulation of the energy and utility sectors. He also advises on public law, subsidy control and competition law. He advises across a full range of regulatory interactions. Jamie brings significant experience from his time working as Head of Legal for the Systems and Enforcement functions at the energy regulator Ofgem, where he handled high-profile and complex regulatory matters at a time of significant change for the energy sector. During this time, Jamie was responsible for advising on and delivering work across Ofgem’s functions, including network regulation, wholesale markets and retail markets. This included leading Ofgem’s input into significant pieces of primary legislation, advising on policy decisions, conducting investigations and defending decisions in regulatory appeals and judicial review. His advice included the design and delivery of subsidy and incentive schemes for low carbon technologies, grid connection, charging reform, energy pricing, market and connections reform, international sanctions, Contracts for Difference, and the Capacity Market. Jamie also led on the implementation of cyber-security measures throughout the regulated energy market.

David Mitchell

David is a partner with over 25 years’ experience in the Scottish property market and heads the firm's Real Estate Sector. He acts for a broad range of clients, including major UK real estate investment trusts (REITs) and institutional investment funds. He has particular expertise in property development, having been involved in a number of significant office, retail and mixed-use projects across Scotland.

Fraser Mitchell

Fraser is a partner and he advises on all aspects of planning, environmental, compulsory purchase, and roads law.This includes advising on planning strategy and applications, the review of environmental impact assessment, planning appeals, the negotiation of planning agreements, and legal challenges in the Court of Session. His particular focus is on housebuilding and renewables. Fraser advises national housebuilders across the country on strategic and short-term sites. He also advises developers on the consenting process for renewable energy projects, primarily onshore wind farms and pumped storage hydro schemes.

John Morrison

John has expertise in all aspects of corporate law, including mergers and acquisitions, private equity, venture capital, corporate restructuring and reorganisations, joint ventures, and governance matters. John advises clients across several sectors, with a particular focus on renewables (he leads our onshore renewable sector), technology, life sciences and other high-growth companies (he has acted for many such companies), and private equity and venture capital (he has acted for many development banks and European private equity houses on funding arrangements). He has a wide range of clients: he has acted on high-profile transactions for the Scottish National Investment Bank, Epic Games, TV Squared, Two Big Ears, Offshore Wind Power, Outer Dowsing, Acciona, EDPR and TMC Pharma, among others. He is active in the Scottish business community and, in his pro bono work for accelerators, he mentors several ambitious entrepreneurs. John also launched, and now leads, our Start to Scale initiative. He is also the Company Secretary of Scottish Renewables.

Euan Murray

Euan is a partner with extensive experience of advising clients on the procurement, construction and operation of complex energy, infrastructure, and engineering projects.He has advised on contracts across the energy sector, including in offshore and onshore wind, solar PV, battery storage, energy from waste, and heat and hydrogen. He also has significant experience of contracts for defence, healthcare, education and transport infrastructure. Euan also advises clients on procurement matters, under both the Scottish procurement regime and under the Procurement Act 2023. During his career he has completed three secondments within the energy sector, and has also worked in the in-house legal team at a major UK utility where he advised on construction and procurement matters.

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’.

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.

Matt Phillip

Matt is a Partner within our Commercial Disputes team, helping clients resolve complex disputes throughout the UK and internationally.He advises clients on a range of corporate, commercial and reputational matters, with particular experience in shareholder disputes, breach of contract claims, the protection of confidential information and intellectual property disputes. Matt frequently represents clients in high-value and high-profile disputes, helping them to find practical ways to manage risk.Matt also leads our Sport, Entertainment and Media group, and acts for a range of sports governing bodies, leagues and athletes.

Ben Pilbrow

Ben has resolved complex disputes in a wide range of commercial sectors and fields, with particular emphasis on the firm’s core disciplines of energy and financial services.The majority of his cases arise from breaches of contract, but they often involve tortious breaches (including professional negligence, interference with goods and economic torts), equitable breaches (such as unjust enrichment, breach of trust or fiduciary duties, knowing receipt, and estoppel) or statutory breaches (embracing judicial reviews, insolvency, companies legislation and FSMA). He has represented clients at every level of the English civil courts, as well as in arbitration and mediation. Ben’s particular specialism is litigation costs and funding – including contingency funding, third-party funding and litigation insurance. He has successfully advised numerous multinational companies on how to monetise latent ‘dispute’ assets so that their legal functions generate revenue.

