Shepherd and Wedderburn had an extremely successful 2007/08, becoming increasingly international, achieving record income, completing high profile deals and attracting new blue chip clients while continuing to strengthen relationships with existing clients.

Some of the highlights from 2007/08 include:

• Year-on-year income growth of 14.2% over the last five years, achieved through organic growth and lateral hire.
• Due to the continuing success and expansion, Shepherd and Wedderburn is moving from its Edinburgh HQ at Saltire Court, to new offices at Exchange Crescent, Conference Square.
  
• Arrival of new partners, Juliet Haldane from Dundas & Wilson (Construction), Neil Rainey from K&L Gates (Property), Scott Boyle from Dundas & Wilson (Corporate Finance), Patricia Hawthorn from Pinsent Masons (Planning and Environment), Patrick Bell from McClure Naismith (Banking,) Andrew Blain from Dunedin Property (Corporate Finance), Stephen Miller (Pensions Tax and Trusts) from Brodies and Steven Turnbull (Corporate Finance) from Linklaters.
  
• Promotion of seven partners; Rodger Cairns (Employee Share Incentives), Paul Donald (Property), Danny Lee (Corporate Finance), Elizabeth McCandlish (Property), Kim Pattullo (Employment), Lynne Scott (Projects) and Michael Wylie (Corporate Finance).
  
• We moved our London operation in January 2007 to St Paul's Churchyard, a doubling of office space, in line with our continued growth across the UK.
  
• New client wins including; Sainsbury's, Beam Global Spirits & Wines, Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation, Water UK, Amazon.co.uk and Sun Microsystems.

People

We have continued to strengthen our position by adding to our team in a number of areas.

• Blair Adams joined the well established employment law team of Shepherd and Wedderburn as partner in the London office. He joined from O'Melveny & Myers, where he had worked since 2004 and where he established an employment practice in London. Blair has extensive expertise in employment litigation, both in the High Court and the Employment Tribunal, having advised employers from many different industry sectors in high-value cases involving, for example, bonus disputes, discrimination claims and injunction proceedings. He also has considerable experience of corporate transactions of all kinds, particularly those involving business transfers and the TUPE regulations. He advises on executive terminations and other day-to-day employment issues. His clients include Amazon.co.uk, ISIS EP LLP, Korn/Ferry International, Bear Stearns International and Wagerworks UK Limited.
  
• Patrick Bell joins as a partner in our Banking and Finance team. Patrick was the UK resident partner and head of finance at Linklaters' Warsaw office for four years until he returned to Scotland in 2005. He will join the highly experienced banking team whose specific expertise lies in the leveraged finance, capital markets and securitisation, real estate, energy and PFI arenas. In addition to mainstream banking work, Patrick provides project finance to practice areas across the firm.
  
• Andrew Blain left the firm in early 2006 to take up the role of corporate director with Dunedin Property, one of his clients. During his time at Dunedin, the Industrious business was acquired for £460 million from Brixton plc and Dunedin completed a £664 million refinancing and securitisation. Dunedin Property remains one of Andrew's key clients.  Andrew will, as part of his role as a corporate finance partner, lead the UK-wide development of the firm's corporate real estate practice, taking advantage of his in-depth knowledge of the real estate sector.
  
• Scott Boyle, previously with Dundas and Wilson joined as a partner in the Glasgow Corporate Finance team. He will also support the firm's fast-growing Aberdeen Corporate Finance team which focuses on the oil and gas sector. As well as considerable corporate finance experience, Scott has extensive experience of the PPP/PFI secondary buy-out market.
  
• Juliet Haldane was appointed as a partner based in the firm’s Glasgow office, advising clients in the successful construction and special projects division. She joined from D&W and her experience in schools PPP particularly complements the Shepherd and Wedderburn projects team’s experience.
  
• Patricia Hawthorn has a vast amount of experience in both the waste and renewable energy sector and has just completed six months working with one of the UK's leading renewables developers. She is also part of the Scottish Executive Committee of the Environment Services Association (heading up the Planning Working Group in Scotland) and a member of the bio-energy working group of the Scottish Renewable Forum. Patricia will join the pre-eminent planning and environmental team.
  
