Beverley Addison
Associate
BTO Solicitors LLP
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Lawyers
Alistair Barbour
Senior Associate & Solicitor Advocate
Emma Barclay
Partner
Audrey Blair
Senior Associate
Stephen Bryceland
Partner & Solicitor Advocate
Scott Buchan
Partner
Caroline Carr
Chair & Partner
Will Cole
Partner
Michael Cox
Partner
Angus Crawford
Partner
Catherine Currie
Partner and Solicitor Advocate
Cara Docherty
Senior Associate
Laura Donald
Partner and Solicitor Advocate
John Dunlop
John is a principal associate in the Edinburgh real estate team with wide experience of acting for property investors, developers, landlords and tenants. He has substantial acquisition and disposal expertise He is easy to deal with and is known for providing pragmatic and commercially aware solutions. John’s can-do attitude gets deals done quickly and efficiently.
His recent experience includes:
\tcompleting number of investment acquisitions for large UK property investment group
\tadvising Roomzzz as they took a lease of the aparthotel at the Edinburgh St James Centre
\tadvising a property company in the acquisition of a development site in Glasgow for student accommodation and a large retail unit
\theading up the first registration project for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service which required the registration of all their property interests in the Land Register of Scotland (300+ properties)
\tadvising a number of national occupiers with their occupation requirements including new lettings, purchases and portfolio management.
Alastair Dunn
Partner
Tim Edward
Tim is a Partner in our Dispute Resolution team, specialising in professional liability work and commercial and insolvency disputes.
He has over 35 years of experience in the profession and has been a Solicitor Advocate since 1999.
Tim has served over many years both as a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Pursuers’ Panel and the Law Society Master Policy Defence Panel.
He has experience in both pursuing and defending claims and the ability to use all forms of ADR and Court process to achieve the best results for clients.
Tim is recommended by The Legal 500 for Commercial Litigation and Insolvency & Corporate Recovery and ranked by Chambers UK for Litigation and Professional Negligence in Scotland.
He is approachable, easy to work with and commercially minded and always prioritises achieving the best solutions for clients.
David Gibson
Partner
Alasdair Gillies
Partner & Criminal Solicitor Advocate
Jeremy Glen
Partner
Lesley Gordon
Partner
Peter Graham
Partner
Lesley Grant
Associate
Lesley Gray
Senior Associate
Ramsay Hall
Partner
Jill Harris
Partner
Grant Hunter
Managing Partner
Graeme Kelly
Partner
Jennifer King
Associate
Neil Macdonald
Associate
Jennifer Mackenzie
Associate
Kirsteen Maclean
Senior Associate
Lindsay MacNeill
Partner & Solicitor Advocate
Kirstine MacRae
Partner
Duncan Mawby
Consultant
Nicolas McBride
Partner
Lauren McFarlane
Senior Associate
Jaimie McGready
Senior Solicitor
Kirsty McGuinness
Partner
Rhona McKerracher
Senior Associate
Gregor Mitchell
Partner
Mark Morton
Partner and Solicitor Advocate
Paul Motion
Partner and Solicitor Advocate
Paul is a versatile and highly experienced civil Solicitor Advocate who has used his Rights of Audience continuously and prominently since 1998. He has been qualified 39 years. In 2018 he became the first Accredited Specialist in freedom of information and data protection law, in private practice, in Scotland.
Paul is one of the most experienced commercial litigation solicitors practising in Scotland. He qualified in 1984 and so has been practising for 38 years. He has been a solicitor advocate since 1998. He practised in New Zealand between 1990 and 1993 appearing as counsel at many levels including the New Zealand Court of Appeal in 1991.
Paul is the current Convener of the Law Society of Scotland’s Extended Civil Rights of Audience training programme.
Amongst the vast range of litigation Paul has handled during his long career are included many judicial reviews (two in 2022) and two international arbitrations together with related Court of Session appeals (in 2016/2018 and 2019/2022). Paul has handled many complex company and shareholder disputes. In 2021 he was involved in a multi-jurisdictional £58m shareholder dispute involving Scotland, England, Cyprus, China and the Cayman Islands. Paul is often called upon to carry out emergency litigation and has huge experience in dealing with interdict (injunction) applications as well as “Dawn Raids” (*formerly Anton Piller orders in England). He dealt with an urgent injunction in the High Court Queens Bench Division over Christmas 2021/2022, seeking to restrain the holding of a meeting. He appeared in 2008/9 in the Wishart case which remains the leading Scottish authority on shareholder derivative actions: ALEXANDER MARSHALL WISHART v. CASTLECROFT SECURITIES LIMITED AND OTHERS (scotcourts.gov.uk)
Paul is also recognised in Scotland as a leading practitioner in data protection (one of only three Accredited Specialists in private practice in Scotland), social media and reputational law. He is regularly in court on these matters. See CAROL BEYTS AGAINST TRUMP INTERNATIONAL GOLF CLUB SCOTLAND LIMITED (scotcourts.gov.uk); ANTHONY WOOLLEY AND DEBORAH WOOLLEY AGAINST NAHID AKBAR OR AKRAM (scotcourts.gov.uk); and Heather Hiram -v- Alana Mullen 2020scedin23.pdf (scotcourts.gov.uk) He has contributed comment to BBC Radio Scotland and BBC Five Live Drive on these topics, often at short notice. He writes articles for the legal and mainstream media and lectures on his subjects regularly. He has also engaged with Facebook, Twitter, TripAdvisor and US news websites in relation to reputational matters.