Scott Ritchie

Scott has extensive experience in all legal aspects of commercial real estate, including developments, leasing, asset management, acquisitions, disposals, and real estate finance.He advises both privately funded student accommodation providers and Universities (including some of some of the UK’s biggest PBSA providers) on the management, trading and funding of PBSA assets.Scott advises large-scale investors/developers in the growing BTR market in Scotland.He also acts for a number of owners and operators in the hospitality and leisure sector, including PLCs and private owners of some of the most prestigious hotels in Scotland.He represents a number of nationally significant owners and operators of Scottish energy infrastructure, both with respect to traditional natural resources and also more modern energy sources.Scott represents several fund managers in connection with the acquisition, management, leasing, funding and disposal of their Scottish assets, including high-value multi-let offices, retail parks and industrial properties.

Colin Robertson

Colin leads our Property and Infrastructure team. He specialises in acting for developers, investors and funders on the real estate aspects of projects in the energy and infrastructure sectors. He has extensive experience of advising developer clients on all stages of renewable energy generation projects from initial site selection and diligence, through land acquisition, construction, operation and repowering. He therefore has valuable insight into the key aspects of energy projects across onshore windfarms, tidal, solar, hydro, battery energy storage and grid stability. Colin also regularly leads multi-disciplinary teams in carrying out due diligence on projects in the energy sector for both funders and investors. Colin also advises developers in relation to the acquisition of the land rights required for large scale offshore windfarm projects including advising on the compulsory acquisition of land rights. He has a track record of successful delivery of the full package of onshore land rights necessary to connect offshore windfarm projects to the grid including supporting clients with forming initial land acquisition strategy, voluntary negotiation of land agreements with landowners, compulsory acquisition, financial close/construction and onward sale of onshore transmission assets to OFTO. Colin also frequently acts for clients in relation to real estate aspects of other infrastructure projects in Scotland, including conventional gas transportation and processing and carbon capture and storage.

Emma Robertson

Emma is a partner and her speciality is complex rural property and agricultural matters, on which she acts for private individuals, limited companies, partnerships and trusts.She advises on agricultural tenancies; the purchase and sale of estates, farms, forestry and other rural properties; sporting leases; and residential property. She is also experienced in renewable energy, frequently advising landowners and developers on a variety of projects including wind turbines, solar, hydro-electricity schemes, battery storage and biomass. In addition, Emma deals with security work for rural properties.She is an accredited specialist in Agricultural Law, and a member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen.

Alison Rochester

Alison is a partner and leads our Trade and Commerce team. A highly experienced commercial lawyer, she advises clients across all sectors on the full lifecycle of business-critical contracts and trade matters, both domestically and internationally.By providing clear and commercially focused advice, she helps clients to navigate contractual complexity, manage risk, and achieve their strategic objectives in fast-evolving markets. Alison advises on all aspects of commercial contracting, including the drafting and negotiation of B2B and consumer agreements for the supply of goods and services, manufacturing and supply chain arrangements, IT and outsourcing contracts, cross-border distribution networks, and joint venture and collaboration agreements. Clients also ask her to help with ad hoc contractual issues and the development of internal contract management strategies.A significant part of Alison’s practice involves supporting clients with international trade compliance. She has particularly strong expertise in export and import controls, sanctions regimes, and sector-specific regulatory obligations, and works closely with clients to manage trade and regulatory risks.For clients in the clean energy and utility sectors, she applies her experience in structuring and negotiating a wide range of commercial agreements, including consultancy contracts, synthetic and physical power purchase agreements, private wire arrangements, operation and maintenance agreements, and aviation mitigation agreements.

Malcolm Rust

Partner and head of the Charities team, 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.

Caroline Shand

Caroline advises on all aspects of real estate, with a particular emphasis on institutional investment, commercial development and property finance. She acts for investors, lenders landlords and tenants across a wide variety of sectors. She also frequently deals with the Scottish side of cross-border portfolio investment deals and portfolio property finance matters. In addition, Caroline heads up the property side of our Telecoms Team, acting for Operators in securing both new sites and renewal of leases of their existing portfolios.

Nigel Sievwright

Nigel is a partner and his focus is on advising stakeholders on infrastructure projects. His expertise covers the design, build, finance and maintenance of projects of many types including renewable energy, energy-from-waste, health, accommodation, street lighting, wastewater and roads.He is familiar with all the common procurement models (e.g. PPP, PFI, hub, NPD and their variants) and funding methods, including bank debt and bond issues.

