Our Advocates
Iain F. Maclean
Iain Maclean is ranked in Band 1 of the leading juniors in Agriculture and Rural Affairs by Chambers UK Client's Guide to the UK Legal Profession (2009) which states that 'he is known for his expertise on tenancy issues and is regarded as very good and very thorough in his opinions.' The 2006 edition recognised him as 'a very able junior active in the agriculture field' and the 2008 edition describes him as 'quick-minded'. The Legal 500 in its most recent editions has characterised him as quality and acknowledged his extensive practice in this area of law.
Professional Information:
Year of Call: 1994
Devil Masters: The Hon. Lord Brailsford; Sheriff Thomas Welsh QC; Gerry J.B. Moynihan QC
Qualifications: LL.B (Hons) (First Class) University of Aberdeen; LL.M (First Class) University of Cambridge; M.Sc. (Dist.) University of Edinburgh
Biography:
Iain Maclean was admitted as a solicitor in 1993, after completing a traineeship with Brodies W.S., during which he has placements in the Commercial Property, Conveyancing, Litigation and Trusts and Executry Departments. Before commencing devilling, he spent a year as Legal Assistant to the Lord President of the Court of Session, in which post, as well as providing general legal and administrative support to the Head of the Scottish Judiciary (at the time The Rt. Hon. The Lord Hope of Craighead), he assisted First Counsel to the Lord President (the now Sheriff N.M.P. Morrison QC) in drafting/revising the 1993 Sheriff Court Ordinary Cause Rules and the 1994 Rules of the Court of Session. Since being admitted as an Advocate, he has appeared in the Outer and Inner Houses of the Court of Session, the Land Court, Lands Tribunal and the Lyon Court and in sheriff courts all over Scotland. In 2005 he acted as Junior Counsel for the Promoters in the Public Local Inquiry into the proposed Harbour Revision Order to authorize the construction of a new Roll-on Roll-off berthing facility at the Oban Ferry Terminal. He has an extensive Opinion practice in the areas of law in which he specializes. He is a founder member and Treasurer of Trustbar (The Trusts, Fiduciaries and Executries Bar Group). Iain Maclean specializes in land and property related work, encompassing both commercial property and estates/rural property and associated private client matters.
Publications:
Joint Author, Greens Annotated Rules of the Court of Session (Volume 2 of the Parliament House Book)
Appointments:
- Member of the Scottish Government's European Union Agricultural Subsidies Appeals Procedure External Advisory Panel ("Stage 2 Review")
- Member of the Scottish Law Commission's Advisory Group on the Law of Succession
- Member of Faculty of Advocates Sub-Committees convened to prepare responses to the Scottish Executive's Consultation Paper "Crofting Reform Proposals for Legislation" (July 2002) and the draft Crofting Reform (Scotland) Bill (July 2005) and to the Scottish Law Commission's Discussion Paper on Variation and Termination of Trusts (January 2006)
Recent Cases:
On the commercial side, Iain Maclean has extensive and current experience of advising on matters such as the construction of the terms of commercial leases (including rent review clauses) and missives of sale of commercial premises; the enforcement of “keep open” and other obligations in commercial leases and on title and access disputes. In relation to estates/rural property, Iain Maclean, whose work in this area of law is informed by his own practical experience of farming and agricultureg, has over the past year opined on issues as diverse as:-
- the valuation of sheep stock;
- the categorization of a sporting agreement as lease or license;
- the effects of the Abolition of Feudal Tenure (Scotland) Act 2000 upon superiors’ reserved shooting rights;
- the consequences for pre-existing contractual rights pertaining to production based subsidies of the introduction in their place of the Single Farm Payment;
- the use of common grazings for the landing of light aircraft;
- the effect on pertinent rights of access of purchase of the croft by the tenant.
- the construction of a variety of different wills and trust deeds;
- an application for approval of a scheme to vary trust purposes under section 1 of the Trusts (Scotland) Act 1961;
- whether a factual basis exists for pursuing actions for reduction of wills on the grounds of incapacity, facility and circumvention, or undue influence;
- the exercise by trustees of powers of appointment and advance;
- the operation of the doctrine of conversion in the law of succession;
- the appropriate procedure for reducing the appointment of an executor-dative;
- the implications in relation to vesting of a proposed renunciation of an alimentary liferent;
- the order of abatement of legacies;
- the rights and duties of executors in relation to paying disputed debts of the estate.
Gardner v. Paterson’s Executor (Wick Sheriff Court, 11 December 2007; unreported) (whether a specific bequest is necessary to carry a croft tenancy, or whether a general bequest of residue in favour of one named individual will suffice).
Recent Articles and events:
“Proving the Tenor of a Lost Will: What the Solicitor Needs to Know”: talk delivered to the Trustbar Aberdeen Seminar, 28 March 2007.
Tel (Home): 0131 662 9002
Fax (Home): 0131 662 1314
Tel (Clerk): 0131 260 5830
Fax (Clerk): 0131 225 3642
Email: iain.maclean@terrafirmachambers.com
