HM Highlights

Harper Macleod LLP Harper Macleod LLP

Highlights

THE YEARLY PUBLICATION FROM HARPER MACLEOD LLP

featuring/ sustained growth People retention Public sector success energy & renewables opportunities

Contents/ 1 2 3 4 6 8 10 12 13 14 16 17 18 20 21

Welcome/ //financials at a glance Highlights summary/ HM People/ energy & renewables/ Public sector/ High growth businesses/ owner-managed businesses/ Insurance/ Drinks & Leisure/ retail/ Banks & financial/ Property & Construction/ sport/ Practice Groups/ HM Community/ our thanks/

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Welcome/

“We now stand at an exciting threshold. We have weathered the worst of the storm and emerged with greater strength. We’re recognised more clearly than ever as a fullservice law firm with distinctive attractions for our clients.”

Professor LorNe CrerAr Chairman

Our firm crossed an important watershed in the last 18 months. We can see this quite vividly now in three dramatic respects: • the determination with which we’ve all collectively measured-up to perhaps the worst trading conditions in our history • the positive way existing and new clients alike have responded to the businesslike execution of our legal work • the genuinely exciting new opportunities which have been crystallised in a marketplace disfigured by adversity.

These are the three decisive achievements to come out of the harsh challenges everyone has experienced since early 2008.

In that time, we’ve seen the impact of the recession on three particular business areas – Corporate, Real Estate and Private Client – producing a combined turnover reduction of some £1.4m.

But the really striking accomplishment has been to see this decline outstripped by turnover growth of £1.7m elsewhere as we systematically re-focused our business on areas of greatest opportunity – Insurance, Debt Recovery, Insolvency and Banking.

So, overall, while profitability fell with the loss of volume from the premium end of our market, turnover rose by almost 3%. That’s lower than the double-digit growth rates we’ve been consistently used to in previous years, but it still marks us as one of the very few general commercial law firms to have expanded at all in today’s declining market.

To exploit our immediate opportunities, we re-deployed and re-trained 20% of our non-partner fee earners.

Our people responded to this with great energy and creativity. We guaranteed no redundancies, short-time working or compulsory holidays. We retained all of our

talented people. We kept on all our qualifying trainees and committed ourselves to a new trainee contingent this year. We reinforced our investment in technology and rolled out HM Select, our key client management programme. Our vigorous management style has paid back: feedback from clients confirms that our approach to developing open and honest relationships works. It’s not complicated; it’s essential in enabling us to achieve the goals of our clients.

At a glance

We have sustained investment in staff and management systems so there’s greater resource to develop further areas of potential growth. This report reflects our sharpened strategic focus on our key strengths and most promising prospects – among high growth and owner-managed enterprises, for example, in the energy and renewables arena, in retail’s active franchising market and, of course, across the whole of the Public Sector.

BREAKDOWN

BY KEY SECTOR AS A PERCENTAGE OF THE FIRM’S TURNOVER

We now stand at an exciting threshold.

We have weathered the worst of the storm and emerged with greater strength. We’re recognised more clearly than ever as a fullservice law firm with distinctive attractions for our clients. Those benefits are now striking – a lean cost-base and very competitive fee regime, a highly efficient management and monitoring system, and real width and depth in the individual skill-sets of our people.

Our culture of excellence in the businesslike delivery of legal services and our can-do attitudes offer obvious advantages for clients who are themselves naturally scrutinising costs in these austere times.

TURNOVER TO 2010

£000’s

2007/12,200 2008/13,700 2009/14,100 2010/15,200 (PROJECTED)

%

PUBLIC SECTOR/

25

INSURANCE/

19

CONSTRUCTION & PROPERTY/

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29 LITIGATION/ 5 BANKS & FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS/ DRINKS & LEISURE/

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RETAIL/

4

ENERGY & RENEWABLES/

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SPORT/

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STAFF NUMBERS 2007/181 2008/207 2009/255

I see all of this as a more critical opportunity than we have ever experienced. It’s one we are determined not to squander.

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Highlights summary/ “We’ve kept all our talent over the last 18 months. one in five of our fee-earners has been re-trained and helped into practice areas where we’re confident we can gain market share.”

MArTIN DArroCH Chief executive

“We’ve kept every one of our top 30 clients, even through some rigorous re-tendering. And, although profitability is down, everything’s in place to regain the profit levels we had set for 2008. We’re coming straight back.”

“It’s been cathartic, but thoroughly worthwhile.

Our people have responded magnificently.

We’ve grown through a period of unprecedented market turmoil and come out a better-run business.”

GROWTH CONTINUES Our turnover grew by almost 3% to £14.1m.

We believe we are one of the few law firms in Scotland to have achieved any growth at all.

PEOPLE PRIORITIES We kept faith with our people – no redundancies or short-time working.

We redeployed and re-trained 20% of our staff, retained all our qualifying trainees and committed to our new trainee intake in September 2009.

CLIENTS RETAINED We have achieved 100% retention of our main clients, many of them after major public re-tendering exercises.

NEW CLIENTS WON We continue to win new clients, in the public sector – Scottish Government contracts, local authorities, RSLs and in the private sector, the Arcadia Group, NCP, Bradford & Bingley, to name a few.

INDUSTRY RECOGNITION The latest edition of The Legal 500 recommends us in 25 specialist areas – more than any other comparable firm of our size.

Our Corporate team, who also won Corporate Team of the Year (Law Awards of Scotland 2009), moves up in the rankings in Chambers UK 2010.

AWARDS & ACCOLADES These included the top award as the Best Managed Firm plus the People Management accolade in the European Practice Management Awards conferred by the Managing Partners’ Forum. Our Corporate Team picked up Corporate Firm of the Year at the Law Awards of Scotland 2009. Our IT Team was awarded Support Team of the Year at the 2009 Legal Awards.

TENDER SUCCESSES We achieved a 47% success rate with the tenders we submitted. This compares with our strategic objective to win not less than 25%.

INVESTMENT MAINTAINED We continued to invest in technology and increased floor space – the key to achieving the 4% growth we are targeting next year.

The year ahead/ The Crerar Review: the Scottish Government has adopted 42 of the 43 recommendations of the 2007 independent Review of Public Sector Agencies, chaired by HM’s Prof Lorne Crerar. The Public Sector Reform Bill, which becomes law early in 2010, streamlines the regulation and delivery of front-line services. It includes the creation of a Health Service Regulator, the amalgamation of the Care Commission and the Social Work Inspection Agency, and the creation of Scottish Housing Regulator.

Resolving differences: with mediation becoming an increasingly popular alternative to litigation to settle disputes, we’re developing a wholly new practice area to offer expert mediation services. It’s headed by Michael Nicholson who is an accredited mediator. We will offer to represent clients in mediations and, where appropriate, to act as mediators ourselves.