• Stephen Miller joined as a partner in our Pensions, Tax and Trusts Division. He specialises in corporate tax, advising on a wide range of tax matters including tax efficient disposals, acquisitions, mergers and reconstructions, VAT, stamp duties, property taxes and employee taxes. A graduate of Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities, Stephen is an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Taxation.
  
• Neil Rainey joined as a partner in the Property Division. He was previously a partner in K&L Gates' Estate Practice. Neil has broad-based experience of major property development work, investment acquisitions and sales, property finance and the property aspects of major corporate transactions. His recent work includes acting for a range of Northern Irish banks lending against the security of real estate situated in England and Wales. His expertise, especially in the English property market, will build on Shepherd and Wedderburn's growing property finance capability.
  
• Steven Turnbull joins the firm on 12 May 2008 as a partner in the Corporate Finance Division. He was previously a senior partner at Linklaters. One of the City's best-known corporate lawyers, Steven is "recommended" by PLC Which Lawyer? for Corporate, M&A and Corporate Governance. In addition to his role as a corporate partner at Shepherd and Wedderburn, Steven will be responsible for the development of Knowledge Management within the firm.
  
• Seven internal promotions to partner were made: Kim Pattullo (Employment), Michael Wylie (Corporate Finance), Elizabeth McCandlish (Property), Danny Lee (Corporate Finance), Paul Donald (Property), Rodger Cairns (Corporate Finance) and Lynne Scott (Projects).
  
• Nine assistants were promoted to associates in our Edinburgh, Glasgow and London offices, across several key divisions. Sarah Bond (Corporate Finance), Anna Ross (Projects), Jill Stevenson (Corporate Finance), Chris McGill (Pensions, Tax & Trusts), Julia Kennedy (Projects), Rhona Ledgerwood (Property), Morven Callum (Property), Omar Ali (Property) and Caroline Nicholson (Pensions, Tax & Trusts).
  
• The firm recruited new Marketing and Business Development Director, Mark Allatt. Mark was previously with Deloitte, where he was latterly Marketing and Business Development Director.
  
• We welcomed the arrival of 34 new trainees in September 2007.
  

The firm now employs over 70 partners.

Key Deals of 2007

Corporate Finance
The Corporate Finance Group completed an impressive £18.7 billion of deals in 2007/08; including Scotland's top three deals of 2007:

• the £11.6 billion Iberdrola take-over of ScottishPower where Shepherd and Wedderburn acted for ScottishPower in steering the scheme of arrangement effecting the take-over through courts.
• the US$6.3 billion India flotation of Cairn India where Shepherd and Wedderburn acted as global lead lawyers to Cairn Energy.
• acting as Scottish legal adviser for Indian giant, United Spirits Group, in its £595 million purchase of Whyte and Mackay. 

Property
Despite a challenging market, 2007/08 was another significant year of growth for the Property Group illustrated by:

• a total deal value of approx £2.6 billion in 2007.
• high profile client wins including Sainsbury's, Playgolf, Eurohypo AG, Goodman International, Lagan Homes Limited, Wreake Properties Limited, Miller Alba Limited, Miller Homes (West of Scotland), Biggart Baillie LLP, McGrigors LLP, Iberdrola Renewable Energies Limited, Sireo, SEPA (following successful re-tender).
• our involvement in some of the most significant property transactions of the year including G8, Quartermile Development, acquisition of the Forge Retail Park, financing Haymarket Goods Yard acquisition, Whyte and Mackay sale to UB Group.

Projects
In the course of the year our PPP Group closed five separate education PPP projects with a combined capital value in excess of £450 million.  The projects were for:

• Scottish Borders Council - January 2007.
• Dundee City Council - February 2007.
• The City of Edinburgh Council - April 2007.
• East Dunbartonshire Council – August 2007.
• West Lothian Council - August 2007.

