Shepherd and Wedderburn win Banking and Finance Team of the Year award for second year running

Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Banking and Finance team has been named Banking & Finance Team of the Year for the second year running at the prestigious Law Awards of Scotland.

Now in their 15th year, the awards, run by The Herald newspaper in association with HRC Recruitment, celebrate the achievements of law firms and solicitors in delivering services of the highest quality to clients.

The award win is particularly notable given the strength of the shortlist, which this year included CMS, Dentons and Pinsent Masons.

Hailed as the “unanimous winner”, the judging panel commended the Shepherd and Wedderburn Banking and Finance team, led by Fiona Buchanan, on having completed 162 deals in the year, many of which were notable transactions, with a combined global value of £123 billion, including having acted for:

·         Fairbriar Real Estate on its £25 million development financing from a syndicate including Abbey National Treasury Services plc and UOB Bank; and for Fairbriar Real Estate Developments Ltd in the £35 million financing by the Homes and Communities Agency of a mixed-use development at Middlewood Locks, Salford;

·         Volkswagen Financial on the Scottish aspects of its £10 billion Driver UK Master C2 Programme Update and Issuance; and

·         as Scots Counsel to a syndicate of lenders in the refinancing of $700 million debt facilities made available to INEOS UK E&P Holdings Ltd and its subsidiaries.

Fiona Buchanan, Shepherd and Wedderburn’s Head of Banking and Finance, said: “It is an honour to receive such valued recognition, and for the second year running, from our peers in the Scottish legal and business community.

“The unremitting focus of our team, and our colleagues across the firm, is on delivering legal services of the highest quality to our clients and we thank them for their continued support, which made this award possible.” 

The Law Awards of Scotland annual dinner was held at the Hilton Hotel in Glasgow on 29 November.

This year’s judging panel included Colin Anderson, former legal manager at Standard Life; Frances McMenamin QC; insurance and recruitment entrepreneur Hilary Roberts; Herald business correspondent Margaret Taylor; legal academic, writer and lecturer Andrew Tickell; and John Mulholland, Vice President of the Law Society of Scotland.