Andrew McWhirter
Andrew’s practice focuses on high-value commercial disputes with complex legal, scientific and technical subject matter. He is particularly adept at handling large scale, complex, and document heavy litigations. Andrew is currently advising on a number of multimillion pound commercial cases which raise novel issues of fact and law.
Andrew has significant expertise in intellectual property, technology, data protection and media law. He is the leading intellectual property junior in Scotland and the only junior counsel ranked as Band 1 in Chambers UK for intellectual property. He has built up a substantial knowledge of the law in relation to intellectual property rights and has advised many well-known brands on infringement, validity and ownership of intellectual property.
Andrew is the lead lecturer and tutor on the University of Edinburgh’s Civil Court Practice course on the postgraduate Diploma in Professional Legal Practice.
Andrew also has a specialism in group litigation/class actions. In 2025, he undertook a secondment at Diageo North America, Inc in the role of Director of Litigation and Senior Legal Counsel. He advised on multiple opt-out class action lawsuits in the USA and Canada. This role gives Andrew a unique perspective on large scale group litigation, having acted in Scottish “opt-in” actions and the American “opt-out” system. His group litigation experience includes product liability, misrepresentation, personal injury, data protection, and competition claims.