Key highlights for the Construction Group have included:

• advising Gladedale Capital and Southside Capital on high-profile residential, commercial and retail development at the former Edinburgh Royal Infirmary site.
• advising ScottishPower Generation on the decommissioning and demolition of Inverkip Power Station.
• advising Caledonian Environmental Services on a significant PPP waste water treatment dispute.
• advising Airtricity in connection with its proposed 500-megawatt wind farm at Clyde.

Commercial
The Commercial Division, which encompasses Energy, Competition and Regulation and IP/IT had another successful year, cementing themselves as leaders in the market. Some highlights included:

• appointed to the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation of electricity, water and gas.
• advised the Water Industry Commission, the regulator of Scottish Water, on the introduction of a framework for competition in Scottish water and sewage markets –which will go live in April 2008.
• advised the Commission for Energy Regulation (CER) and the Northern Ireland Authority for Utilities Regulation (NIAUR) on significant aspects of the creation of a Single Electricity market for the whole island.
• completed a long-term Power Purchase Agreement between ScottishPower Renewable Energy Limited (SPREL) and ScottishPower Energy Retail Limited (SPERL) covering the output of an extensive portfolio of UK based renewable energy generating facilities. SPERL is a subsidiary of Iberdrola Renewables S.A. (the renewables business of Iberdrola) which is in the process of listing 20% of its share capital on the Spanish stock market. 
• acted for Pernod Ricard in a £20-25 million distribution deal with Wincanton covering the storage, shipping and delivery of all the Pernod Ricard brands in the UK.

Pensions Tax & Trusts
The Pensions team had a very successful year with numerous new client wins as well as being retained after a periodic full market tender by ScottishPower and AWG. The team acted on the following:

• advising to trustees of Grampian Food Group on successful admission of three final salary schemes to PPF assessment.
• advising ScottishPower on pensions aspects of Iberdrola takeover of ScottishPower (FTSE 100 takeover).
• advising Taylor Diecasting Group on finalisation of Regulator approved compromise agreement in respect of pension scheme.

Litigation
The Litigation Division, which encompasses 11 specialised practice areas (including Professional Discipline, Health & Safety and Clinical Negligence), acted on many high profile deals in 2007:

• acting for the Actuarial Profession in a high profile disciplinary prosecution in relation to the conduct of a pension scheme actuary in the context of a widely reported pension scheme collapse.
• acting on behalf of a medical practitioner, on the instruction of the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, in the first appeal to the Scottish Courts against a decision of the General Medical Council.
• continuing to act as sole external solicitors in Scotland for HM Revenue and Customs for all debt recovery work in relation to indirect taxes and in particular VAT.
• acting for a range of banking clients including HSBC Bank; HSBC Invoice Finance (UK); HBOS; Bank of Scotland and Clydesdale Bank in relation to both secured and unsecured commercial debt recovery.

Employment
The Employment Practice went from strength to strength in 2007/08, with highlights including:

• a significant influx of new clients and a growth in the Employment business of over 30%
• currently involved in Scotland's largest TUPE class action involving 1800 claims and a potential liability in excess of £8 million.
• conducting tribunal claims on behalf of the Department of Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (DBERR, formerly Dti) in respect of which decisions have significant financial implication.
• retained the legal work for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency following a competitive tender.
• continue to be involved in key HR projects for Scottish & Newcastle, Cairn Energy, the Water Industry Commission and Scottish Enterprise.
• involved in international work for Cairn Energy, Teesland, Ricardo, OKI Europe and Beam Global Spirits & Wine.

A Selection of New Clients

• Amazon.co.uk
• Beam Global Spirits & Wines
• British Venture Capital Association
• EEA Fund Management
• EWOS Pension Scheme
• Fidelity Investment Management
• Iberdrola Renewable Energies
• ISIS Equity Partners
• Law Society of Scotland
• Leaf Clean Energy
• Macdonald Hotels
• Michelin Tyres
• Nomura International
• Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation
• OBC Shipping
• Ofgem
• Playgolf holdings
• Reid Furniture
• RMJM Scotland
• Sainsbury's Supermarkets
• Sun Microsystems Inc
• Taylor Clark
• Town & County Motors
• Vector Aerospace Corporation
• Vision Express
• Water UK