Douglas Sinclair

Douglas is a Partner in the firm’s Private Wealth and Tax team. As well as being a solicitor, Douglas is a Chartered Tax Advisor, and tax is a common theme in many of the cases he advises on. He advises across all private client work as well as on corporate tax matters.On the private client side, he advises individuals, families and trustees on issues such as succession planning, wills, trusts, and personal taxation. Many of his cases have an international element (such as cross-border tax issues and looking after clients with assets across multiple jurisdictions. Cases often also involve difficult tax issues, such as complex planning for inheritance tax and capital gains tax, and the use of wealth-planning structures such as Family Investment Companies and Family Limited Partnerships. He also frequently works alongside the firm’s rural property teams on matters involving partnerships and associated inheritance tax matters.On the corporate side, Douglas advises on all UK taxes. For example, employee taxes and IR35; the taxation of work-related benefits; the employment of internationally mobile people; VAT, often relating to commercial property; and the full range of stamp taxes. He also deals with corporate transactions from a tax point of view, including negotiating and drafting tax covenants and warranties and inputting into other transactions such as business sales or commercial lending.

Donald Smith

Donald is a partner with extensive expertise in a wide range of corporate finance matters, both in the UK and internationally.These include mergers and acquisitions (private and public), private equity, joint ventures, growth capital and equity capital markets transactions. He has advised clients in many sectors, including life sciences, energy, and financial services.Donald also has considerable experience of industry, most recently as General Counsel at Argenta, a global pharma services buy and build backed by KKR, and earlier as a Senior Counsel, M&A Legal at BP. He has also completed secondments to the Scottish National Investment Bank plc as acting General Counsel for the Bank’s establishment, at RBS (now NatWest) and at JPMorgan.

Peter Smith

Partner and head of the Aberdeen Real Estate team, Peter advises on all aspects of commercial property, including commercial acquisitions and sales, commercial and residential development, secured lending, and commercial leasing for both landlord and tenant.He acts for clients operating in many different sectors, including housebuilding, hospitality and leisure, oil and gas services, retail, agriculture/rural, and medical, dental, and pharmaceutical.

Judith Stephenson

Judith is a partner with over two decades of experience in all aspects of property law. She focuses exclusively on the commercial property sector, with a particular specialisation in residential development and site assembly.She has acted for clients across the private and public sectors on numerous property and infrastructure transactions. She also advises on the property-related aspects of wider corporate transactions. Judith has a strong track record in delivering complex projects for a diverse client base, and she understands the day-to-day commercial and financial challenges that confront her clients. Key areas of expertise include legal due diligence, purchase and sale contracts, overage and clawback agreements, collaboration arrangements and complex deeds of conditions.

Susan Swan

A specialist in energy regulation and commercial contracts, Susan acts for clients in regulated sectors, including electricity and water. She is a core partner in our Clean Energy group. Susan supports our Clean Energy clients by drafting and negotiating a wide variety of commercial contracts, including consultancy agreements, contracts for offshore environmental and geo-science surveys, development services agreements, traditional and private wire power purchase agreements, operation and maintenance agreements, crossing and proximity agreements and aviation mitigation agreements in respect of civil and defence radar impacts. She also provides specialist grid advice, helping clients overcome issues surrounding grid access, advising on grid code and other technical compliance issues, and providing strategic advice on bespoke grid sharing arrangements and connection reforms. Susan also advises on regulatory matters that affect developers of both mature and emerging technologies. This includes advising on the offshore transmission (OFTO) regime, the licensing regime under the Electricity Act 1989, and financial support mechanism including the Contract for Difference, Capacity Market and legacy Renewables Obligation and Feed in Tariff schemes. She also advises on the emerging regulatory landscape for new technologies, including hydrogen, heat networks and electric vehicles, and new coordination models like offshore hybrid assets and multi-purpose interconnectors. During her career to date Susan has worked in-house with several renewables organisations, including three years with SMart Wind Limited on the development of the Hornsea Zone; eight months with EDF Renewables on the development of the Neart na Gaoithe Offshore Wind project; and eleven months with Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult.

Tom Swan

Tom is a head of our Corporate Finance practice group. He has a wide range of experience in corporate, restructuring and financial markets, with particular specialism in mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and equity financings.His sector focus is principally in upstream energy (both renewables and oil and gas), infrastructure, financial services, and technology. He is also a court reporter to the Court of Session on capital reductions, schemes of arrangement, restructuring plans and insurance and banking business transfer schemes.

