Lawyers in Scotland

Anne Struckmeier

Anne is a Partner and head of Contentious Construction in Scotland. She specialises in construction and engineering disputes, with considerable experience in a number of sectors including PFI/PPP, energy, utility infrastructure, education, retail, health and safety, and disputes arising from waste management. She also has a contentious shipping practice, covering the full spectrum of disputes in the sector. Anne is experienced in the full range of dispute resolution forums, including mediation, adjudication, expert determination and court action. She is an accredited specialist in construction law with the Law Society of Scotland and dual-qualified in Scotland and England and Wales. She is also a solicitor advocate.

Addleshaw Goddard

Antony Craggs

Antony is a partner practising intellectual property, with a focus on patent litigation. He advises clients across a variety of industries, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, chemicals, electronics, mechanical products, fast moving consumer goods and retail. As a solicitor advocate, he has extensive experience of leading on disputes before the UK courts (including before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court, High Court, Patents Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court) and the UK intellectual property office. He also has experience managing multi-jurisdiction disputes (including the US, Canada, Germany, France, the European Patent Office and the European Intellectual Property Office). IAM Patent 1000 says of him: "The trailblazer is ... Antony Craggs, an 'extremely careful, knowledgeable and commercial solicitor" with a 'close eye for detail'. Immersing himself in life sciences, electronics and engineering, he is 'a pleasure to work with and will always go the extra mile to ensure the very best service'." Patents Finchimica v. Bayer: Advising on a claim for patent revocation in relation to the use of alkyl carbolic acid amides as pentration promoters before the Patents Court. Future Injection Technologies v. Owen Mumford: Advising on a claim for patent infringement in relation to an autoinjector before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Hycontrol v. Spirotech: Advising on a claim for patent infringement and a counterclaim for revocation in relation to the pressure sensors for silos before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Safeguard v. Wykamol: Advising on a claim for patent infringement in relation to waterproofing before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Seoul Semiconductor v. Everlight: Advising on a claim for patent revocation and a counterclaim for infringement in relation to light emitting diodes before the Patents Court. Sony Mobile Communications International v. SSH Communications Security Corporation: Advising on a claim for patent revocation and a counterclaim for infringement in relation to all of Sony's Xperia mobile telephones and tablets and the Playstation 4 before the Patents Court. Soluble Technology v. Britvic: Advising on a claim for patent infringement and a counterclaim for revocation in relation to the formulation of soft drinks before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Tangle Teezer v. GB Kent & Sons: Advising on a claim for patent infringement and a counterclaim for revocation and a declaration of non-infringement in relation to a patent for the ‘tangle teezer’ hairbrush before the Patents Court. Virgin Atlantic Airways v. Zodiac Aerospace: Advising on a claim for infringement of a patent and unregistered design right (and counterclaim for revocation) in relation to an aircraft seat before the High Court, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court. Co-ordinating the parallel litigation in the USA, Canada and India and the oppositions before the European Patent Office. Trademarks Acedes v Clive Sutton: Advising on a claim for trademark infringement and passing off in relation to the trademark COBRA by the use of the sign SHELBY COBRA before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Babble v. Babl: Advising on a claim for trademark infringement and passing off in relation to the trademark BABBLE by the use of the sign BABL before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Combe v. Dr Wolff: Advising on a claim for trademark infringement in relation to the VAGISIL trademark by the use of the sign VAGISAN before the High Court and Court of Appeal. easyGroup v. Easyvoyage: Advising on a claim for trademark infringement in relation to the EASY trademark by the use of the sign EASYVOYAGE before the High Court. Gnaw Chocolate v. Creative Nature: Advising on a claim for trademark infringement in relation to the GNAW trademark by the use of the sign GNAWBLES before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. MAG Kitchens & Bathrooms v The Radiator & Bathroom Gallery: Advising on a claim for passing off in relation to the use of a third party brand JUST LEFROY before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. NRG v Bertermann: Advising on a cancellation action in relation to MOUNTSON before the EU Intellectual Property Office (with parallel proceedings before the German Patent & Trademark Office). Professional Hair Products v. Beauty Logistics: Advising on a claim for trademark infringement in relation to the import and supply of allegedly counterfeit goods. Prysmian v. BICC Components: Advising on a claim for trademark infringement in relation to the manufacture and sale of cable accessories before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. 3M v. International Applications: Advising on a criminal investigation by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (including advising in an interview under caution) and the subsequent civil claim for trademark infringement in relation to the import and supply of allegedly counterfeit goods. Copyright experience Asiatic v Phoenox: Advising on a claim for infringement of copyright in relation to the design of a rug before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Chandler v Champion Records: Advising on a claim for a declaration regarding the ownership of recording, literary and musical copyright in recordings before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Codemasters v. Automobile Club de l’Ouest: Advising on a claim for breach of a copyright and trademark licence in relation to a computer game before the High Court. Future of Work v. CandidateX: Advising on a claim for infringement of copyright and a breach of confidential information and counterclaim for breach of contract in relation to a software application for recruitment before the High Court. Studio Graphene v. Frolo: Advising on a claim for infringement of copyright and counterclaim for breach of contract in relation to a social media application before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Victorian Plumbing v. Buy-it Direct: Advising on a claim for copyright infringement in relation to photographs used on a website before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court. Designs Core Products v. vidaXL: Advising on a claim for design right infringement in relation to furniture in the mid-century modern design. Exertis v. NRG: Advising on a claim for design right infringement in relation to accessories for Sonos® speakers before the High Court. Hi-Tech v. AC Cars: Advising on a cancellation action in relation to registered designs for the Cobra before the EU Intellectual Property Office and UK Intellectual Property Office. Shnuggle v. Munchkin: Advising on a claim for design right and registered Community design infringement in relation to a baby bath before the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court.