Civil justice reform: Lord Gill’s Review of Civil Justice in Scotland, proposes a radical shift of caseload from the Court of Session to the Sheriff Courts. The values of actions to be heard in the lower courts would be raised from £5,000 to £100,000. Consultations on the recommendations are under way and no timetable has been set for legislation.

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HM People/

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“We recognise that the need for information is urgent and perfectly legitimate. That means being totally transparent so that we can take everyone on this change journey and make it a success.”

“Our commitment to our people is part of our brand culture. And it’s not wholly philanthropic.

Losing people is like a death – you lose the skills, the value of their training and the business opportunities they bring.”

Our response to the turmoil in the marketplace in the last 18 months has been cathartic, but thoroughly worthwhile. Our people have responded magnificently. We’ve grown through a period of unprecedented market turmoil and come out a better-run business.

There are several measures of success here.

First, we not only retained all our talent, we actually increased our headcount by some 10% over the previous year. We kept our commitment to our eight new trainees and retained all of our newly-qualified solicitors.

I’d be astonished if any other professional services firm will have emulated that.

Second, we retrained 20% of our fee earners serving declining markets and equipped them to work in practice areas where we felt we could grow and gain market share. We asked people to be more fleet of foot and, in today’s

challenging conditions, they respected the request.

Third, precisely because of everyone’s heightened awareness of business vulnerabilities, we recognise that the need for information is urgent and perfectly legitimate.

That means being totally transparent so that we can take everyone on this change journey and make it a success. So, we engage with all staff monthly and provide a full briefing every six months.

The experience of the last 18 months has shown just how integral commitment to our people is to our long-term strategy. It’s part of our brand culture. Our internal employment brand, HM Choice, encapsulates our vision for our people – to be the Employer of Choice and Colleague of Choice. And it’s not wholly philanthropic. Losing people is like a death – you lose the skills, the value of their training and the business opportunities they bring.

We’ve been so encouraged to see this philosophy recognised in the two big European Practice Management Awards we won.

Against heavyweight competition – Ireland’s Arthur Cox, real estate giants CB Richard Ellis, accountants Grant Thornton and Tenon and big legal players Linklaters and Hammonds – we were voted Best Managed Firm. We also picked up the People Management Award and were runners-up in the Client Focus category.

Highlights/ Healthy workplace: we implemented over 38 campaigns this year, including, free fruit in all offices, participation in 10k runs and the Great Scottish Run, nutrition seminars, chiropractor visits and put in place Health & Safety improvements including mental health awareness seminars and a smoking cessation group.

HM Academy: we funded 17 employees to undertake further external qualifications.

Our in-house training programme has been expanded beyond technical legal training to incorporate personal skills training to ensure staff operate successfully within the firm, aligned to our core values.

High staff morale: employee surveys demonstrate high levels of staff morale, motivation and commitment, with 97% of respondents in our most recent survey wishing to continue to work at the firm a year from the survey date.

Low staff turnover: increased staff retention has led to a 42% reduction in recruitment spend on permanent staff in the last two years; reduced absences have cut our spend on temporary staff by 25% in the same period. Between 2005-09, we reduced staff turnover from 24% to 9% and between 2007-09 we cut absenteeism from 2.7 to 2.1 days/person.

This is 65% better than the average in Professional Services.

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energy & renewables/ “This is a key sector with immense potential. We already have a strong client base in this arena and a skill-set which provides us with a sound and promising platform.”

GrAeMe NIsBeT Head of real estate

“The Forestry Commission, whom we advise on all aspects of estate management, owns 9% of Scotland’s land mass, and is empowered to enter joint ventures to promote wind and hydro projects that will help combat climate change.”

Two strengths – our track record of experience in the sector and our geographic spread – combine to make Energy and Renewables an important marketplace for us, and one where we see long-term opportunities for sustained profitable growth.

European wind energy resource with much of this in the Highlands and Islands. (Source: HI - energy). Authoritative forecasts suggest that the renewables industry will outperform the North Sea oil and gas industry in its impact on Scottish economy.

Our own market research allied to the deep analysis of the Scottish Government and of organisations like the Scottish Council for Development and Industry identifies this as a key sector with immense potential for HM. We already have a strong client base in this arena and a skill-set which provides us with a sound and promising platform.

In the south of Scotland as well, we are already highly active on behalf of the Scottish & Southern power utility’s Greenock-based subsidiary Airtricity, one of the biggest wind-farm operators in the UK. We are in the process of triggering options for Airtricity’s Clyde wind-farm straddling M74 motorway.

That’s true both of our activity in the central belt, and increasingly in the Highlands and Islands which we service from our Inverness base. Some 25% of Europe’s tidal power and 10% of its wave energy is based in the north of Scotland. Further, Scotland as a whole accounts for 25% of the total

This exciting £480m project, covering some 47sq km of farmland between Biggar and Moffat, will eventually supply enough electricity for up to 200,000 households and is planned to be a major contributor to the UK Government’s targets of energy from renewable sources.

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When fully commissioned, it will be the biggest wind-farm in Europe.

Detailed work on complex projects like this reinforces the reputation we’ve already earned across a wide front – on local authority planning agreements, project funding, development options and contracts, as well as way-leave clearances with landowners.

And this experience is just as valuable, as well, to a variety of smaller wind-farm operators with unexploited land assets and with the ambition and capability to start with developments of, say, 5-10 turbines. We see some potential for this in the Borders, but think that the vast majority of these schemes is likely to be located in the Highlands in future years.

The Forestry Commission, whom we advise on all aspects of estate management, owns 9% of Scotland’s land mass and is empowered to enter joint ventures to promote wind and hydro projects which will help combat climate change.

In another energy field – opencast coal mining – we are long-standing advisers to two leading producers: Scottish Resources Group’s subsidiary, Scottish Coal, the UK’s largest surface producer, and ATH Resources, the UK’s third largest coal producer. We are retained to advise both companies in respect of their extraction and land remediation activities.

“We’re already highly active triggering options for Airtricity’s exciting £480m Clyde wind-farm which will be the biggest in Europe and a major contributor to the UK’s targets of energy from renewable sources.”

In both spheres of activity, many of the same issues arise – from planning consents to the management and compensation of local communities. These are all areas in which our expertise and our keen cost-base equip us to provide a comprehensive and highly competitive range of legal services.

“From planning consents to the management and compensation of local communities – these are all areas in which our expertise and our keen cost-base equip us to provide a comprehensive and highly competitive range of legal services.”

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Public sector/ “This is one of our major success stories. The Public sector now represents approaching a third of our business and it has provided us with one of our principal wellsprings of growth.”

