Dr Alisdair MacPherson
Telephone

Dr Alisdair MacPherson
MA (Hons), LLB, DipLP, PhD, Solicitor (Non-Practising), NP, WS, FHEA
Lecturer
- About
-
Room C46F, School of Law, Taylor Building, Old Aberdeen, AB24 3UB
Biography
Alisdair joined the School of Law as a lecturer in June 2018, having previously been a teaching fellow at the University of Edinburgh. Alisdair carried out postgraduate research at the University of Edinburgh on floating charges and was awarded a PhD in summer 2018 for his thesis "The Attachment of the Floating Charge in Scots Law". This research was supervised by Mr Scott Wortley and Professor George Gretton and has been published as a monograph, The Floating Charge, in the Studies in Scots Law series. Alisdair has continued to research in this area, and in related fields, and is a co-editor of Floating Charges in Scotland: New Perspectives and Current Issues. Alisdair is also a co-author of Commercial Law in Scotland and the editor of Avizandum Statutes in Scots Commercial and Consumer Law.
During the course of his doctoral studies, Alisdair spent a year at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law in Hamburg. Prior to commencing his PhD research, Alisdair qualified as a solicitor and notary public in Scotland. In addition, he holds an MA (Hons) in history, LLB and Diploma in Legal Practice, all from the University of Edinburgh.
Alisdair was a member of the Scottish Law Commission's Moveable Transactions Advisory Group. He is on the Law Society of Scotland's Board of Examiners as examiner for Scots Commercial Law and is part of the Ius Commune Research School. He is also a member of the European Law Institute.
Alisdair is a member of the Centre for Commercial Law and the Centre for Scots Law at the University of Aberdeen. He regularly responds to consultations and calls for evidence and co-ordinates submissions on behalf of the Centre for Scots Law. He is also a Writer to the Signet and the Honorary Secretary of the Aberdeen Student Law Review. In 2020, Alisdair became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
In summer 2022 he was a visiting academic at the University of Oxford's Institute of European and Comparative Law.
Memberships and Affiliations
- Internal Memberships
-
Personal Tutor
Corporate Finance and Law LLM Coordinator
Strategic Activity Lead for Public Policy Engagement (Centre for Scots Law)
Athena SWAN SAT Member
Library Committee Convenor
Employability, Entrepreneurship and Co-Curricular Committee Convenor
Qatar LLM Programme Coordinator (2022)
Commercial Law Theme Coordinator (2022)
Employer Liaison Committee (2018-2020)
Deputy LLM Admissions Selector (2018-2020)
LLM International Commercial Law Co-ordinator (2019)
LLM Business Law and Sustainable Development Co-ordinator (2019)
Study Abroad Co-ordinator (2019-2020)
Digital Learning Representative (2019-2020)
- External Memberships
-
Scots Commercial Law Examiner, Law Society of Scotland
External Examiner, University of Glasgow
Book Review Editor for Edinburgh Law Review
Member of the Scottish Law Commission's Moveable Transactions Advisory Group
Member of the Banking, Company and Insolvency Law Sub-Committee, Law Society of Scotland
Prizes and Awards
University of Aberdeen - Principal's Early Career Outstanding Researcher Award (Arts, Humanities and Social Science) (2022)
- Research
-
Research Overview
Secured transactions, insolvency law, commercial law, company law, property law, law of trusts, comparative law, modern legal history.
Alisdair would be interested in supervising research students working in any of these areas. He is currently supervising PhD research on the following topics:
- Financial security instruments for decommissioning liabilities
- The protection of shareholders in company law and securities law
- Employee participation in corporate governance
He has also previously supervised research on the law of securitisation in England, France and Scotland.
Research Areas
Accepting PhDs
I am currently accepting PhDs in Law.
Please get in touch if you would like to discuss your research ideas further.
Research Specialisms
- Business Law
- Law
- Scots Law
- Private Law
- Property Law
Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is HESA open data, published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence.
Floating Charges in Scotland: New Perspectives and Current Issues
Alisdair is a co-editor of, and contributor to, Floating Charges in Scotland: New Perspectives and Current Issues. The book is an edited collection published by Edinburgh University Press in 2022. It contains chapters by leading experts, who examine various aspects of floating charges from a number of different perspectives. The chapters are grouped into three parts: The History of Floating Charges; Theoretical, Comparative and Policy Perspectives; and Practice, Doctrine and the Future.