Shoosmiths

Argy Kemerlis

Argy is a technology and data protection lawyer in the Technology, Media and Telecoms practice, based in our Glasgow office. His main focus is on data protection, information technology and commercial matters. Drawing on his extensive in-house experience as a solicitor for a publicly-listed commercial Public Service Broadcaster, Argy has been advising confidently on intricate data privacy and technology projects, involving GDPR compliance, data processor engagement, adtech, cookie compliance, social media, direct marketing, measurement and attribution arrangements, international data transfers, SaaS and licensing arrangements. Argy has been commended for his ability to identify the impact a matter may have on the wider picture, considering every permutation.

Dentons

Barry Edgar

Barry is a partner in the Real Estate practice based in our Glasgow office having joined the firm in 2005. His varied workload encompasses a broad spectrum of commercial property work including investment acquisition and disposal, leasing on behalf of Landlords and Tenants, and development work for clients such as Hammerson, Aviva Investors, M&G Real Estate, Universities Superannuation Scheme Limited, London & Regional, Doosan Babcock, Scottish Enterprise and Glasgow Clyde College.

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Barry McKeown

Barry is Head of Glasgow office and a partner specialising in Real Estate. Barry is an experienced real estate lawyer who drives deals acting as project manager for multi-disciplinary teams of lawyers and other professionals delivering layered legal advice on transactions, acting as conduit for the client relationship regardless of the nature of the underlying core deal (ie corporate, funds, financing, tax etc). He has a broad spectrum of expertise in all areas of real estate work across the UK with particular focus on the commercial development and investment markets, residential development and housebuilding (including market leading work in the PRS and BTR sectors) and also renewable energy. He has acted for developers, landowners (both in the private and public sector), funders and investors with a key emphasis on complex development arrangements, including conditional contracts, option arrangements, joint ventures, leasing, property finance arrangements and lending, as well as tax efficient property structures and vehicles. In the PRS/BTR sectors he was the client partner working on the structuring and delivery of three core PRS funds including the launch of a PRS REIT which have delivered several thousand PRS units across the UK and each of which continue to roll out. His exposure to the energy sectors is across many of the core technology areas including onshore wind (both single turbine and large scale 100MW plus projects), solar PV, hydro, Energy from Waste and AD as well as biomass and biogas projects. Whilst out of the law for a period as a board director of a house builder, Barry was also responsible for that business' diversification into renewables and green energy projects including specifically AD and district heating systems relating to their housing projects. He has advised both project developers and landowners on the property aspects of projects as well as financing and exit from completed projects. He also has a particular specialism in Islamic financing and Sharia'h compliant structuring of real estate transactions across the UK acting for major Middle East based real estate developers, investors, UHNW individuals and family offices investing in UK property. Barry is head of Shoosmiths’ Glasgow office and responsible for the firm’s contribution to, and profile within, the city’s business community.