Professor LorNe CrerAr Chairman

“Two factors have contributed to our success in the Public Sector. The first is the over-riding requirement for a highly efficient costmonitoring culture. The second is our partnerled approach which Public Sector agencies find ideal, allowing us to mirror their own ethos of excellence in public service delivery.”

The Public Sector is one of our major success stories. It now represents approaching a third of our business across many of our key Practice Groups. In the last 12-18 months it has provided us with one of our principal wellsprings of growth – turnover rose by more than 45% in the last year alone.

This hasn’t happened suddenly or by accident. It’s the result of a conscious strategic decision taken several years ago: as a Scottish-based firm serving the predominantly Scottish interests of local and UK-headquartered clients, we wanted our own business revenue streams more accurately to reflect the composition of the Scottish economy.

That meant equipping ourselves – our management disciplines, our cost effectiveness and our personal skill-sets – to drive systematically into a Public Sector with its own distinctive traditions of service, budgetary control and accountability.

Our sharper focus on winning contracted work in this sector is now bearing very significant fruit. It’s been propitious: it’s work that happens to be well suited to the

Our sharper focus on winning contracted work in this sector is now bearing very significant fruit.

challenging recessionary environment we’re now experiencing. Public Sector contracts mean much tighter margins, but the contracts tend to be guaranteed over periods that allow sensible planning and budgeting.

Two main factors have contributed to the success of our strategy in this sector. The first is the over-riding requirement for a highly efficient cost-monitoring culture.

We recognised this from the outset: it’s not possible to reconcile this kind of work profitably to the high cost-base of glamorous prestige premises.

Secondly, our partner-led approach is also ideal. Public Sector agencies expect their cases, for the most part, to be handled by one experienced lawyer. We don’t field teams of 5-6 assistants to do the work and a partner to manage the team. That highly-leveraged approach to law has just too much inertia built into it, we believe. It’s never been our approach and it’s certainly an extravagance that public sector contracts won’t tolerate.

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“We’re now one of the dominant Scottish firms in social housing, a field experiencing largescale growth as the Government allocates additional funds to help people to convert from mortgages to housing associations.”

Our business is embedded in all the main strata of the Public Sector – Central Government, Non-Departmental Public Agencies, Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords.

We have also been retained to advise on all the Scottish Government’s housing policy work. We’re now one of the dominant Scottish firms in a field experiencing large-sale growth as the Government has allocated additional funds into social housing assistance, helping people to convert from mortgage to Registered Social Landlords (RSLs) or housing associations.

And here our team is being considerably strengthened by the arrival of a new partner, Derek Hogg, one of the most recognised and acclaimed practitioners in social housing in Scotland.

Overall, our work fell into these main categories:

Government Framework Non-departmental bodies: • Child Support Agency in Scotland.

• The Forestry Commission in Scotland.

• Department for Work & Pensions.

• Scottish Water.

Housing Associations: We were appointed to West of Scotland Housing Association and River Clyde Homes during the last year, both very significant new clients.

Local Authorities: We secured appointments to Glasgow City, North Lanarkshire and City of Edinburgh Councils.

Our knowledge of the public sector has been significantly enhanced by the work of Professor Crerar in the Crerar Review.

The Scottish Government has adopted 42 of the 43 recommendations of the 2007 independent Review of Public Sector agencies, chaired by HM’s Prof Lorne Crerar. The Public Sector Reform Bill, which becomes law early in 2010, streamlines the regulation and delivery of front-line services.

Most recently, we won a contract from the Scottish Government for all of its commercial and contract work, an incredibly important strategic success. And we’ve seen a huge increase in estate management work volumes from the Forestry Commission following our tender success at the tail end of 2008.

“We had an incredibly important strategic success with a contract from the Scottish Government for all its commercial and contract work. We have also seen a huge increase the Forestry Commission’s estate management work.”

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High growth businesses/ “There’s been a sea-change in our strategy, and it has transformed the outlook in an otherwise challenging environment. We’re now focused on our true strengths in the high growth arena and among ownermanaged businesses.”

DoNNIe MUNro Head of Corporate & Commercial

Highlights/ Significant corporate instructions this year included: Tech 21 Ltd: a software technology start up, sold for around £5m.

Keypoint Technologies (UK) Ltd: we have acted for this software company for over five years. We have been responsible for four fundraising rounds totalling investment in excess of £7m.

PWB Health Ltd: we advised this high growth start-up company on four further fund-raising rounds during 2009 – taking the total number of rounds on which we’ve advised to eight since 2007, when the company was launched.

PWB Health’s innovative “Breastlight” device enables individuals to see inside their breasts and check for breast cancer.

The company has received funding from Longbow Capital LLP, a leading investor in the healthcare, wellbeing and life sciences sector, Scottish Enterprise, as part of the development agency’s strategy to encourage entrepreneurial innovation, and Kelvin Capital Ltd, a new angel syndicate based in the West of Scotland.

“We’re winning a growing volume of instructions to advise spin-outs from Scottish universities on the corporate and intellectual property aspects of their science and technology-driven businesses.”

The steep decline in conventional corporate business which everyone has experienced in the 2008-09 recession, has produced one important strategic benefit for HM: it has valuably crystallised the analysis we undertook two years ago of our core markets.

That analysis established our true strengths and opportunities in two distinctive segments – in the high growth arena acting for both investees and investors; and among familyowned and owner-managed businesses.

This focus has produced a sea-change in our approach, and it has transformed the outlook in an otherwise challenging environment. We’re positive and bullish about future prospects.

What we’re now seeing in the Scottish market is a shift away from the funding of high growth enterprises by venture capital houses. With the exception of North Sea oil and gas related deals where VCs are still active, the high growth market is now much more typically funded by a mix of angel syndicates, family houses with capital to invest, and Public Sector funds now much more tightly targeted on promising projects.

The angel and family syndicates with whom we’re now increasingly working tend to be

investing selectively, deal-by-deal rather than through portfolio investment funds. As a matter of fact, Scotland nowadays has one of the most active angel networks in Europe.

And this activity is now coupled with a selective expansion of Public Sector engagement in business. Scottish Enterprise and its award winning Co-Investment Fund, for example, has been incredibly successful. Similarly, in the Highlands and Islands, we act for HIE which is, amongst other things, encouraging co-operative ownership of businesses.

These Public Sector investors are themselves now altering their strategies to focus much more on larger but very specific capital support for business projects with real potential to achieve scale-change.

And the combination of private syndicates and targeted public finance is often producing exciting results. More than 100 individual investors, for instance, are involved in PWB Health project (see Highlights) for which we’ve handled some eight rounds of funding. Its device for early detection of breast abnormalities is now being rolled out in the UK and Canada.

That business was launched by Wideblue, the Polaroid R&D spin-out, for whom we also act. They’ve been incredibly successful at taking the innovative products of business start-ups through to market. In addition, we’re advising a growing number of spinout companies from Scottish universities including Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt, on all aspects of establishing and developing an intellectual property driven, high-tech business.

