John Stirling

John is a Solicitor Advocate and has been a specialist in corporate and property litigation since 2005. In addition he focuses heavily on planning often in the context of farms and estates.

John has been a Court of Session reporter in corporate reconstructions and capital reductions for many years. He also maintains a long standing interest in charity law and family law. He runs a family office for one of Scotland’s leading families.

John’s experience includes:

• Represented Mr Salvesen in Salvesen v Riddell, the first time a piece of flagship Scottish civil legislation was struck down by the Supreme Court.
• Acted for the developers in Sustainable Shetland v The Scottish Ministers in the Supreme Court for a major wind farm proposal for Shetland.
• Appointed reporter to the court in the petitions of Premier Oil plc for the approval of the scheme of arrangement under part 26 of the Companies Act 2006.
• Acted for the developers in RSPB v Scottish Ministers for a proposed off shore wind farm off the Firth of Forth.
• Acted for the crofting community in their attempt to benefit from wind resource on the Stornoway common grazings affected by the Stornoway wind farm proposals.
• Acted for the land owner in a dispute about the renewal of a mining license in Danish Forestry v Scottish Coal.
• Acted for the challenger of temporary judges in Clancy v Caird.
• Acted for RBS in a series of cases about spousal guarantees culminating in Black v RBS.

John is a former Clerk to the Signet and has been a Reporter to the Court of Session in capital reductions and reconstructions since 2002. He is a Notary Public and has been appointed as Ormond Pursuivant by Lord Lyon in 2021.