Shoosmiths

Ben Pariser

Ben is a Partner and has worked extensively for residential, commercial and mixed-use developers throughout his career, as well as a number of local authorities, regional development agencies and registered providers. Ben’s development project work includes the drafting and negotiation of multi-phase, multi-conditional development agreements, collaboration and joint venture agreements (including public/private JVs), remediation conditions, overage provisions, land assembly, asset management, acquisitions and disposals. He regularly advises on the contractual framework and heads of terms at the project outset, then drafts and negotiates the various agreements, incorporating all necessary outputs, milestones, key performance indicators, clawback, security, overage and step-in provisions. He is adept at anticipating, identifying and thereafter mitigating public law and other risk factors such as state aid, vires, best value, procurement and governance issues. Ben's recent projects have included: •Working on behalf of a consortium of PLC residential developer in the strategic acquisition of a 3,000 unit new urban extension; •Working on behalf of a consortium of PLC residential developer in the strategic acquisition of a site for a 1,000 unit new neighbourhood; •Working on behalf of a PLC residential developer and a registered provider in their joint venture acquisition of a complex brownfield regeneration site from the HCA; •Working on behalf of a residential developer on a number of equity and debt funded acquisitions of immediate land. Ben has also advised high-street lenders in development projects and investment transactions, and so, when acting for the borrower or public sector partner, is adept at identifying the bank's likely requirements. Ben's experience includes mixed use regeneration schemes, hotels, restaurants, leisure facilities, offices, warehouses, supermarkets, industrial units, motorway service stations, residential / affordable housing developments and educational establishments.

Shoosmiths

Ben Traynor

Ben is a Principal Associate in the Financial Services team. Ben specialises in B2B asset finance & leasing and has advised banks, finance providers, lessors, lessees, brokers and trade bodies in connection with a diverse range of matters including: General equipment leasing (operating and finance leases, short term and long term rental arrangements, hire purchase agreements, sale and lease/hire purchase back structures, asset refinancing, staged payment and pre-facility funding, and commercial loans). Contract hire and vehicle fleet funding arrangements. Sale, purchase and financing of receivables. Stocking finance. Block discounting. Introducer and broker arrangements & disclosed/undisclosed agency funding structures. Recent experience includes: Assisting a specialist asset-based lender in streamlining and updating their customer facing HP and lease documentation suite. Assisting multiple automotive financial service providers in establishing contract hire and contract purchase product offerings. Advising an electric vehicle provider in documenting the sale of contract receivables and related vehicles to a UK based specialised asset finance funder. Advising a UK finance provider in connection with its disclosed and undisclosed product offerings relating to vehicle financing. Assisting a finance provider in connection with the restructuring of its wholesale funding stocking facility.

Shoosmiths

Ben Zielinski

Ben is a Principal Associate commercial litigator, qualified in both England and Wales and Scotland, who advises a number of large businesses in relation to a variety of disputes, in particular complex contractual claims and IT related disputes. This includes acting for clients involved in litigation and other forms of dispute resolution as well as proactively advising on potentially contentious matters before a formal dispute arises. As well as having strong legal analytical skills, Ben takes a highly commercial approach to disputes, making sure he understands his client's objectives at the outset of each case, in order to determine a strategy to achieve the best possible result. He always fights tenaciously for his client’s interests. Recent matters that Ben has worked on include: representing an enterprise IT services company in a number of disputes with large customers. Notable cases include: two multi-million pound claims by public sector customers (an NHS Trust and a Government Department) for alleged serious service failures, which were both settled following mediation on commercial terms that minimised the client’s financial liability while preserving the relationships with the customers; a claim against a main contractor for failure to provide work pursuant to a sub-contract. The dispute was settled following mediation, with a substantial settlement sum being paid to the client; acting for a managed office space provider in a service charge dispute with a landlord, including taking an appeal to the Inner House of the Court of Session; defending an oil exploration company in a Commercial Court action raised by a joint venture partner, claiming that the client had forfeited its interest in the joint venture (a petroleum exploration and development licence). After defeating an application for summary judgment, a settlement was reached on commercial terms; representing a petroleum company in a claim against a contractor for damage to a large quantity of its product; acting for an energy sector client in a multi-million pound dispute regarding breach of confidence and infringement of database rights, culminating in a two-week trial in the High Court. Ben played a pivotal role in preparing the case for trial in only a few months, including coordinating a large electronic disclosure exercise, interviewing more than a dozen witnesses, instructing an expert forensic accountant and assisting Counsel before and during the trial.

