Shepherd and Wedderburn Associate co-authors new edition conveyancing guide

An Associate at leading UK law firm Shepherd and Wedderburn, is celebrating her first book launch as a co-author on the latest edition of an established conveyancing guide.

Ann Stewart, a Senior Professional Support Lawyer in the firm’s Property and Infrastructure practice, teamed up with Euan Sinclair to co-edit the sixth edition of Conveyancing Practice in Scotland. The latest edition is now nearly double the size of its predecessor with new chapters including ‘Examination of Title’ penned by Ann. Commercial conveyancing practice is also incorporated into this edition along with a number of practical examples, styles and a sample purchase transaction file.

Ann is also a founding member of the Property Standardisation Group, a collaboration between the top law firms in Scotland. The group produces agreed standardised commercial property documents designed to help speed up transactions which are extensively used by the legal profession.

Euan, who now resides in Vancouver, Canada, co-wrote the last edition five years ago with his father John H. Sinclair, the original author of the work who passed away in 2009. While Ann is an experienced writer who has mentored many lawyers in the process, this launch marks her first contribution to a book.

Speaking at the launch, Ann said: “I was delighted to get involved in contributing to this latest edition of Conveyancing Practice in Scotland, a book that is deeply rooted within the Sinclair family.

“There were some logistical challenges in working with Euan as he moved to Canada at the start of the year to take up a new Knowledge Management position in Vancouver. We overcame this by communicating via email, Googledocs and Skype. The eight hour time difference often meant I had already completed a full day’s work, while Euan was just firing up for the day. Typically when we were having Skype meetings at the weekend his wife would be bringing him a mug of coffee while my husband would be bringing me a glass of wine!”

“Conveyancing Practice in Scotland is aimed at a wide audience including students, trainees, junior lawyers and, with its new material, will also be essential reading for Scottish property lawyers at all levels.

Euan Sinclair said: “This book has always been well-regarded in legal circles and following my father’s untimely death, it was clear to me that that the fifth edition was due a major overhaul. I realised early on in the project that I neither had the capacity nor the will to write it myself - I needed a co-author and was very pleased when Ann Stewart agreed to take on that role. She brings her many years of transactional experience and her dedicated role in informing and shaping best practice in conveyancing for the lawyers at Shepherd and Wedderburn, one of Scotland’s leading firms.

“Thanks to Ann’s wide experience, we have expanded the content significantly to include examination of title and also to weave commercial conveyancing into the mainstream of the book.”