Our Public Sector team is one of Scotland’s leading practices, acting for a wide range of Scottish and UK public authorities as well as those in the private sector who interact with the public sector.
We provide clients with a full range of legal, regulatory, strategic and commercial advice, helping them to deliver services in an increasingly challenging environment.
Our in-depth understanding of the public sector gives us an unrivalled perspective and understanding of the key priorities for public authorities and what they need from their external legal advisers.
Clients include central Government departments, Government agencies, NDPBs, local authorities, regulatory bodies, charities and community organisations, further and higher education institutions, regeneration agencies and registered social landlords.
Why choose us?
As part of one of Scotland’s largest independent law firms, we provide solution driven, commercially focused and risk aware advice which enables public authorities to achieve their statutory and policy objectives in a compliant manner while at the same time achieving best value.
We have worked on many of the most complex, high profile and high value projects in the sector and have been responsible for development of innovative models for delivery of public services which have subsequently been adopted by the sector as a whole.
We deliver our advice on time and on budget and have extensive experience of working collaboratively with in-house legal and other specialist teams. In a spirit of genuine partnership many of our lawyers have worked in-house or on secondment to our clients.
Award-winning advice for Scotland's public sector "They are among the best in Scotland. They are well known in the sector and are one of the few firms doing work on alternative finance relationships." Chambers UK 2018
Contact us
Thank you for your enquiry. Someone from our team will be in touch with you in due course.
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Derek Hogg
Partner
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James McMorrow
Partner
Key services
- Competition law
- Data protection and FOI
- Dispute resolution
- Establishment of arms’ length vehicles
- Governance issues
- Innovative use of statutory powers
- Judicial review
- Outsourcing
- Planning and environmental
- Policy
- Procurement
- Public sector project work
- State aid
- Strategic partnering and joint venture arrangements
- Vires issues
Work examples
Public procurement
We advised on procurement of a £140m next generation broadband solution for the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, a project described by the Scottish Government as the most complex infrastructure project of its kind ever undertaken in the UK.
Judicial review
Members of our team have advised various local authorities in relation to the successful defence of judicial review challenges to Planning Committee decisions in respect of planning applications for retail, leisure, housing and renewable energy projects.
Joint venture shared services
We advised a non-departmental public body (NDPB) in relation to a multi-authority joint venture shared services and commercialisation project, which is the first project of its kind in the UK.
"They are among the best in Scotland. They are well known in the sector and are one of the few firms doing work on alternative finance relationships."
CHAMBERS UK 2018
Harper Macleod LLP’s "good and reliable" team "has considerate experience and knowledge" of handling judicial reviews and statutory appeals for public sector clients while also handling contentious and non-contentious planning law, housing law and procurement matters.
THE LEGAL 500 2018
Harper Macleod LLP’s "experienced and knowledgeable" team is well versed in handling state aid and public procurement work, the latter often pertaining to major events while also demonstrating significant expertise in defending local government clients in judicial review challenges.
THE LEGAL 500 2018
Meet the team
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You don't need a lawyer - not many law firms will tell you that. What you need is someone to provide a solution, and our advisors are dedicated and flexible enough to do just that.
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