Independent law firm Morton Fraser has been selected to provide legal services on two major infrastructure projects in Scotland.

The firm's property team will provide its expertise to Transport Scotland on the A9 and A96 dualling programmes, which will initially involve identification of land ownership and other interests.

The second deal involves the retention the Public Local Inquiries (PLI) brief for the Scottish Ministers and UK Government (through the Office of the Advocate General), which Morton Fraser's public sector team has held since 2012.


Public Local Inquires are part of the statutory procedures that must be completed to ensure that all options for any route improvement are considered and consulted upon to minimise the impact on those living in trunk road corridors.

Each contract will run for two years and have the option to be extended for a further two years, subject to performance.

Douglas Milne, the Morton Fraser Partner who leads the PLI team, said: "We are extremely proud to retain the responsibility to support PLIs. It is a strong endorsement of the work that we have delivered over the past four years. To be able to complement that by also winning the contract to provide the title information support for Transport Scotland for delivery of these major road schemes further underlines our expertise and continued quality delivery in this area."

Morton Fraser's public sector team has worked on a number of key transport improvement projects including the A9 Berriedale Braes, A77 Maybole Bypass and the A737 Dalry Bypass.

(LM)