Michael is a Senior Associate within the Commercial Dispute Resolution team and is experienced in a wide range of contentious matters. He regularly acts for companies, insurers, public bodies and private individuals in proceedings within the Court of Session and Sheriff Courts.
His experience includes contract and payment disputes, professional negligence, personal injury defence, property litigation and judicial review.
Michael is also a supervising solicitor at the University of Edinburgh’s Free Legal Advice Clinic.
Group Proceedings were made available in Scotland in July 2020 following the enactment of the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018. We look at the procedure involved in Group Proceedings and some of the claims which have used the procedure thus far.
The recent decision of the Inner House of the Court of Session in the petition of the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) against Donald Murray and James McCusker examines the scope of the SLCC's powers under statute to obtain documents which would otherwise be covered by legal professional privilege in the context of a third-party services complaint.
The law of prescription (which governs the time limits for claimants to begin court proceedings) has been in a state of flux for the last few years and it is widely recognised that there is an urgent need for clarity on the current state of affairs. A significant change to the law of prescription in Scotland is due to enter into force on 1 June 2022 in an attempt to provide balance and clarity to the application of the law.
