Dispute resolution for the public sector

Litigation specialists on your side

We have one of the largest teams of dispute resolution solicitors in Scotland. More than half of our solicitors are involved regularly in contentious work, giving us a breadth of litigation expertise which sets us apart.

Our team is renowned for the range and quality of its dispute resolution expertise and includes some of the country’s most talented disputes practitioners.

We represent clients in every sector, including having one of the leading Administrative and Public law practices in Scotland. We are known for our high-profile client base, including many of Scotland’s local authorities and many of the country’s major public sector bodies. We regularly advise clients in relation to statutory appeals and judicial reviews. We also provide regular advice to our public sector client base about how best to minimise the risk of judicial review at the decision-making stage.

We have one of the most prominent teams in the Commercial Court of the Court of Session and Sheriff Courts and have been involved in some of the most complex litigations in the Scottish Courts in recent years.

Our team has also represented our public sector clients at public inquiries and handled numerous cases that have seen appeals taken to the UK Supreme Court amid significant political, media and public interest. We have also successfully protected client confidentiality, political and reputational interests, through use of alternative dispute resolution processes, including adjudication, arbitration and mediation.

Our team of partners includes 13 partners ranked as leading individuals by the UK's leading legal directories Chambers UK and The Legal 500. We also have eight partners accredited as specialists in their disciplines by the Law Society of Scotland.

Contact us

0330 159 5555

Key contacts

Our approach & Key Services

When it comes to resolving disputes, we work in close partnership with you to understand what matters to you and how you would define success. Then we fight hard to help you achieve it.

Our team has a track record of out-thinking, out-manoeuvring and out-performing our opponents. We’re tenacious and our clients can trust that their lawyers are driven to deliver on their behalf. Astute strategic thinking, forensic attention to detail and real commercial insight are the cornerstones of our approach.

Our Partner-led team, headed by some of Scotland’s leading litigators, has strength in depth, providing commercially focused, pragmatic solutions, while our model ensures clients deal directly with a partner throughout, as a matter of course.

Our dispute resolution services recognise that our public sector clients are both decision-making bodies, which may be subject to statutory and public law challenges, and commercial entities, whose operations and contractual arrangements can become the subject of dispute.

Our experience spans both:

Statutory and Public Law Challenges:

  • Competition
  • Education
  • EU law and State Aid compliance
  • Judicial Review
  • Housing
  • Licensing
  • Planning and environmental
  • Procurement
  • Public inquiries
  • Regulatory issues
  • Social work

Commercial and civil disputes:

  • Contentious construction
  • Commercial litigation
  • Debt recovery
  • Insolvency
  • Intellectual property
  • Public liability & reparation
  • Property litigation

 

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