People: Parry to head up DLA Piper's Scottish arm

THE Scottish office of international law firm DLA Piper has poached Gareth Parry from rival McGrigors to head up its construction and engineering team in Scotland.

Parry will lead a team of six lawyers who are working on some of Scotland's biggest construction projects, including the Forth Replacement Crossing, although they will be sticking to the legal stuff and leaving the hard hats and dirty work to the builders.

Simon Rae, who took over as DLA's managing partner for Scotland in January, says: "Gareth Parry's appointment is another major coup for DLA Piper in Scotland and I am delighted to welcome him."

Hot on the heels of the DLA announcement comes the news that Shepherd & Wedderburn has beefed up its Aberdeen-based energy practice with the appointment of Kevin McGrory, pictured, who has more than 25 years' experience in the oil and gas industry, including at Unocal, Chevron, Anadarko Petroleum Corporation, Delta International and Fairfield Energy.

Brodies has hired two new partners, David Allan and Catherine Feechan from Biggart Baillie. They will be based in Brodies' Glasgow office.

Both have significant track records in listings and fund-raising, as well as private equity and general M&A activity, with particular experience in the life sciences and technology sectors.

Brodies is also to be joined later this month by corporate partner, Will McIntosh, bringing the corporate group to 11 partners.

Taxpayer-backed Royal Bank of Scotland has appointed former HM Treasury press officer Jason Knauf as its new head of group media.

Knauf, a US citizen who has also spent time working in New Zealand, was previously press spokesman for City minister Lord Myners.

RBS' head of group corporate affairs, Andrew Wilson, tells us that Knauf was selected after an "exhaustive internal and external search", but now that RBS is 84 per cent owned by the government, it seems fitting that a former mandarin has been drafted in to run the show.

Seeing the Biggar picture in charity drive for cancer trust

WHILE most people use retirement to take their foot off the gas, Alan Biggar, a former head of Brewin Dolphin in Edinburgh, has no intention of living life out of the fast lane in his twilight years.

Biggar, who was nicknamed "Hot Rod" after he drove his 50-year-old Morgan sports car around all of Brewin Dolphin's 39 UK offices for charity, appears to be carving out a second career as an art dealer.

Biggar is continuing to support the Teenage Cancer Trust, the charity he raised 163,679 for during his road trip, in retirement by persuading artists friends – who include John Bellany, John Lowrie Morrison and Margaret Evans – to donate paintings for the trust's 1.6 million East of Scotland Appeal, which launches tomorrow.

The paintings will be auctioned at a dinner at Prestonfield on 12 March.

GOOD DAY

Tony Hayward

THE 45 per cent fall in profits at oil giant BP in 2009 has had little effect on the personal profits of its chief executive, Tony Hayward.

The oil giant's annual report reveals that Hayward enjoyed a 41 per cent rise in total pay last year to 4.01 million This figure includes salary, cash bonus and share awards and is up from 2.85m in 2008.

BAD DAY

George Papandreou

THINGS were looking bad for Greek prime minister George Papandreou's visit to Berlin yesterday even before his plane hit the tarmac.

German economic minister Rainer Bruederle made it clear just hours before his arrival that the country had no intention of offering a single cent in aid to the beleaguered Greek economy.