Ryan Macready

Expertise Ryan Advises Experience Highlights Career History

Partner

Corporate and Commercial

Expertise

Ryan is a Corporate lawyer who works with business owners, not just their businesses.

He specialises in advising owner-managed, family-owned and entrepreneurial businesses, providing corporate and commercial advice throughout the lifecycle of a business; from its establishment and early growth, through investment and acquisition, to succession and eventual exit.

Ryan recognises that, particularly in owner-managed and family businesses, the legal issues rarely exist in isolation.  The ambitions of the owners, family relationships, commercial pressures and longer-term plans for the business can all be just as important as the legal position.  His approach is therefore to understand the business and the people behind it, and to provide practical advice which takes account of the wider commercial picture.

Mergers and acquisitions form a significant part of Ryan’s practice.  He regularly advises business owners on buying and selling companies and businesses, including share and asset sales, management buy-outs, and acquisitions from administrators.  He also advises on investments, corporate reorganisations, shareholder arrangements, joint ventures, and succession planning.

Alongside transactional work, Ryan provides ongoing corporate and commercial advice to businesses and their owners, including in relation to shareholder and board matters, commercial contracts, intellectual property, corporate disputes, and corporate governance.

For many clients, Ryan’s role extends beyond a particular transaction or piece of legal work.  He aims to become a trusted adviser whom business owners can call when an opportunity, challenge or important decision arises; whether they are considering an acquisition, bringing a new shareholder into the business, navigating a disagreement between owners, restructuring for the next stage of growth, planning for succession, or ultimately selling the business they have built.

His style is straightforward, accessible and commercially focused.  Ryan’s objective is not simply to explain the legal position, but to understand what his clients are trying to achieve and help them find a practical way to get there.

Ryan Advises

  • Owner-managed and family-owned businesses
  • Entrepreneurs and founders
  • Growing and established privately owned businesses
  • Business owners planning for succession or exit
  • Shareholders and directors
  • Corporate buyers and sellers
  • Management teams and investors

Experience Highlights

  • Advising the buyers on the acquisition of one of Scotland’s largest independent accountancy practices including in relation to the acquisition of the members’ interests and on the full secured funding arrangements.
  • Advising one of Scotland’s leading groundwork and commercial landscaping businesses on the acquisition of a construction and civil engineering business to increase their offering
  • Advising the buyer on the management buy-out of one of Europe’s leading scaffolding manufacturers
  • Advising various consolidators on client book and practice acquisitions across various professional and financial services businesses
  • Acting on acquisitions of businesses and assets from administrators and in other distressed circumstances;
  • Advising shareholders and directors on shareholder agreements, investments, joint ventures, reorganisations and ownership structures;
  • Advising family and owner-managed businesses on succession planning and restructuring;
  • Establishing and restructuring corporate groups and family investment companies;
  • Advising businesses on key commercial contracts, intellectual property and licensing arrangements; and
  • Acting as an ongoing corporate and commercial adviser to business owners beyond individual transactions.

Career History

Previous Law firms

  • Dallas McMillan (Senior Associate and Head of Corporate, January 2025 to January 2026, Partner and Head of Corporate, January 2026 to August 2026)
  • Macdonald Henderson (Senior Solicitor, October 2021 to April 2023, Associate Director April 2023 to January 2025)
  • Arnold Clark (secondment as in house Trainee Solicitor / Solicitor, August 2019 to September 2019)
  • Gilson Gray LLP (Trainee Solicitor, September 2017 to September 2019, Corporate Solicitors, September 2019 to October 2021)

Memberships

  • N/A

Education

  • University of Aberdeen (LLB Honours), University of Edinburgh (Diploma in Professional Legal Practice).

Expertise

Back to top

Ryan is a Corporate lawyer who works with business owners, not just their businesses.

He specialises in advising owner-managed, family-owned and entrepreneurial businesses, providing corporate and commercial advice throughout the lifecycle of a business; from its establishment and early growth, through investment and acquisition, to succession and eventual exit.

Ryan recognises that, particularly in owner-managed and family businesses, the legal issues rarely exist in isolation.  The ambitions of the owners, family relationships, commercial pressures and longer-term plans for the business can all be just as important as the legal position.  His approach is therefore to understand the business and the people behind it, and to provide practical advice which takes account of the wider commercial picture.

Mergers and acquisitions form a significant part of Ryan’s practice.  He regularly advises business owners on buying and selling companies and businesses, including share and asset sales, management buy-outs, and acquisitions from administrators.  He also advises on investments, corporate reorganisations, shareholder arrangements, joint ventures, and succession planning.

Alongside transactional work, Ryan provides ongoing corporate and commercial advice to businesses and their owners, including in relation to shareholder and board matters, commercial contracts, intellectual property, corporate disputes, and corporate governance.

For many clients, Ryan’s role extends beyond a particular transaction or piece of legal work.  He aims to become a trusted adviser whom business owners can call when an opportunity, challenge or important decision arises; whether they are considering an acquisition, bringing a new shareholder into the business, navigating a disagreement between owners, restructuring for the next stage of growth, planning for succession, or ultimately selling the business they have built.

His style is straightforward, accessible and commercially focused.  Ryan’s objective is not simply to explain the legal position, but to understand what his clients are trying to achieve and help them find a practical way to get there.

Ryan Advises

Back to top
  • Owner-managed and family-owned businesses
  • Entrepreneurs and founders
  • Growing and established privately owned businesses
  • Business owners planning for succession or exit
  • Shareholders and directors
  • Corporate buyers and sellers
  • Management teams and investors

Experience Highlights

Back to top
  • Advising the buyers on the acquisition of one of Scotland’s largest independent accountancy practices including in relation to the acquisition of the members’ interests and on the full secured funding arrangements.
  • Advising one of Scotland’s leading groundwork and commercial landscaping businesses on the acquisition of a construction and civil engineering business to increase their offering
  • Advising the buyer on the management buy-out of one of Europe’s leading scaffolding manufacturers
  • Advising various consolidators on client book and practice acquisitions across various professional and financial services businesses
  • Acting on acquisitions of businesses and assets from administrators and in other distressed circumstances;
  • Advising shareholders and directors on shareholder agreements, investments, joint ventures, reorganisations and ownership structures;
  • Advising family and owner-managed businesses on succession planning and restructuring;
  • Establishing and restructuring corporate groups and family investment companies;
  • Advising businesses on key commercial contracts, intellectual property and licensing arrangements; and
  • Acting as an ongoing corporate and commercial adviser to business owners beyond individual transactions.

Career History

Back to top

Previous Law firms

  • Dallas McMillan (Senior Associate and Head of Corporate, January 2025 to January 2026, Partner and Head of Corporate, January 2026 to August 2026)
  • Macdonald Henderson (Senior Solicitor, October 2021 to April 2023, Associate Director April 2023 to January 2025)
  • Arnold Clark (secondment as in house Trainee Solicitor / Solicitor, August 2019 to September 2019)
  • Gilson Gray LLP (Trainee Solicitor, September 2017 to September 2019, Corporate Solicitors, September 2019 to October 2021)

Memberships

  • N/A

Education

  • University of Aberdeen (LLB Honours), University of Edinburgh (Diploma in Professional Legal Practice).