David is a Chartered Secretary with over 35 years’ experience of company secretarial work. He initially gained wide commercial experience with subsidiaries of Nestle and ITT.
Since then, he has acted for numerous listed organisations, private companies, government bodies, solicitors and accountants. He has written several accepted works on company law and company secretarial practice and speaks regularly at conferences and seminars on corporate governance and other issues.
He recently received an Outstanding Achievment Award from the Insitute of Chartered Secretaries, (ICSA), 'in recognition of a significant and long-lasting contribution to the profession'.
He is currently a member of Council at the ICSA.
Martha has been with the firm since 1992 having started her career in company secretarial work in 1988. She previously worked with Chantrey Vellacott and before that Morgan Grenfell. She acts as company secretary to many listed and unlisted companies and, as well as focussing much of her time on core company secretarial work, she also heads our trade mark, health & safety and employment law services.
Martha has written four books: Rights and Duties of Directors published by Bloomsbury Publishing and updated annually, The ICSA Director’s Guide, The ICSA Legal Letters and Agreements, and A Practical Guide to the Memorandum and Articles of Association, all published by the ICSA.
Douglas joined the practice in 1985 having completed the ICSA professional examinations as a post graduate student. In addition to acting as company secretary to several public and private companies he also heads our share registration division which specialises in smaller fully listed, AIM and PLUS companies.
Douglas has written and contributed to a number of company law reference books and in particular two published by the ICSA: The ICSA Company Secretary’s Handbook, first published in 1999 and updated annually and The Company Secretary’s Checklists first published in 1992 and updated bi-annually.
Susan joined the practice in 2001. Susan gained her initial experience within accountancy and legal practices including Eversheds and KPMG in Hong Kong.
Susan has her own portfolio of clients predominantly AIM listed groups and overseeing our outsourced work for professional service companies. She heads our services relating to the establishment and administration of approved and unapproved share option plans.
Susan has written The ICSA Company Secretary’s Troubleshooter. She co ordinates and edits the firm’s Q&A section in the ICSA’s monthly journal Chartered Secretary and the firm's client corporate law update issued 3 times a year as well as editing Butterworths’ Company Secretarial Procedures and Precedents Manual first written by David in 1993 and updated quarterly.
Robert Armour became a director in 2010 , joining the practice after many years as Company Secretary and General Counsel of British Energy Group plc, a FTSE 100 company until its acquisition by EDF SA in 2009. Following a career in private legal practice, Robert spent almost 20 years as company secretary of significant companies in the energy sector and has experience of privatisations, restructurings, acquisitions , disposals, listings and delistings, as well as the issues facing any Company Secretary sitting round the board table or acting as a Director of Regulated Businesses. Robert was in house counsel of the year in 2005 and awarded an OBE in 2007 for services to the electricity sector.
Based in Edinburgh, Robert chairs the Scottish Council, Development and Industry and is an adviser to Equiniti and EDF Energy as well as a member of Gowlings Toronto based international strategic advisory group.