Paul founded and heads BTO BeCreative, a niche team focused on servicing the legal needs of the Scottish creative industries. He devised and presented seminar/workshops at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to an audience of theatrical agents and managers for the ten years.
Paul was instrumental in persuading BTO to set up RGDP LLP in 2019. This is a JV company in which BTO’s partner is ComputerLaw Training. RGDP which provides outsourced Data Protection Officer services to nearly 90 customers. Paul is the Board Chairman of RGDP LLP.
Lewis Richardson
Lewis is an Associate within BTO’s insurance team, where he focuses on defending motor, employers and public liability claims in the Sheriff Court. These include a number of claims arising from asbestos exposure.
Lewis trained solely in litigation at a firm specialising in insurance defence work. Upon qualifying he moved to a firm where he appeared regularly in Edinburgh Sheriff Court as local agent in both procedural and contentious matters. He has also conducted Proofs, Opposed Motions and Appeals on behalf of his own clients in courts throughout Scotland.
In addition to his Sheriff Court work Lewis has experience dealing with a wide variety of Court of Session matters.
He volunteers as a tutor at the Mock Court competition for Scottish secondary schools.
Lynn Richmond
Lynn is accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in Intellectual Property and is WS Accredited in Commercial Litigation.
She is described by her clients as a versatile and able civil litigator with strong advocacy, negotiating and drafting skills. Her experience covers a variety of legal areas, including intellectual property, technology, data protection, freedom of information and general commercial litigation.
Lynn undertakes both contentious and non-contentious intellectual property and technology work, advising clients on all aspects of IP transactions, licensing, protection, enforcement and commercialisation. She has worked on a number of high profile intellectual property disputes, both for and against major international companies.
Lynn also advises on data protection compliance, data breaches, claims and subject rights and advises on freedom of information matters for a variety of businesses and organisations in many sectors.
Lynn has regularly appeared in the sheriff court at first instance and on appeal, and in contentious matters before the UK trade mark tribunal. She also has significant experience in representing her clients at mediation and arbitration.
Dawn Robertson
Partner
Laura Salmond
Partner
An Accredited Specialist in Employment Law, Laura has specialised in employment law for over 19 years, she deals with all aspects of employment law, both contentious and non-contentious, and has a very loyal client following.
She advises on the full spectrum of employment issues arising in the workplace, including equality and diversity, redundancy, conduct, performance management, whistleblowing, ill health absences, flexible working and disciplinary and grievance matters. She also undertakes mediation, provides tailored employment documentation and advises on the enforceability of restrictive covenants and settlement agreements.
Laura has a wealth of experience advising a broad range of commercial and corporate clients, charities, employers in the education sector and senior executive employees on all aspects of the employment relationship. As well as advising clients on day-to-day employment issues, Laura is a trusted advisor for both new and long-established clients. Clients appreciate her commercial acumen combined with her friendly and approachable manner. She is described as someone who “approaches conflict with a calm demeanour and incisive wit” and as “someone who genuinely cares about the client and the case they are pursuing”.
Laura is particularly experienced in advising and representing trade union and federation members in a wide range of employment-related matters.
Laura represents both employees and employers at Employment Tribunals throughout Scotland and at the Employment Appeal Tribunal, she is therefore able to see a case from both sides and clients rate Laura’s ‘can do’ attitude.
Jane Steel
Partner
Jane has a very successful commercial property practice, acting for private investors, developers, landlords, tenants and funders with commercial property interests. She specialises in investment and retail matters, acting for numerous well known brands in relation to high street drive throughs and shopping centre deals, as well as all types of commercial property acquisitions and disposals.
Jennifer Stewart
Senior Associate
Jennifer has specialised in personal injury litigation since qualifying as a solicitor in 2004 and has over fifteen years of extensive experience in the field of industrial disease including noise induced hearing loss, hand arm vibration, silicosis and occupational asthma claims She has a range of experience dealing with the investigation of claims from the initial pre litigation stage to final conclusion either by negotiated settlement or by raising and handling court proceedings.
She has dealt primarily with asbestos related disease claims for the last eleven years acting for pursuers and defenders in actions raised in the Court of Session and Sheriff court which has given her an in depth knowledge of the issues that these types of cases involve. In particular, she has specialised in high value cases in which fatal injuries have been sustained.
Douglas Strang
Senior Associate
Douglas specialises in employment law, providing advice to both employers and employees on a range of contentious and non-contentious matters.
He has considerable experience in representing both Claimants and Respondents at Employment Tribunals all over Scotland and England, dealing with such subjects as unfair or constructive dismissal, redundancy, breach of contract, discrimination and harassment cases, employee status, retirement age, and unlawful deductions from wages. He has also represented clients before the Employment Appeal Tribunal.