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owner-managed businesses/ “As we emerge from recession, our experience and adaptability mean we’re excellently placed to assist our family-run and owner-managed business clients confront today’s challenges and exploit tomorrow’s opportunities.”

The parallel strand of our corporate strategy builds on our long heritage of service to a valued clientele of family-run and ownermanaged enterprises. In our own 21-year journey, we have developed steadfast, long-standing relationships with some of Scotland’s most impressive entrepreneurs.

Among them are, companies like Invernessbased Tulloch Group, and the European eye and healthcare specialists, Optical Express, headquartered in Cumbernauld – both ranked among Scotland’s top 50 private businesses.

We know that, for many of our client businesses, one of today’s really critical challenges is likely to concern bank funding.

A commonplace of the recession is simply that debt funding is just not flowing. Even for those with bank facilities in place, getting them renewed can turn into something of a marathon.

In many instances, what we’re seeing is not client businesses with inherent weaknesses, but excellent enterprises made potentially vulnerable by the absence or cost of banking facilities to finance their day-to-day operational needs.

This is where our own business experience and our knowledge gleaned from extensive banking relationships can assist. Clients appreciate our proactive approach to complex business issues. We like to immerse ourselves in the businesses we advise. Ours is a commitment to get right under the skin of our clients’ enterprises.

That’s certainly what clients tell us: that we bring a combination of individual flair and powerful teamwork. The Chambers UK 2009 evaluation of leading law practices, for example, speaks of our “highly proactive and commercially minded” corporate team and our “attractive” price structure. It points to our depth of knowledge and consistency and reports clients’ praise for our “agile thinking”, our “broad understanding of all areas of business law and highly detailed knowledge of financial services regulations”.

For the family-run and owner-managed businesses we advise, these are attributes of singular value in the challenging times ahead. As we emerge from recession and client businesses seek to exploit increasing marketplace opportunities, we see a move back to the more traditional – and often more complex – models of debt and equity financing in place of the leveraged debt techniques of recent years.

Our experience and adaptability means we are excellently placed to assist our clients confront today’s challenges and exploit tomorrow’s opportunities. Indeed, our record in this respect is one of the reasons we were awarded Corporate Law Firm of the Year in the 2009 Scottish Legal Awards.

“Clients appreciate our proactive approach to complex business issues.

We like to immerse ourselves in the businesses we advise. ours is a commitment to get right under the skin of our clients’ enterprises.”

Highlights/ Tulloch Ltd: we have acted as legal adviser to the Tulloch group of companies for over 15 years advising on all their corporate requirements. Most recently we have completed a refinancing agreement with Bank of Scotland to extend the group’s banking facilities through to the end of December 2012.

Optical Express Ltd: we have acted as legal adviser to the Optical Express group, one of Europe’s leaders in selected eye-care services, for over 12 years.

We have been involved in a wide range of activities for them such as acquisitions both in the UK and across the world, banking arrangements and joint ventures.

Recruitment of David Kaye: as part of our strategy for family owned/ownermanaged businesses, we recruited David Kaye early in 2009. David is a franchise specialist and an affiliate member of the British Franchise Association and its legal adviser.

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Insurance/ “our growth has much to do with our own approach.

Clients know the emphasis we put on the training of our legal and non-legal staff to extend their knowledge and responsibilities.” eLIZABeTH MITCHeLL Head of Insurance & reparation Our 35-strong team has seen our caseload increase in virtually all sectors of the defender (about 900 cases last year) and pursuer (some 5,000 cases) claims markets which we service.

With the emergence of legal expenses insurance, the variety of claims is widening, too: as insurers cover not just road traffic cases, but also employment claims, neighbour disputes and contractual and consumer issues. We’ve even become quite experienced in pet related matters!

People are also becoming more rightsaware and litigious. That’s partly about the recession – some, who wouldn’t normally have bothered to claim, are now more inclined to in today’s tougher conditions.

But our growth has as much to do with our own approach to the business. Clients know the emphasis we put on the training of our legal and non-legal staff to extend their knowledge and responsibilities. And they appreciate our focus on client care with streamlined procedures and our bespoke referral systems.

“We focus on client care.

As our work volume has grown, we’ve reduced our individual caseloads.

This means our team members can pay more attention to each client.”

Insurance work is now the firm’s second largest growth area after our Public Sector caseload. Our work has expanded both for claimants and defendants so that our teams now account for approaching a fifth of the HM business and we’ve seen revenue rise by some 26% in the last year alone.

A significant contributor to this, of course, has been our longest-standing client, RBS Insurance Group with its leading Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege brands. We’ve maintained a very close working relationship with RBS Insurance for more than a dozen years. And we’re now delighted that Bell Insurance, Acromas Insurance (formerly Saga) and HSBC Insurance have joined our stable.

We’re careful to manage clients’ expectations so that they’re realistic about likely settlements and timescales. And, as our work volume has grown, we have reduced our individual caseloads. Each person deals with a maximum of about 180 cases, compared with up to 400 in other firms.

This means that our team members can pay more attention to each client. We guarantee, for instance, that we’ll contact clients at least every 21 days. Even just a phone call, a letter or a text can be reassuring.

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OUR PURSUER TEAM We’re a major presence in the Scottish legal market for Pursuer personal injury work and, in the last year, recovered damages of £6.25m for clients, a significant increase on previous years.

We’ve been re-appointed for two years to handle claims on behalf of policyholders of RBS Insurance Group, the UK’s largest private motor insurer. Our cases ranged from low value claims for minor out-of-pocket losses to catastrophic injuries and multiple heads of claim.

We have also recently been appointed by Acromas Insurance (formerly Saga) and RBS Insurance to advise on general home legal expenses claims resulting in the expansion of our team in this area (see Highlights).

OUR DEFENDER TEAM We have enhanced our reputation as a specialist provider of advice on defender claims. This involves the assessment of both fault and value, negotiation and resolution by litigation if required. Assessment of valuation includes arranging surveillance, instructing medical experts and investigating non-injury heads of claim such as loss of employability and pension loss.

Our expertise means we’ve continued to be retained as principal Scottish panel member and legal advisor to all RBS underwritten insurers. This year, the number of instructions received from RBS Group to defend court proceedings grew by 20%.

We received a significant and growing volume of instructions from Acromas Insurance and the Admiral Group.

We continue to act for the Department of Work & Pensions, which we have represented since 2005, defending both public liability and employer’s liability claims.

“We’re a major presence in the Scottish legal market for pursuer personal injury work. And we have enhanced our reputation as a specialist provider of advice on defended claims.”

Highlights/ Expanded teams: we appointed two more Assistant Solicitors, two trainees and four new Paralegals to our Pursuer Team in the last year. Our Partner-led philosophy means clients receive advice from experienced practitioners and each case is given specialist attention.

