As a firm that was founded by the MacRobert family in 1861, we have the empathy, understanding and legal expertise to help your family business flourish.
No two businesses or families are the same, which is why you need legal advisers who are sensitive to your requirements and have the specific skill set to help you maintain healthy business and family relationships. You need advisers you know will help your business grow as it’s passed from generation to generation.
MacRoberts’ family business lawyers can support your family business at each stage of its journey, providing expert legal advice to help you create healthy business relationships, including managing family members who may not be suited to or do not want to be in the business and evaluating all options when family members want to leave the business.
Our full-service team can help you make sure business decisions are made in the most tax-advantageous way, establish the correct boundaries between management and ownership, split shareholdings fairly amongst family members and decide how family members should be remunerated.
In the event that family disagreements or divorces threaten your business, we can advise you on making the right choices, and put procedures in place so non-family members feel part of the team.
We offer our clients a “health check” during which we will spend time with you and your management team to look at all aspects of your business in order to identify potential issues, risks and challenges before they arise, and to highlight how any current difficulties could be dealt with effectively.
The tax aspects for family businesses are unique. We can advise on income tax, corporation tax, capital gains tax, inheritance tax and stamp duty land tax and provide advice on the tax consequences, should the family business be sold.
We can also assist with trusts and the unique employment issues that can arise in a family business.
Major shareholders or partners in the business may want to consider a pre-nuptial agreement to protect the assets of the family business that were in place before marriage, and we can help with that.
Equally, if someone is reorganising the business, we can advise on both the tax implications and family law issues that could arise in the event of a divorce.
Property is often one of a family business’s key assets, and where issues arise during succession planning, reorganisations, or sale of the family business, we can guide you through these sensitively as we understand that emotional attachments can be strong if the property has been in the family for generations.
We have vast experience in succession planning, funding and corporate governance to help preserve the wealth of the family during all situations.
We believe the best way to avoid family conflict is to have the right structure in place. To achieve this, we can help create a governance and constitutional framework that balances effective management with the right level of family involvement.
We are absolutely delighted we chose the superb Michael Kelly and his team to act on our behalf in the sale of our family-owned company.
Michael is an extremely able negotiator and we found his excellent advice absolutely invaluable time and again. Strategically, his advice was always spot on, ensuring we secured the outcome we wanted.
MATHEWSON DENTAL PRACTICE
A new public register in Scotland – the Register of Persons Holding a Controlled interest in Land (RCI) went live on 1 April 2022 and is potentially relevant for any property (land or buildings) in Scotland. Failure to register the required information could lead to criminal penalties, with potential fines of up to £5,000.
Our family business team explains some of the key points for family business owners to consider with a view to protecting business assets from the impact of divorce.
As featured in The Scotsman, Corporate Finance Partner Michael Kelly discusses the challenges of a family business.
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In 2016, we were one of the first law firms in Scotland to become accredited Living Wage employers.
Shortlisted for Firm of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards 2022.
Winners of Corporate & Commercial Team of the Year and Family Law Team of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards 2020.
Our Real Estate team won the Property Team of the Year Award at the British Legal Awards in 2018.
Winner of SME of the Year at the Scottish SME Awards 2017, hosted by Scottish Business Insider.
Highly Commended for Commercial Team of the Year at the British Legal Awards 2016.
In 2019, MacRoberts achieved Cyber Essentials Plus certification, a UK Government entry-level information security standard.
MacRoberts holds the ISO 9001:2015 certification for Quality Management, the most widely recognised quality management system standard in the world.
MacRoberts holds the ISO14001:2015 certification for Environmental Management, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to environmental awareness.
MacRoberts holds the ISO27001:2013 certification for Information Security, an internationally recognised security gold standard.
Business continuity is a critical element of the Business Management System at MacRoberts and we hold full accreditation with the ISO 22301:2019.
MacRoberts is a member of IP Inclusive, a network of intellectual property professionals working to make our community more equal, diverse and inclusive.
We are active members of the PRIME Programme – an organisation that focuses on ensuring a career in law is open to talent from all economic and social backgrounds.
MacRoberts supports the Scottish Business Pledge, a values-led partnership between Government and business that is based on boosting productivity and competitiveness through fairness, equality and sustainable employment.
We are supporters of the Partnership for Change, a network of organisations and individuals who share a common ambition to improve diversity on boards and in senior leadership.
We are a member of the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion (ENEI), a UK-based not-for-profit organisation which helps employers build and maintain diverse teams and inclusive cultures through our membership, training, and consultancy services.
In 2022, MacRoberts was awarded enei's Silver TIDEMark. TIDE is enei's self-assessment evaluation and benchmarking tool which measures an organisation's overall approach and progress on diversity and inclusion.
MacRoberts is a Disability Confident employer, and are committed to disability equality across our firm.
MacRoberts fully supports flexible working practices and supports family-friendly working practices.
In 2022, MacRoberts received a Bronze Award in Stonewall's Workplace Equality Index for our commitment to LGBTQI+ inclusivity in the workplace.
MacRoberts is a longstanding member of Scotland Food & Drink, the leading trade association for Scotland's food and drink industry.
MacRoberts is an Associate Member of SELECT, Scotland's largest construction trade association.