Douglas is often called upon to draft and revise employment contracts, policies and procedures, and to advise a wide range of clients on many topics including disciplinary hearings and misconduct dismissals, redundancy dismissals, handling long-term sickness absences, altering terms of employment and the departures of senior executives. He advises many of the firm’s social housing clients and is very familiar with the particular rules and regulatory regime operating in this area.
He is heavily involved in providing support to BTO’s corporate and commercial departments in relation to the employment law aspects of the corporate transactions being carried out by these teams. He has a particular interest in the TUPE Regulations, advising in relation to the applicability of the Regulations at the time of the potential transfer, as well as handling numerous employment tribunal cases relating to the applicability of the Regulations, and a successful appearance at the Employment Appeal Tribunal in relation to the interpretation of the Regulations.
Douglas is an active participant in our Employment Law seminar programme.
Wendy Thomson
Partner
A Civil Solicitor Advocate with over 20 years’ experience of acting for Defenders in a wide range of insurance cases and for commercial and private clients in commercial and civil litigation. Acting predominantly as solicitor advocate for insurance clients for last 15 years. Personal injury practice includes a range of industrial disease cases as head of team as well as other employers’ liability cases, public liability cases and road traffic claims, including high value and fatal claims. Also has experience of cases in the Commercial court. Has acted for commercial and private clients in a wide range of commercial disputes and civil matters, including interdict and defamation cases. Wendy is one of the few Solicitor Advocates to appear regularly in the Court of Session. She conducts settlement negotiations and pre-trial meetings. Regularly instructed in cases against senior and junior counsel. Extensive knowledge of Court of Session practice and procedure and excellent reputation as an insurance litigator in the Court of Session.
Vikki Watt
Partner and Solicitor-Advocate
Vikki heads BTO’s top tier Health & Safety, Regulatory and Criminal defence practice. She is a Solicitor Advocate specialising in the defence of health and safety, environmental and white collar criminal prosecutions. With two decades at the top of her field, she is recognized for her accomplished advocacy skills by both clients and professional colleagues alike and combines a sharp analytical mind and empathetic approach. She acts for a number of high-profile Insurers, as well as individuals, SMEs and multinational companies.
Instructed regularly at the outset when a major incident or fatality occurs, Vikki has a wealth of experience in advising clients at all stages, ranging from strategic advice in the immediate aftermath of a serious incident to representation at interviews under caution and the conduct of Tribunals, Trials, Fatal Accident and Public Inquiries. This includes providing crisis management and reputational advice at all stages.
Vikki is the ‘go to’ Panel solicitor for a number of insurers, LAs, charities and construction companies in health and safety matters and regularly receives referral work from market leaders both north and south of the border.
Vikki's non-contentious work also sees her heavily involved in training for other lawyers and clients. She is a regular presenter on all aspects of health and safety law to bodies such as the MGAA, the Solicitors’ Group, Lloyds of London and provides bespoke training to her private clients.
Timothy Webster
Associate
Initially training and qualifying in Scotland, Tim worked for a large insurer defender firm in London and qualified to be admitted as a solicitor in England and Wales. His clients were several high profile insurance brands who instructed him in the defence of litigated personal injury and property damage claims. Tim has experience dealing with RTA, EL and PL cases across the County Courts in England. His caseload was largely Fast Track and Multi Track, with some Small Track. He would appear regularly in Case Management Conference Calls involving solicitors from either side and the Judge from the Court. Tim would also instruct Senior and Junior counsel on a regular basis for Trials and Paper Hearings where appropriate.
Now an Associate for BTO’s large insurance team, he defends claims for insurance clients, ranging from motor claims to employers’ liability and public liability claims. His portfolio of cases is equally split between claims raised in the Court of Session, claims raised in the All Scotland Personal Injury Court and Sheriff Courts across Scotland. Recent successes include the abandonment of a dog bite claim brought under The Animals (Scotland) Act 1987 and the abandonment of an alleged assault at work claim.
Claire White
Partner
Claire is a Partner in BTO’s Insurance team, and has over 20 years’ experience in Insurance litigation, acting for insurers and self-insured clients as Defenders in both the Court of Session and Sheriff Courts. Claire joined BTO in 2008 and has spent her entire career as a litigator instructed by many of the UK’s largest insurers.
Claire is vastly experienced in dealing with all types of EL, PL and complex Motor claims, including catastrophic injuries; product liability claims, particularly injuries arising out of allegedly defective medical devices; clinical negligence; Health & Safety prosecutions arising out of workplace injuries and fatalities; marine accidents; and claims arising out of large scale incidents such as water pollution and gas leaks. She also often advises insurers on policy issues.
Claire has a particular interest in claims where fraud is suspected, chronic pain, psychiatric injuries, and has also successfully defended a number of workplace stress / bullying claims.
Jennifer Whitelaw
Partner
Angus Wood
Partner
Scott Wyper
Partner