Our Home Legal Insurance team has grown with the appointment of Solicitor, Fiona Robertson. The Head Partner for this team, Douglas Cowan, was accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a Specialist in personal injury law.

More court work: increased court appearances for our Defender Team led us to appoint Ruth Richardson, Amy Devlin and Kirsten Morrison as Assistant Solicitors.

“Mock Proof” training: we developed our unique “Mock Proof” training programme which reproduces a court hearing from start to finish, including examination of witnesses and making submissions. We have presented this to clients in their own premises in Glasgow and Edinburgh – with positive feedback and requests for further similar training.

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Drinks & Leisure/ “The diversity of our clients is reflected in their rollercoaster experiences in the last 18 months.

That requires an unusual width and sensitivity of legal experience and business knowledge which we’re perfectly fitted to provide.”

ANDreW HUNTer Partner Licensing & Leisure

We have a stellar client portfolio in this sector. Indeed, the outstanding characteristic of the HM brand itself is the sheer strength and quality of the client brands we represent.

IN DrINKs: • InBev UK, owner of Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck’s • Constellation, the leading producer of premium wines in the world • Molson Coors Brewing Company, one of the world’s largest brewers • Belhaven, Scotland’s unique brewery IN LeIsUre: • Luminar, the UK’s largest operator of licensed late-night venues • Punch Taverns, the pub leader with 7,600 establishments • S&N Pub Enterprises with over 2,000 pubs partnerships • William Hill, Europe’s top gaming and sports betting business

Some, like S&N and Punch Taverns, have performed better than the market expected. Others have experienced a heavy attrition among tenants in a sector that’s seen pubs closing at about ten a week. The result is a continued rationalisation of pub estates with a priority on cost containment.

There’s lingering uncertainty, too, about the operation of the 2005 Licensing Scotland Act which took full effect in September.

It generated substantial re-licensing work and is likely to precipitate further challenges. We acted for BP, for instance, in the case it won when Edinburgh and Glasgow Licensing Boards challenged the right of its filling stations to sell alcohol.

That’s symptomatic of the way the trade is being buffeted by the politics of ‘binge’ drinking – the pressure to limit off-trade supermarket discounting and on-trade promotional ‘happy hours’ plus the emerging agenda on minimum pricing.

On the other hand, rural hotels have done surprisingly well. Turnover has never been higher as more people take domestic holidays instead of travelling abroad. But this buoyancy hasn’t helped hotel transactions. The credit crunch has depressed hotel values and, even though banks are lending again, wouldbe purchasers are struggling to cover the severely reduced loan-to-value now required for bank facilities.

It’s a portfolio whose diversity is reflected in its rollercoaster experiences in the last 18 months. And that, in turn, has required an unusual width and sensitivity of legal experience and business knowledge which our track record perfectly fits us to provide.

The pub sector has been a battlefield.

Operators who managed the challenge of the smoking ban by refocusing on food, have since seen margins under greater pressure as recessionary leisure spending has been curtailed.

“We have a stellar client portfolio in this sector. The outstanding characteristic of the HM brand itself is the sheer strength and quality of the client brands we represent.”

LArGesT sCoTTIsH DeAL: We acted for InBev UK Ltd on the sale of Tennent Caledonian Breweries’ interests in Scotland and Ireland to C&C Group plc, owners of Magner. The transaction was worth some £180m, one of the largest transactions of its type in Scotland in the past year. We continue to act in relation to lending and secured recoveries for the new Tennent Caledonian Breweries UK Ltd.

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retail/

“our opportunities are not just domestic. What’s particularly exciting is the international dimension.

We’re developing relationships with a growing number of UK and scottish-based franchisors keen to develop their brands abroad.”

DAVID KAYe Partner retail

“Our ambition is to become Scotland’s premier retail service firm and to drive forward growth opportunities we have identified in a sector with unexpectedly impressive resilience.”

Earlier this year, we launched HM’s specialist Retail Practice Group under David Kaye, one of Scotland’s leading retail and franchising lawyers. The initiative crystallizes our ambition to become Scotland’s premier retail service firm and to drive forward growth opportunities we have identified.

Our experience in retail is proving counterintuitive: headline failures like the Woolworth, Coffee Republic and O’Brien chains have made the sector look more depressed than anything we’ve actually been finding on the ground ourselves.

Although our revenue from retail-related business has declined, that’s largely attributable the completion of an exceptional one-off contract with William Hill in 2008.

Discounting that distortion, it’s clear we have maintained our market share in the tough conditions of 2009.

Elsewhere, we have seen an unexpectedly impressive resilience in the sector. There are two reasons for this. One is our decision to sharpen our focus on retail. We’re now

marketing a comprehensive portfolio of skills in areas of law – employment contracts, import-export facilities, property and planning, funding requirements, intellectual property and trademark issues – in which retail players need our width of specialised expertise.

The second reason for genuine excitement is our vigorous pursuit of the opportunities we see in brand franchising activity. This is a segment in which the recession, paradoxically, has widened the scope for potential business. The banks are now lending more to franchise propositions, on the back of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme offering a government guarantee for 80% of what they lend. And applications are taking a lot less time to process. We’re finding this an attractive halfway house for a number of jobless people with business ambition. Conversely, it’s also arousing increasing interest among larger brandowning companies who find it difficult to raise conventional growth funding in the current environment and are looking at franchising as a viable route to expand their businesses.

Highlights/ Retail leader: in a rare lateral hire, David Kaye joined HM from Bell & Scott as a partner in the Corporate Department to lead the promotion and expansion of our specialist Retail Practice Group. David has extensive experience in franchising, corporate and related business law services.

He ran the niche Clairmonts practice for over 20 years, worked with Sir Tom Hunter when he was building his Sports Division chain, and served on the board of the What Everyone Wants chain.

Arcadia success: we acquired a major new client, Sir Philip Green’s Arcadia Group, owner of leading international brands such as Topshop, Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Evans, Burton, Miss Selfridge, Outfit and Topman.

And the opportunities are not just domestic.

What is particularly interesting is the international dimension. We are developing relationships with a growing number of UK and Scottish-based franchisors who are keen to develop their brand abroad. The Middle East is one increasingly popular destination, and Europe is another. We’re also targeting foreign brands planning to enter the UK market through franchise operations.

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Banks & financial/ “Today’s severe recessionary conditions have themselves generated significant areas of legal business growth.

Asset recovery has become a priority for banking and other clients.”

Professor LorNe CrerAr senior Banking Partner

“Clients have turned to us increasingly not just for operational legal advice, but also for our interpretation of how to respond sensitively and flexibly in managing their risks. One major client told us our management system was one of the best they’d seen in western Europe.”

