Andrew is a Partner and joint head of our dispute resolution and litigation team based in Edinburgh. His clients are primarily financial institutions for whom he acts in a range of litigation matters, including contractual disputes, general banking litigation, recoveries and the pursuit of professional negligence actions. Andrew also acts for a range of commercial clients and insolvency practitioners. Recent examples of his work include successfully defending a lender in a multi-million pound claim for damages raised against them by a former customer where it was claimed that they had acted negligently in their approach to realisation of securities, strategic advice to a lender in relation to a major remediation project, and a reported case which further clarified the law relating to pre-action requirements under the Home Owner & Debtor Protection (Scotland) Act 2010.
Andrew joined Shoosmiths as a partner in 2013 following more than a decade at an Edinburgh firm where he latterly managed their banking litigation team. Prior to that, Andrew was a researcher at the Scottish Law Commission where his projects included the Report on Poindings and Warrant Sales, and the Report on Diligence.
Andrew is a solicitor advocate with rights of audience in the Supreme Courts in Scotland and is a ranked lawyer for Banking Litigation in the Chambers UK Guide, where he is described as being “steady, sensible and pragmatic” as well as having “a breadth of knowledge on litigious matters”. Commentators described him as “very approachable, dedicated to his client and provides very clear and concise legal advice”. Andrew is regularly called upon to speak at external events and conferences on his areas of expertise, and is a regular contributor to publications such as the Journal of the Law Society of Scotland on topics including insolvency and commercial litigation.