Douglas Roberts

Partner, TLT

Douglas has over 23 years’ experience of advising on corporate legal matters including M&A, equity investments and corporate advisory work across a broad spectrum of clients, including SMEs, family businesses and start-ups. His general corporate experience spans a broad spectrum of sectors, including healthcare, technology, finance, retail, hospitality, engineering, energy supply and property.

Douglas is recognised as one of Scotland’s leading solicitors on employee ownership, having assisted with more than 35 transitions to employee ownership. He has also acted for Capital for Colleagues plc regarding investments in employee owned companies.

Further Douglas has developed a specialisation in sports law, acting for a number of sports clubs, governing bodies and individuals. He successfully represented clients in one of the highest profile sports law disputes in Scotland this century. Douglas worked in-house at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games regarding sponsorship, merchandising, broadcasting and ticketing.

Jurisdictions: Scotland, England & Wales

Contributed to

2

Pitfalls of setting up and operating an employee ownership trust

Practice Notes

This Practice Note outlines several of the pitfalls present, and errors or misunderstandings that may be made, when setting up or operating an employee ownership trust (EOT). It sets out the factors to be aware of and steps to be undertaken in order to prevent these issues from causing delays to the implementation of an EOT or the failure of the EOT structure and its associated tax reliefs.

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Sale of a business to an employee ownership trust

Practice Notes

This Practice Note examines the use of employee ownership trusts (EOTs). This Practice Note specifically examines the issues and considerations surrounding the sale of a company to an EOT including examining the documentation required, potential tax issues and the sale process as a whole. This Practice Note is written in conjunction with Karen Cooper of Cooper Cavendish, and Ben Watson and Douglas Roberts of TLT.

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