The unprecedented turmoil in this sector, as the post-Lehmans world crisis in banking and financial services intensified, has had a major and predictable impact on our own business in this important arena. Bankrelated instructions and deal flows have decreased sharply and, as a result, there’s been a significant decline in fees in a sector that now represents about 5% of HM’s total revenue.

All the same, we’ve benefited to some small degree from the structure of our banking client portfolio. Historically, our principal relationships, for instance, have been with banks which have been among the stronger performers through the financial storm.

Our own reputation, too, has been systematically strengthened in this specialist marketplace over the years. We are known for our expertise in pure banking law, providing in-house advice to secondary banks and financial institutions, and in the creation of securities in lending transactions.

clients a seamless and cost effective service.

And we have similarly developed bespoke case management software to carry out bulk re-mortgage legal work.

In the last 18 months, too, we’ve registered important tender successes. We have been retained by Bradford & Bingley Building Society. And we have been appointed to the panel of advisers of HSBC plc, which now ranks among our top 35 clients.

The Child Support Agency, for instance, has wanted our assessment of how recessioninduced job losses are likely to impact on default rates in both maintenance payments and housing. In the drinks and leisure sector, we’ve been asked to pin-point geographical risks for one major client who told us our management system was one of the best they’d seen in western Europe.

Moreover, today’s severe recessionary conditions have themselves generated significant areas of legal business growth.

Asset recovery, for instance, has become a priority for banking and other clients (see also page opposite). Our tailor-made recoveries IT packages have been developed to give bank

One pleasing aspect of this growth is how much of it has been due to client appreciation of our specialist knowledge and management systems. They’ve turned to us increasingly not just for operational legal advice, but also for our interpretation of where their risks lie and how to respond sensitively and flexibly in managing those risks.

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Highlights/ Unparalleled experience: we were reappointed as one of two advisors to the Accountant in Bankruptcy. We have advised the AiB since 2005 and our renewed appointment reflects our quality of service and unparalleled level of experience of advising on postsequestration issues.

Tender successes: our growing strength showed in this year’s striking success with numerous highly competitive tenders, which include: National Australia Group europe – appointment to the bank’s legal panel for secured and unsecured recoveries.

“We have created a dedicated Corporate Banking team to extend the scope and calibre of the acquisition, sale and refinancing work we handle.”

During 2008, we acted for banks and building societies in respect of transactions valued at over £474m, and for housing associations in respect of transactions valued at more than £236m.

Our teams dealing with commodities re-mortgage and secured recoveries have made this important portfolio of multimatter transactional work one of the firm’s star performers. In the past year, secured recoveries have become a notable growth area, particularly in respect of recovery of property as asset values have fallen and levels of repossessions have risen.

In current market conditions, increased consumer debt and the sale of debt have become increasingly common as debt recovery has itself become harder. We have also seen a marked increase in instructions from credit management companies operating in this sector.

We have also received more instructions from English agents to advise on the Scottish end of insolvencies, administrations and restructurings.

Our experience of advising the Accountant in Bankruptcy since 2005 gives our firm a unique insight and understanding of the administration of personal bankruptcy and corporate insolvencies in Scotland.

This area has also become increasingly litigious, with what appears to be a growing “blame culture” in the market with funders assessing and scrutinising the advice given by other professionals.

We restructured our Banking & Finance Practice Group to include a Property Finance team dealing with both Scottish and English property transactions. We continue to maintain our strength in social housing finance and this will be further strengthened with the arrival of new Partner, Derek Hogg.

We have also created a dedicated Corporate Banking team to extend the scope and calibre of the acquisition, sale and refinancing work we handle.

Bradford & Bingley – retained for mortgage arrears recovery work.

Lloyds TsB Group – reappointed to the UK Retail Banking Panel and appointed to the legal Panel for Lloyds TSB Scotland Corporate.

HsBC – appointed to the bank’s Scottish legal panel undertaking work for personal financial services, consumer finance, commercial banking and private banking groups. scottish Government – appointed by the Housing and Investment Division (HID) of the Housing and Regeneration Directorate as sole adviser in the provision of conveyancing services under the Government’s recently announced Mortgage to Rent and Shared Equity schemes.

Highlands and Islands enterprise – appointed to undertake a variety of functions, including grant and loan work.

“one of the firm’s star performances has been provided by our teams dealing with commodities, re-mortgage and secured recoveries – a critical portfolio of multi-matter transactional work.”

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Property & Construction/ Highlights/ Boutique hotel: through HM Corporate Solutions, Ramsay Duff brokered the £11.5m investment to develop a boutique hotel in the heart of Glasgow’s International Financial Services District.

It took us about three weeks to arrange funding with the Co-operative Bank and some £5m of equity raised from high net worth individuals through Ramsay’s Glasgow Indigo Hotel Partnership. The project, says Ramsay, “will transform a slightly sad former Victorian office building into an upmarket, funky boutique hotel” with 96 bedrooms, a restaurant and bar.

First “6-star” hotel: we act for Progress Property Developments which leads a consortium developing Scotland’s first “6-star” international luxury business hotel with the Dubaibased Jumeirah Group. The 25-storey super deluxe Jumeirah Glasgow Hotel, the fifth in Europe, will open in 2011 with 160 guest suites, extensive business and conference amenities, a 630-seat ballroom and dedicated club lounge.

“One of the most encouraging factors for us is the sheer strength of our presence in the Public Sector.

This has positioned us advantageously as the Scottish Government has brought forward projects slated for 2011-12.”

We have made determined progress in the face of a severe downturn that’s been everyone’s experience in real estate since the spring of 2008. Few thought the recession would drive so deep; few expected it to last so long.

Falling prices inevitably jeopardised the loan-to-value covenants of some companies.

At its nadir, construction slowed or halted across a wide front as developers – particularly in housing – mothballed projects.

As a result, we’ve seen a rise in litigations as guarantees are challenged and companies, monitoring poorer payback on pre-recession values, seek to escape from deals.

All the same, we’ve found positive sources of encouragement in both the private and public sectors. Through HM Corporate Solutions, for example, we set up funds to help investors take advantage of the Business Property Renovation Allowance which encourages renovation of unused commercial buildings. Our Glasgow Indigo Hotel Partnership (see Highlights) is an outstanding example and we expect to see even more demand to exploit these attractive tax breaks.

Also in the hotel sector (see Highlights) we advised the consortium leader in the project to develop Scotland’s first “super deluxe” international business hotel for the Dubai-based Jumeirah Group – only their fifth in Europe and the only one in the UK outside London.

Meanwhile, we have recruited major new clients – National Car Parks and the leading retailer, Arcadia Group – with significant property interests and expect this to generate a significant volume of instructions.

