Scots law firm wins brace of pension appointments

Scots law firm Morton Fraser is to provide legal services to two pensions providers after being appointed to their panels of commercial real estate legal advisers.

Carlisle-based InvestAcc has named Morton Fraser as its sole Scottish provider of legal services on its panel of five UK based law firms.

While Stirling based Xafinity SIPP has also named the firm as one of only three Scottish firms on its existing panel of legal support.

The appointments will see Morton Fraser’s dedicated property in pensions team, the largest of its kind in Scotland, provide both firms with commercial real estate legal advice for Self-Invested Personal Pensions (SIPP) and Small Self-Administered Schemes (SSAS).

Fergus McDiarmid, partner and property in pensions team leader at Morton Fraser, said: “We’re thrilled to have secured places on these two panels. Our expertise and quality of service went a long way to securing these appointments and we look forward to working with both InvestAcc and Xafinity in the coming months and years.

“We act for a number of SIPP and SSAS providers in connection with all aspects of commercial property acquisitions, funding, disposals and property management matters and have seen significant growth in client demand for this specialist expertise over the past few years. We have 15 years’ experience, with nine specialists, making it the largest such team in Scotland.”

Nigel Bennett, sales and marketing director at InvestAcc, said: “We were delighted to appoint Morton Fraser to our Solicitors panel. They have demonstrated the very best in customer service and expertise, with values that are very much aligned to our own. By working with a focussed panel of firms we can offer a better and more streamlined service to our SIPP and SSAS customers and their advisers.”

Andy Bowsher, director at Xafinity, said: “Xafinity is pleased to add Morton Fraser to our national panel of highly respected solicitor firms. Our trust-held commercial property portfolio has over 1,600 building and land holdings, and our strength in this area and personal service ethos means we must select partners of equal quality to ensure client services are delivered with utmost professionalism.”