Knowledge Exchange
Papers and Presentations
"Floating Charges in Comparative Perspective", Institute of European and Comparative Law Seminar, University of Oxford (28 June 2022)
"Recent Developments in Corporate Insolvency Law: CIGA 2020 and Beyond", Insolvency Law Conference, Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow (30 March 2022)
"The 'Pre-History' of Floating Charges in Scots Law", Scottish Property Law Discussion Group (28 October 2020)
"Consumer Sales Contracts: Transfer of Ownership", Scottish Law Commission Workshop on Consumer Contracts in Scotland: Reforming the Law of Transfer of Ownership (8 October 2020)
"The 'Pre-History' of Floating Charges in Scots Law", Scottish Legal History Group Conference (3 October 2020)
"Floating Charges in Comparative Perspective", Young Property Lawyers’ Forum Experts' Meeting, University of Glasgow (5 June 2019)
"The Reform of Security over Moveable Property in Scots Law", Young Property Lawyers’ Forum, University of Maastricht (28 May 2018)
"A Real Right Sui Generis? The Floating Charge in Scots Law", Young Property Lawyers' Forum, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, Hamburg (23 September 2016)
"Floating Charges and Trust Property in Scots Law", Scots Law Discussion Group, University of Edinburgh (24 June 2016)
"The Floating Charge in Scots Law and its Attachment to Property", Modern Studies in Property Law Postgraduate Conference, Queen’s University, Belfast (7 April 2016)
"A Tale of Two Mixed Systems: Assignation/Cession in Security in Scotland and South Africa", Young Property Lawyers’ Forum, University of Groningen (23 November 2015)
"The Floating Charge Attachment and Ranking Paradox in Scots Law", Aktuelle Stunde, Max-Planck-Institut für ausländisches und internationales Privatrecht, Hamburg (21 October 2014)
Blog Posts
Datasets
J Hardman and A D J MacPherson, "Scottish Companies Who Have Filed Certain Insolvency Forms between 1 October 2019 and 30 September 2020" (2021) DOI: https://doi.org/10.7488/ds/3040
- Teaching
-
Teaching Responsibilities
LS2525 – Commercial Organisations and Insolvency (Course Co-ordinator)
LS4067/LX4067 – Corporate Finance Law (Honours) (Course Co-ordinator)
LS4573/LX4573 – Corporate Insolvency Law (Honours) (Course Co-ordinator)
LS501G – Comparative and International Perspectives on Company Law (LLM) (Course Co-ordinator)
LS501R – Advanced Research Skills for Postgraduate Researchers
LS503N – Introduction to Corporate Finance Law (Course Co-ordinator)
LS553L – Debt Finance Law (Course Co-ordinator)
LS553M – Equity Finance Law (Course Co-ordinator)
QL5503 – Comparative and International Perspectives on Company Law (LLM – Qatar) (Course Co-ordinator)
LS2031 – Property Law (2019-2020)
LS2533 – Business Law (2018-2020)
LS3030 – Law of Equity and Trusts of England and Wales (2018-2021)
LS503D – Financing of International Sales - Distance Learning (2019-2020)
- Publications
-
Page 1 of 5 Results 1 to 10 of 47
Scottish Statutory Debt Solutions and Diligence: A Response in a Time of Crisis
Edinburgh Law ReviewContributions to Journals: ArticlesAccretion of Title in Scots Law: Property Law Doing what the Granter is Obliged to Do
Iurium Itinera. Mohr Siebeck, pp. 821-845Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters- [ONLINE] DOI: https://doi.org/10.1628/978-3-16-161487-3
Avizandum Statutes on Scots Commercial and Consumer Law: 2022-2023
Edinburgh University PressBooks and Reports: BooksFloating Charges in Scotland: Lessons from a Mixed Legal System
Católica Law Review, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 11-42Contributions to Journals: ArticlesFloating Charges
Edward Elgar Research Handbook on EU Property Law. Edward Elgar PublishingChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersDigital Assets Law Reform in England and Wales and Prospects for Scotland
Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and WebsitesCommercial Law Essentials
Edinburgh University Press. 224 pagesBooks and Reports: BooksGratuitous Alienations and the Implications of MacDonald v Carnbroe Estates Ltd
Juridical Review, no. 2, pp. 59-79Contributions to Journals: ArticlesEditors' Preface
Floating Charges in Scotland. Hardman, J., MacPherson, A. D. J. (eds.). Edinburgh University PressChapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: ChaptersFloating Charges in Scotland: New Perspectives and Current Issues
Edinburgh University PressBooks and Reports: Books- [ONLINE] Publisher website