Katherine Metcalfe compares building safety regulations north and south of the border. The UK government announced last month that a new building safety regulator for England, under the auspices of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), will be formed as part of a package of measures to improve high
Pinsent Masons
Pinsent Masons has been crowned Scottish 'Diversity Champion' for a second year by equality campaign charity Stonewall. Construction sector specialist and senior associate Craig Macphee collected the award on behalf of colleagues at a celebration dinner at the Virgin Money Banking Hall in Glasgow la
Pinsent Masons has advised Aberdeen-based John Wood Group PLC on the sale of its industrial services business to KAEFER, a technical services provider, for $104 million (£80m) and a further payment of up to around $14m (10.8m) pending achievement of agreed financial goals. The divestment is an
It’s been a challenging start to 2020 for foreign exchange operator Travelex which became the latest global business to be targeted by a ransomware gang known as “Sodinokibi”, writes Ian Birdsey. Travelex, which has more than 1,200 branches and 1,000 ATMs spread over 70 countries,
Pinsent Masons has advised Tesco on a significant project to source electricity directly from Scottish renewables projects – the biggest of its type ever completed by a retailer in the UK. As a member of the RE100 group of companies, Tesco has made a commitment to source 100 per cent of electr
A leading property lawyer has been appointed head of Pinsent Masons’ Scottish and Northern Irish operations. Katharine Hardie takes over the role of chair of Scotland and Northern Ireland from Richard Masters, 29 years to the day since she joined the firm as a trainee lawyer in 1990. She will
Pinsent Masons has added a new perspective to its strategic decision making with the launch of the Spark Board. The aim of the Spark Board is to support an inclusive approach to strategic decision-making, ensuring the firm’s main board benefits from perspectives from outside the elected partne
The first recipient of a scholarship which commemorates the life and work of leading Scottish lawyer Kirk Murdoch has been named. Demi Scorfield, 20, a law student at the University of Edinburgh, will be supported throughout her third and fourth year undergraduate course and will be offered summer i
Rodney Whyte, partner and specialist in residential land development at Pinsent Masons, looks at how Scots law is holding back "later living" developments. There are almost 12 million people aged 65 and above in the UK, and that demographic is forecast to grow by an additional 8.6 million people ove
Pinsent Masons has seen a seven per cent rise in global turnover and a slump in profit per equity partner (PEP). Unaudited figures for the year to 30 April, show gross profit increased by 2.5 per cent to £192.4 million while PEP fell for the first time in six years by five per cent from £
Pinsent Masons has signed up to The Valuable 500 campaign which seeks to place disability inclusion on the board agenda of 500 global businesses. The Valuable 500, which was launched at the World Economic Forum's annual summit, urges global business leaders to become accountable for disabi
Jason Collins looks at efforts to ensure tech giants pay their taxes.HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) believes that US-based multinational businesses may have underpaid £4.6 billion of UK tax last year, up 35 per cent from £3.4bn in 2017.Figures obtained by Pinsent Masons show that HMRC w
Pinsent Masons has announced that four Scottish lawyers will be promoted to legal directors. Glasgow-based Susannah Donaldson, Elaine MacGregor and Katherine Metcalfe and Edinburgh colleague Pamela Gilmour make the step up from senior associate level.
A 50-strong team from legal firm Pinsent Masons’ Glasgow office raised approximately £11,000 on the Royal Bank of Scotland Kiltwalk. Lawyers and support staff were among 13,0000 Kiltwalkers who set off on a 23-mile trek from Glasgow Green and raised a cumulative £3.5 million which
Euan Smith, partner and corporate immigration specialist at Pinsent Masons, writes on a new Scottish-German initiative backed by the firm. The first Scottish-German Business Exchange Conference (SGBEC) was attended by high-profile business executives, civil servants and politicians and laid the foun