Lauren Thomson

Lauren advises private and public sector clients in relation to construction and development projects throughout the UK.She acts for a mixture of developers, contractors and consultants, as well as funders and end users – particularly in relation to office, retail, leisure, housing and regeneration projects.She works with clients on every stage of projects, from initial procurement advice, through ongoing support during delivery, to contract completion.

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’.

Richard Turnbull

Richard is a partner and he specialises in the property aspects of energy projects with over 20 years of experience in the sector.Acting for developers, funders and investors, he has experience across a range of technologies, including wind (both onshore and offshore), solar, hydro, battery storage, gas peaking, energy from waste, large scale biomass, district heating, electrical vehicle infrastructure, nuclear, hydrogen, data centres private wire/corporate PPA projects and grid infrastructure. He also carries out general commercial property work, particularly in the development and infrastructure and property finance sectors.

Tricia Walker

Tricia is a key part of our Employment Practice group and a specialist in employment law with significant experience of acting for large employers in the energy sector.She advises on all aspects of employment law, with a particular interest in maternity rights, absence and performance management, disability discrimination, whistleblowing claims, flexible working rights, working time regulations, and holiday pay claims. Tricia conducts her own advocacy, and frequently represents clients in Employment Tribunal proceedings across the UK. Tricia is often praised by clients for her pragmatic and savvy approach in resolving disputes. While she mainly acts for employers, she occasionally act for individuals, for example in senior executive exits. She frequently speaks at conferences, and delivers bespoke training to clients.

Craig Whelton

Craig is a partner and specialises in development projects across the UK for both private and public sector clients.He advises on all aspects of the consenting of major developments, including site appraisal and consenting strategy; application review, including Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)/Habitats Regulations Assessment (HRA); stakeholder engagement and consultation; legal agreements; inquiry and hearing advocacy; and judicial review and statutory challenges. He also advises both acquiring authorities and affected parties on compulsory purchase. Craig has advised clients across the UK on Town and Country planning, section 36, Development Consent Order (DCO) and Development of National Significance (DNS) applications, and legal challenges in both Scotland and England & Wales.

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

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.

Gillian Wood

Gillian’s specialism is residential and commercial development, strategic land and site assembly, and telecommunications property law, which often links into the development work.She advises on development site acquisitions, complex overage arrangements and collaboration agreements, strategic options, site set-up (including utilities documentation and bespoke Deeds of Conditions) and affordable housing acquisitions and disposals. She has acted for national housebuilders, housing associations (including acquiring affordable housing sites at golden brick stage and turnkey, and putting in place mid-market rent leasing structures), development site vendors, and property investors/developers.Gillian has a wide range of commercial property experience beyond this, including in leasing (landlord and tenant), acquisition and disposal of commercial properties, property management and property aspects of corporate transactions.

Marcus Wright

Marcus is a partner and he specialises in all aspects of commercial property.For more than 25 years he has advised investors, developers, landlords, and tenants on major development projects; real estate investment acquisitions and disposals; forward fundings; pre-lettings and lettings.

Graham Young

Graham is a Partner in the Banking and Finance team, specialising in energy and infrastructure. Taking a commercially minded and solution-focused approach, he helps clients navigate the complexities of energy and infrastructure financings. He has broad experience of structuring and executing complex financing arrangements across wind, solar, hydro and clean energy assets. He also has significant expertise in various PPP / PFI models. He is familiar with all types of debt finance arrangements in the sector – from simple bilateral bank loans to public bonds issues – enabling him to help developers, sponsors and financial institutions navigate the funding cycle for their project.

Paul Young

Paul is a partner with a varied practice covering all aspects of the infrastructure sector. He advises on a wide range of energy, infrastructure, construction and engineering projects across the UK and internationally.His clients include developers, financiers, public sector and government bodies, major utilities, and contractors. He has particularly strong expertise in energy and renewables, having advised on onshore and offshore wind, battery storage, hydro, solar, CHP, anaerobic digestion and biogas projects.Paul is an expert in all forms of construction and EPC contracts (including all industry standard forms and bespoke contracts), development agreements, operation and maintenance arrangements, major supply contracts, and ancillary documentation such as bonds, guarantees, collateral warranties and direct agreements.