Investment fund work is also now beginning to revive. We’re now seeing pension funds coming back into the prime properties market more aggressively, looking for investments as an alternative to the volatility of the stock market. We expect multi-tenancy industrial locations and retail portfolios with good tenant covenants to grow in 2010.

Allied to these private sector prospects is the sheer strength of our presence as a Public Sector legal contractor. This has positioned us advantageously as the Scottish Government seeks to blunt recession’s impact by bringing forward into the current financial year a number of projects slated for 2011-12.

One notable highlight has been the accelerating volume of instructions resulting from our successful appointment as advisers to the Forestry Commission for all of its property and estate management work in Scotland. We are also now one of the dominant Scottish firms handling the growing number of instructions in the Government’s expanded social housing assistance programmes with Local Authorities and Housing Associations.

“We are also now one of the dominant scottish firms handling the growing number of instructions in the government’s expanded social housing assistance programmes with local authorities and housing associations.”

GrAeMe NIsBeT Head of real estate

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sport/ Sport can’t help also being a huge reputation builder for the firm. Sport attracts more public attention than almost any other subject. Our expertise in this field therefore raises HM’s profile, with significant collateral broadcast and press exposure. However that’s really both incidental and accidental.

The main point for us is that we enjoy doing it. It’s interesting work with fascinating people. So, while it’s not a huge feecontributor, it’s great to be involved in and strengthens our profile out of all proportion to the revenue it generates.

Rugby’s extraordinary “Bloodgate” scandal, which humbled the Harlequins club, saw our two founding partners right at the eye of a sport and media feeding frenzy – Lorne Crerar as chairman of the European Cup Disciplinary Panel and Rod McKenzie as chairman of the appeal committee.

Harper Macleod enjoys pre-eminent Scottish expertise in key fields of sports law. And our reputation, built over the years and focused mainly in the lead arenas of football and rugby, further reinforces our identification of sport as one of the firm’s strategic sectors.

Highlights/ Television deals: acting for the Scottish Premier League, we undertook three hectic rounds of negotiation on SPL’s TV broadcasting contracts. Within the space of one year, we supervised the confirmation of Irish broadcaster Setanta’s 2009-10 contract with SPL, the termination of that contract when cash-strapped Setanta was unable to make its outstanding £3m payment, and the creation of a new broadcasting contract with Sky-ESPN. The new five-year deal is worth £65m to Sky and ESPN for live screening of 60 SPL matches each season.

Independent investigation: instructed by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club (RCCC), conducted an investigation into events at the Ford World Women’s Curling Championships in Vermont in March 2008. The report was issued in February 2009 and subsequently published on the RCCC’s website and reported in the national press.

This choice is really no surprise. Although “Bloodgate” itself attracted most attention in the last year, it was by no means typical of the conventional sports-related law work that forms the bulk of our commissions – the administration of club rules and regulations, player contracts and disputes, disciplinary matters, commercial and broadcasting agreements. That’s the bread and butter, with the spend in football dwarfing all others by multiples.

“Harper Macleod enjoys pre-eminent scottish expertise in key fields of sports law. our reputation, built over the years and focused mainly in the lead arenas of football and rugby, further reinforces our identification of sport as one of the firm’s strategic sectors.” roD McKeNZIe Co-founder and senior Partner THE YEARLY PUBLICATION FROM HARPER MACLEOD LLP

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Practice Groups/ “We chase excellence. Everybody says this. We do it.

Our unique structure of 23 Practice Groups focuses our commitment to the highest standards of service delivery, client care and communication.”

Client training: we provided in-house training to clients – including Strathclyde Fire & Rescue, the Department for Work & Pensions and West Dunbartonshire Council – as part of our commitment to add value.

Three of the Group’s Partners, Rod McKenzie, Paul McMahon and Claire McManus, are listed in Chambers UK 2010 as leaders in employment law.

Graham Millar, an Associate, has further enhanced the team with his return from an 18 month in-house secondment to the Forestry Commission where he was the acting Head of HR Services.

We provide an update below on those Practice Groups not covered in Highlights so far.

BRANDING, TECHNOLOGY, MEDIA & INNOVATION Unrivalled status: our broadcasting work comprises deals with a worldwide significance and an aggregate value of about £160m. Tom Thomas’s experience in this field is unrivalled in the marketplace. No other firm can claim to have been involved in transactions of similar value during the previous year and of a complexity and importance rarely encountered.

Record breakers: we have instigated and achieved trade mark protection for tartan designs (never before achieved), have sought protection for a record number of marks, dealt with international domain name related matters, and dealt with sponsorship arrangements involving household names.

Technology growth: this sector has grown significantly and has included advising on transactional intellectual property issues in deals with an aggregate value of over £70m.

Our work includes a focus on life sciences, with particular expertise in the field of human tissue.

In IT and ICT, our work has addressed infrastructure crucial to the functioning of major elements of the Public Sector.

Academic spin-outs: this has also been a major growth area for the firm. Jamie Watt, who leads much of our relationship-building at key universities, is a registered expert in this field with the European Commission.

CHARITIES & SOCIAL ENTERPRISE Ground-breakers: we have undertaken a wide range of complex and ground-breaking charity law matters.

New clients: these include Inverness College, the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (for whom we operate an innovative pro bono legal helpline for members) and Cantraybridge, a rural skills training college in Nairnshire for young adults with a disability.

We also act on charity matters for a number of commercial clients, including the Scottish Premier League and ATH Resources.

EMPLOYMENT, PENSIONS & INCENTIVES Recession’s impact: in the current climate, we are being called upon regularly to advise on rationalisation, redundancy and consultation processes and we have acted for employers and employees in a significant number of executive, high level and often complicated departures and disputes.

EUROPEAN & HUMAN RIGHTS Knowledge and understanding: we provide clear and pragmatic advice on how clients may be affected by the Human Rights Act and by European legislation. As well as providing analysis of decisions made by the European Union and Council of Europe, we have developed an increasing number of contacts across Europe, and have raised human rights issues in litigation matters for a number of clients.

PLANNING & ENVIRONMENTAL Enhanced status: our key appointment with the Forestry Commission as well as major reappointments with ATH Resources, Scottish Coal and Airtricity have further enhanced our position as experts in both contentious and non-contentious planning work during the year.

Key players: Lee Murphy and Rod McKenzie have had a number of crucial planning appeal wins – some not without public controversy – demonstrating their high profile. Lee Murphy, an accredited planning law specialist by the Law Society of Scotland with over 14 years experience, was an in-house solicitor and legal team manager with South Lanarkshire Council for several years.

Rod led for appellants in a four-week public local inquiry into the refusal of planning permission for an integrated waste management facility. Both Rod and Lee advised on compulsory purchase procedures related to the preparation of Commonwealth Games sites in Glasgow.

