Terra Firma Chambers

Practice Manager: Emma Caskie-Potter

Deputy Clerks: Andrew Veitch, Tracy Whitelaw and Catriona Downie

Tenants: 37

THE CHAMBERS Terra Firma Chambers is one of the leading sets of Advocates at the Scottish Bar, offering specialist advice and representation in property, planning, commercial and administrative law. Established in 2008 to meet the changing demands of modern legal practice, Terra Firma combines formidable strength and depth in its core practice areas, with approachable clerks and a commercial, client-orientated service. The Chambers contains 37 Counsel, including 12 King’s Counsel, and has more dual qualified members of the Scottish and English Bars than any other Scottish set. It also has more specialist arbitration advocates than any other set and is the only set at the Scottish Bar that provides a dedicated arbitration service. Several members hold appointments as part-time Sheriffs or part-time Tribunal Judges. Members regularly appear before courts at all levels, along with tribunals, inquiries, hearings and local authority committees and accept instructions under the Faculty of Advocates' Direct Access Rules. Terra Firma has an enviable reputation for the service provided by both its members and its clerks.

WORK UNDERTAKEN  

The members of Terra Firma Chambers carry out the whole gamut of work related to property, planning, commercial and administrative law.

Property: Access rights, agriculture and crofting, boundary disputes, charities, commercial property, common good, conveyancing, executries and succession, housing, intellectual property, landlord and tenant, pensions, professional negligence, regulatory enforcement and liability, servitudes and wayleaves, taxation and estate planning, trusts and judicial factors, unjustified enrichment, valuation and rating, wills.

Planning: Conservation, compulsory purchase and compensation, contaminated land, drainage and flood prevention, environmental (civil and criminal) regulation, housing, industrial, infrastructure development, leisure, minerals, nuisance, planning, pollution prevention and control, renewable energy, retail, roads, sewage, telecommunications, waste.

Commercial: Bankruptcy and diligence, building and construction, contracts, commercial arbitration and dispute resolution, discrimination, employment, energy, health and safety, insolvency, intellectual property, partnership, professional negligence, public procurement, regulatory liability, restrictive covenants, roads and transport, taxation, valuation and rating. Members act as advocates, mediators and arbitrators within Scotland, England and internationally.

Administrative & Public Law: Charities, community care, constitutional law, election law, freedom of information, human rights, judicial review, licensing, local government, professional and disciplinary proceedings, public procurement, regulatory enforcement and liability, statutory appeals and review, valuation and rating, welfare law.