Balfour & Manson client Trump International Golf Club Scotland, an organisation run by Donald Trump, has had its legal challenge to a planned offshore wind farm defeated in the Supreme Court.
US business tycoon Trump, who is building a golf course on the Aberdeenshire coast, instructed Balfour & Manson chairman Elaine Motion to bring the Supreme Court challenge against the Scottish Government after a series of failures in the local courts with his previous lawyers, legacy Dundas & Wilson.
Trump instructed Dundas & Wilson head of planning Ann Faulds in April 2013 to lead his court challenge after the Government granted the go-ahead to an offshore wind farm, which he said ruined the view from the golf course.
He is understood to have instead turned to Balfour & Manson earlier this year to escalate the challenge following Dundas & Wilson being taken over by CMS Cameron McKenna in May 2014.
Balfour & Manson’s Motion instructed some of the same counsel team as Dundas & Wilson had previously, John Campbell QC and James Findlay QC. Gordon Steele QC had also previously acted for Trump at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
Dundas & Wilson had a longstanding relationship with Trump having advised him on his planning permission application to build the £1bn Aberdeenshire golf course in 2007. The firm pitched for the mandate two years previously with property partner Allan Wernham advising across the project.
The major client win for Dundas led to some criticism of the firm, which had a booming renewable energy practice. Wernham told The Lawyer in 2012 that while the firm was advising on Trump’s complaint against the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC), it was keeping a distance from the campaign where possible in order to protect its renewables client relationships.
CMS’s Aberdeen office, set up by head of energy Penelope Warne, advises a range of renewable energy clients. CMS swallowed up Dundas & Wilson last year after making a £2.3m payment to the Scottish firm.
Following Wednesday’s (16 December) ruling, the Trump organisation vowed to “continue to fight” the wind farm proposal. “We will evaluate the court’s decision and continue to fight this proposal on every possible front,” read a statement.
His legal team argued planning consent for the wind farm was “legally invalid” as it was imprecise. However the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed Trump’s appeal.
The Scottish Government was represented by the Scottish Government Legal Directorate, instructing James Mure QC and Kay Springham.
The legal line-up:
For the appellants, Trump International Golf Club Scotland
Hastie Stables’ John Campbell QC and Cornerstone Barristers’ James Findlay QC, instructed by Balfour & Manson partner Elaine Motion
For the respondents, the Scottish Government
Axiom Advocates’ James Mure QC and Compass Chambers’ Kay Springham, instructed by Scottish Government Legal Directorate, litigation division