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PRIVATE CLIENT Marketplace change: the marketplace has adapted well to the ground-breaking change to house buying and selling which came into effect in December 2008. The Home Reports, based on the recommendations of an official inquiry led by our chairman, Professor Lorne Crerar, introduced the Single Survey under which the house-seller must provide prospective buyers with basic survey of the property’s condition and value.

Genuine sellers & buyers: there’s no doubt that, as a result of that reform, the system now provides transparency and makes buyers more informed about the house of their choice. One benefit has been a dramatic reduction in the number of “failed offers” – the market now has more genuine sellers matching the ambition of serious buyers.

Leading advisers: our Private Client team has been at the forefront of activity in providing advice on the implications of the new Home Reports. That’s become an integral part of the comprehensive advice we provide clients, including: • Residential conveyancing • Estate agency (only in Inverness & the Highlands) • Advice on preparing wills including advice on Inheritance Tax • Guardianships & Intervention Orders • Power of attorney • Family law • Pensions & trusts expertise • Agricultural law • Charities

REGULATORY & COMPLIANCE Care home solutions: we received referrals from members of Scottish Care, representing care home owners and care-at-home providers. Operators, investors and banks benefit from our knowledge of registration requirements, fire safety, staffing levels and compliance with national care – and our innovative, tailored solutions.

GPs, dentists & nurses: we have advised a number of GP practices on partnership agreements and leasing arrangements. And we provide general advice and assistance to private clinics, nursing agencies and dentists.

Pharmacy issues: we have established strong relationships with the National Pharmacy Association and provide ad hoc advice as well as dealing with specific cases. Through our Connect2Law and other initiatives, we are contacted frequently by other professionals on pharmacy matters.

Community groups: we work closely with community groups and charitable organisations such as ENABLE, CHAS and The Richmond Fellowship. We also provide pro bono services to parents of children referred to us by the National Autistic Society.

RURAL Higher profile: we regained our Legal 500 ranking this year, and the key to this was our appointment to advise the Forestry Commission, Scotland’s largest landowner, on estate management. Our appointment has lifted our profile among intermediaries and land agents.

Wide expertise: during the year, the Group’s expertise has been deployed across a wide front: • purchase and sale of estates, farms and fishing and sporting properties • crofting sales and purchases, including de-crofting • land management, shooting rights, boundary disputes, “trespass” and rights of way, grants and fire prevention • purchase and sale of rural land identified for development • agricultural tenancies, disputes, land holding agreements • environmental issues, water and drainage rights • limited partnership leases and agreements, commercial and agricultural leases • wind farm development options on rural land

“We don’t operate in little silos. Our Practice Groups ensure that our specialist strengths are readily available to all business sectors. Our clients have easy access to a unique mix of legal expertise.”

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HM Community/ “We’re sure that consistency of support is vital. We don’t perpetually switch our ‘flavour of the month’.

We prefer to act with long-term loyalty to the not-for-profit organisations with whom we’ve chosen to work.”

Corporate citizenship is about more than words, we’ve always felt. It’s part of our brand. We’re determined to be good neighbours and HM Community is the operational expression of that wish. It embodies the ethical and behavioural values we cherish as we seek to have a positive influence on our key stakeholders – our own people, the legal profession and the wider communities in which we work.

At times like this, when margins are under such severe pressure, it’s these so-called ‘philanthropic’ and ‘charitable’ activities that are so often the first victims of cut-backs.

But we haven’t let that happen. Despite today’s challenging economic environment, we have not only maintained support for all of our CSR activities, we’ve increased it.

We’re keen to encourage our people to get personally involved in community initiatives.

So, this year we’ve introduced ‘CSR days’ which allow anyone in the firm to have two days paid leave annually so they can carry out charitable and voluntary work.

It’s more important than ever to deliver in this arena. The level of need is higher now and

increasing. We see that in the huge number of organisations asking for our help. In this situation, we’re sure that consistency of support is vital. We don’t dip in and out of projects, perpetually switching our ‘flavour of the month’. We prefer to act with long-term loyalty to the not-for-profit organisations with whom we’ve chosen to work. We exercise our corporate social responsibilities across three fronts: OUR PEOPLE We strive to create an inclusive, healthy, safe and stimulating work environment (see also HM People). The promotion of health and wellbeing is part of our culture. We have a range of flexible working opportunities, we offer childcare vouchers to help working parents and we make paid study leave available to those undertaking further or higher qualifications.

OUR PROFESSION We use our skills and resources to support people in need and to improve access to justice. We provide a wide range of pro bono legal services and a number of our Partners sit on the governing bodies of charitable and not-for-profit bodies. Ours is the only Scottish law firm to have two senior Partners – Lorne Crerar and Robert Rennie – practising as university professors. Seven of our lawyers are university lecturers.

OUR COMMUNITIES We try to make a difference to the charities we support – not just with cash donations but often, too, by donating time and operational support to projects.

We’re determined to be ‘green’. Our commitment is to improve our business practices so that we make a positive impact on the environment.

“At times like this, it’s the ‘philanthropic’ and ‘charitable’ activities that are so often the first victims. We haven’t let that happen.

We have not only maintained support for all of our Csr activities, we’ve increased it.”

MArTIN DArroCH Chief executive and Head of Csr Group

Highlights/ Autism advice: we extended our service of free advice and training to the National Autistic Society. Since our partnership began in 2005, we have provided the equivalent of over £55,000 worth of work.

Legal Helpline: we’re one of the founder members of the pro bono helpline scheme for members of the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations. This offers SCVO members with turnover of less than £500,000 a free two-hour legal consultation on property, employment, governance, contracting and intellectual property matters.

Accreditations: HM Community and CSR initiatives have been recognised through a number of accreditations including: • “Big Tick” in the Healthy Workplace category of the 2009 Business in the Community Awards.

• ‘Carbon neutral’ following an audit of our activities, for the third year in a row.

Great Wilderness Challenge: we were short-listed for the Community Initiative of the Year in the 2009 Legal Awards for our work with the Great Wilderness Challenge (GWC) since 2000 and the GWC Charity Ball since 2003. Together, our involvement in both initiatives has raised some £254,000 for nominated charities over the years.

This year our HM fundraisers braved the elements with friends and clients in the 13- or 25-mile walk or run in aid of Highland Hospice, The Red Cross, Children 1st, Barnardos Scotland, Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS) and The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice.

Grand Central Savings: we provide pro bono legal advice to Grand Central Savings (GCS), a project of the Big Issue Foundation. GCS Bank was established in March 2001 in response to, and with financial help from, the Scottish Executive’s Rough Sleepers Initiative.

The bank provides a basic transactional type service to financially excluded individuals in Glasgow.

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our Thanks/ Thank you to our clients for your support over the past year.

We look forward to working with you in the year ahead and beyond.

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Harper Macleod LLP Harper Macleod LLP

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