Meet the Team

Michael Dewar, Partner and Head of Sector

Michael Dewar has more than 20 years’ experience as a commercial solicitor with a focus on working for multiple clients across the healthcare sector. Those include health boards; developers and operators of long-term care and assisted living facilities; retail pharmacies; multi-disciplinary physicians’ groups; general practitioners; and dental practices.

He has represented clients on a full range of matters, including in:
• the sale and leaseback of GP surgery premises;
• acting for local health boards in entering into 3PD leases from private developers;
• acting for multiple GP practices in entering into hub agreements and other occupancy arrangements as part of the Scottish Futures Trust projects;
• advising on licence agreements with health boards under the NHS National Code of Practice for GP Premises;
• sale and purchase of GP and dental practices;
• advising on GP sustainability loan agreements;
• representation for medical professionals in disputes involving the NHS Dispute Resolution Procedure;
• advising general practitioners on rent reimbursement disputes
• advising on service charge disputes and recovery of costs from health boards; and
• advising on issues concerning Service Level Agreements for GP practices

He is one of the solicitors in our healthcare sector group collaborating with BMA Law Limited in the provision of legal services to their Scottish members.

Email: mjd@wjm.co.uk Telephone: 0131 524 1524

Colin Millar, Partner

Colin has over twenty five years’ experience as a Corporate and Commercial Lawyer. He has advised clients in the healthcare sector for nearly all of that period and his particular areas of expertise include:-

• Advising GPs, Dentists and other healthcare professionals on Partnership Agreements, incorporation and appropriate business models;
• Advising individuals entering or exiting partnerships, LLPs and companies;
• Reviewing and updating partnership and corporate arrangements, including Partnership Agreements and Shareholder Agreements;
• Restructuring of healthcare practices and businesses;
  Partnership disputes;
• Advising on contractual and other issues with Health Boards and other regulatory bodies;
• Acquisition and sale of Dental and Pharmacy Practices and Care Homes.

Colin is the General Secretary of the Glasgow Local Dental Committee and over many years has presented to GPs, Dentists, GP Practice Managers, etc., on legal issues affecting their particular sectors. He has a clear understanding of the issues facing GPs, Dentists, etc., and offers pragmatic and solutions based advice.

Email: cjm@wjm.co.uk Telephone: 0141 223 7265

Martin Stephen, Partner

Martin is Head of the Employment Group at WJM with over 30 years’ experience. 

Martin is:

• Accredited as a specialist in employment law by the Law Society of Scotland;
• A former part-time chairman of Employment Tribunals;
• On the panel of legal advisers to the Fitness to Practise Panels of the Scottish Social Services Council;
• Advises  on all contentious and non- contentious employment issues and regularly appear before the Employment Tribunal and Employment Appeal tribunal;
• Advises on professional discipline and regulatory issues;
• Represents professionals in proceedings before their regulatory bodies.
   

Email: mss@wjm.co.uk Telephone: 0141 223 7820

Angus MacLeod, Partner

Angus is a corporate lawyer with particular expertise in intellectual property and commercial contracts, and experience across a wide range of corporate, commercial and partnership law. He leads WJM’s Inverness practice and lives and works in the Highland capital. Angus joined WJM in 1998 and was assumed as a partner in 2005.

Angus's sector experience includes:

• Advising medical, dental and veterinary partnerships on partnership agreements;
• Advising dental and optical businesses on new business models including franchising;
• Advising medical, dental and veterinary partnerships on partner exits;
• Advising dental and veterinary partnerships on business acquisitions;
• Advising medical partnerships on NHS funding contracts and SLAs;
  Advising medical devices companies on investment, new technology development/IP protection and distribution/sales.

 
Email: agm@wjm.co.uk Telephone: 01463 234445          

Liam Entwistle, Partner

Liam understands the healthcare sector from several important perspectives. He has a large practice in the sector, and has advised his clients on a huge variety of dispute resolution, mediation and employment matters. He understands the perspective of the healthcare business – their commercial needs, their obligations to service users, the importance of reputation, and the requirements of the relevant regulatory codes and the bodies that enforce them.

Liam:

• Regularly advises regulatory panels, and understands in great detail the perspective of the regulatory bodies who police the sector.
• Is a sought after trainer and educator in this area, and regularly provides presentations to, amongst others,  Healthy Working Lives, NHS Education for Scotland, and Glasgow University, as well as his clients in the sector.
• Has a considrable depth of knowledge in the sector and is an invaluable asset when you need advice. 

Email: LAE@wjm.co.uk Telephone: 0141 223 7829      

Stewart King, Partner

Stewart is a partner in our commercial property unit. He has wide experience of buying and selling commercial property for investment and development, acting for Banks and other lending institutions in secured lending transaction, acting for landlords and tenants in commercial leasing transactions, site assembly for developers and general commercial property instructions.

Stewart:

• Acts for a number of healthcare providers, giving advice in relation to the purchase and sale of dental practices, surgery premises, secured borrowings and the leasing of medical practice premises (for both landlord and tenant). 
• Recently acted in the sale of GP premises to the health board.
• Routinely provides advice to medical partnerships in relation to their property holding and historic title issues which commonly arise from the departure of former partners (and trustees) where the ownership/title difficulties this can create are not addressed at the appropriate time.

Email: sak@wjm.co.uk Telephone:  0141 223 7809 

Alison Marshall, Partner 

Alison Marshall is a partner in our corporate team with experience in a wide range of matters of relevance to healthcare professionals, including:

• preparation of partnership agreements
• advising on disputes involving partnerships
• advising on the conversion of partnerships to limited liability partnerships
• advising on exit strategies for partners wishing to leave a practice
• sale and purchase of dental practices

She is one of our team of solicitors working in collaboration with BMA Law Limited to deliver legal services to their members in Scotland

Email: am@wjm.co.uk Telephone: 0131 524 1500

John Clarke, Partner

John has nearly 40 years experience as a commercial, business and corporate lawyer and also, more latterly, as a non-executive director of a number of companies.

John:

• Has advised a number of Specsaver Joint Venture Partners on a number of issues
• As the Scottish arm of BMA Law Limited, advises a growing number of GPs and GP practices on partnership issues, property concerns and sundry other topics
• Advised a non-UK business in the pharmaceuticals industry

His work for BMA Law Limited and BMA members typically involves:

• New and revised partnership agreements
• Partnership disputes
• Property problems, particularly in relation to leased properties and the financial implications for departing partners

Email: jbc@wjm.co.uk  Telephone: 0131 524 1500 / 01383 626666