Legal firm Burness Paull has signed up three consultants to help companies stay on the right side of the law amid a growing focus on business ethics and boardroom governance.
The new service aims to work with private businesses, listed companies and private equity houses, to ensure they have appropriate governance in place.
The team includes David Elston, who has advised PLCs, mutual and private businesses particularly in the financial sector, and has recently worked with Santander and the Phoenix Group.
The other team members are Donald McPherson, former general counsel and group company secretary of Alliance Trust and Sheelagh Duffield, who has held senior executive roles including general counsel and company secretary positions at Scottish Power, Scottish Television and The Miller Group.
Duffield also has her own business, Savendie, providing governance advice and board evaluation services.
The three new consultants join existing Burness Paull consultant Jennifer Adams, who provides governance support for pension scheme trustee boards, on an ongoing or project specific basis. Jennifer was formerly legal director at Aegon UK.
Gary Gray, head of governance & company secretarial services at Burness Paull, said: “The demand for specialist governance advice has grown steadily in recent years due to new regulations that have put business ethics and good governance under more scrutiny than ever before.
“Failure to meet the UK’s increasingly strict corporate governance regime can potentially have a huge reputational impact, including an impact on share prices, as well as the legal issues for companies and potential personal consequences for directors.”
He said the new service was specifically aimed at helping organisations protect themselves against such threats.
