Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP

Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie is a full-service, independent Scottish law firm, with a history stretching back over 160 years. The firm has offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness, enabling clients to benefit from their teams of experts regardless of where they are based. The firm’s lawyers strive to be professional and commercially astute, as well as easy to deal with.

The firm: As a firm, Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie has a simple vision: to build long-term, rewarding relationships with our clients which are noticeably better than anything else on offer elsewhere. The firm constantly strives to attain that vision, meaning that everything is centred on the client.

The firm offers a full range of services to businesses and individuals. These services include angel investments, banking, biotechnology, charity, commercial dispute resolution, commercial property, debt collection, employment, family business, family law, franchising, intellectual property, mergers and acquisitions, private client, tax, wealth planning, and wills. The firm organises some services into cross-disciplinary sector groups, for energy and renewables, construction, agricultural and rural, telecoms, technology, and leisure and hospitality, ensuring an all-round service for clients in those sectors.

The firm values collegiality, offering a supportive environment for clients and staff. As a 164- year-old firm, custodianship of the firm’s clients and its heritage is very important, as are strong communication, offering a meaningful career-life balance, and being fully committed to what clients want to achieve.

Types of work undertaken: The firm offers €˜Law For Your Life, Law For Your Business, meaning that its services are offered to corporate entities and private clients.

For private clients: the team understands that planning for the future can be difficult, and is experienced in guiding families through challenging times. The private client team deals sensitively with personal tax planning and tax return issues, writing wills, putting powers of attorney in place, buying and selling houses, helping deal with the death or incapacity of a loved one, and administering finances through trusts. Most members of the private client team are members of the Society for Trust and Estate Practitioners, Ian Macdonald has written the chapter in PLC on Scottish private client law, and the team includes Susan Hoyle who is one of the foremost tax advisers in the country.

The firm’s wealth planning team offers independent financial advice, acting on behalf of individuals, trusts and charities, providing bespoke plans to help clients achieve their financial goals. The team works with clients to promote, protect and pass on their wealth, often helping clients manage their finances over many decades. Grant Johnston, Graham Murray and Ron Nicolson are all independent financial advisers. The firm also uses cutting-edge technology to research the market and communicate investment advice and regular reports to clients, employing highly experienced para-planners to deliver services in a very cost-effective way.

The family law team advises clients whenever matrimonial or other family issues arise, such as separation or divorce, cohabitation issues, pre-nuptial and post-nuptial agreements, care and custody of children, and the like. The firm’s focus on family businesses also means that it is aware of the pressures that being involved in a family business can have on underlying family relationships, and regularly advises clients on how to address those issues. Tom Quail is an accredited family law expert and mediator.

For businesses: the firm offers its business clients a full range of services across three main groupings. The commercial property team covers agriculture and rural property, and is very active in the leisure and hospitality sector. The team acts for a number of property portfolio owners with interests across the country, and many of the lawyers in the team are dual-qualified in English property law.

The corporate team includes M&A, family business advisory and corporate tax advice within its services, and focuses on helping start-up and entrepreneurial businesses get underway. The franchising team is recognised around the country as one of the best, and is one of the few Scottish members of the British Franchising Association. The firm acts for some of the largest angel investment syndicates in the country, and has acted in some of the most significant venture capital investments in recent times.

The dispute resolution team covers commercial and construction disputes. In addition, the team offers contentious and non-contentious employment advice and representation, and a cost-effective debt collection service.

Other offices: Edinburgh, Dunblane, Inverness