Shoosmiths

Bill Fowler

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

Dentons

Bradley Roberts

Bradley is a Senior Associate in the Birmingham Real Estate Litigation team who qualified in March 2016, having joined Shoosmiths in January 2022. Bradley deals with a wide range of contentious property issues including lease renewals (both opposed and unopposed), break notices, dilapidations disputes, injunctions, arrears of rent and forfeiture proceedings, service charge disputes and enforcement of lease covenants. Bradley acts for a range of clients, but has a particular focus on the retail sector.

Shoosmiths

Brian Hutcheson

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

Dentons

Brian Moore

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

Dentons

Bruce Harvie

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Callum Swanson

Of Counsel

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Cara McGlynn

Senior Associate

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Carina Healy

Partner

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Carol Nisbet

Partner

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Caroline Gillespie

Partner - Family

Weightmans LLP

Carolyn Bowie

Carolyn is a key member of the firm's business immigration team. She has wide experience in professional legal services and has been a member of the team since January 2018. Carolyn’s experience of working in the field of immigration law allows her to advise a wide variety of clients – from FTSE 100 companies and multinational organisations to universities, the NHS and individuals – in relation to a full range of immigration issues, including: Sponsor Licence applications and compliance Skilled worker visas and extensions Global business mobility visas Visitor visas Student visas Creative worker visas Family member visa applications and extensions Applications for indefinite leave to remain (ILR) British citizenship Advice on recruiting non-UK Nationals European applications Right to work assistance General HR and recruitment advice Offering practical help in the face of complex Home Office rules, Carolyn assists clients to manage the risks involved with the sometimes inconsistent application of those rules. In addition to her legal qualifications, Carolyn has a First-Class Business Degree and her commercial experience puts her in the best position to work with her clients with the aim of achieving a positive outcome. Carolyn also works with employers on a range of HR and employment law issues. She is a member of the Immigration Law Practitioners Association (ILPA) and the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA). Her articles are regularly featured in well-known publications, such as The Scotsman newspaper, and on the firm’s media. Carolyn is interested in all areas of immigration, employment, and discrimination law. She is also one of the firm’s Diversity and Inclusion Champions and is a qualified mental health first aider - a testament to her passion for inclusivity.

Weightmans LLP

Carolyn Miller

I am a employment lawyer with a significant interest and expertise in workplace discrimination and equality. I also advise clients on large scale redundancies, disciplinary and grievance matters and HR issues. I am known for my no-nonsense approach and my advice is always practical and solution focused. I advise mostly on contentious issues but also have experience in non-contentious matters. I am involved in the delivery of training to clients throughout the UK and I recently joined forces with a cancer charity in Glasgow to deliver training to managers dealing with people returning to work after long term illness. I am also a qualified business coach and I enjoy the challenge of unlocking the potential of an individual and helping them focus on their career path.

Lewis Silkin

Carolyn Morgan

Partner - Litigation National

Weightmans LLP

Carrie Armstrong

Carrie is dual-qualified in Scotland, England and Wales, with specialisms including hotel and pub acquisitions and disposals, retail leasing and asset management for UK-wide national retailer clients, portfolio acquisitions and disposals for clients. She is also steadily growing her niche practice acting and advising on SIPP acquisitions and disposals for a number of prominent SIPP providers. She also specialises in property tax and advises in relation to both LBTT and SDLT.

Addleshaw Goddard

Caryn Miller

Partner and Managing Director for Asia and the Middle East

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Catriona Aldridge

Partner

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