New UK Council Member from Morton Fraser MacRoberts

We are excited to welcome Rod Munro, Partner in the Infrastructure and Projects team at Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP, Edinburgh, as the newest member of the IPFA UK Council.

We asked Rod a few questions to get to know him a little better:

Rod’s bio:

• A Partner in the Infrastructure and Projects team at Morton Fraser MacRoberts LLP, Edinburgh, with a very wide transactional experience covering:
• PFI/PPP/NPD, BSF, LIFT, and Scottish Hub projects: primary, secondary and operational matters across the UK: all the major sectors, including accommodation, emergency, health, education, energy from waste, roads, and waste water.
• Energy & renewables: power stations, CHP, wind, biomass, hydro, AD, (merchant) Energy from Waste projects, and hydrogen regulation
• Rail: nationalisation of the ScotRail and Caledonian Sleeper franchises
• Facilities management: major public FM contracts
• EV charging: advising on a major Scottish EV project covering 8 local authority areas
• Major Health Managed Services Arrangements
• “Leading Partner” in Projects, Legal 500

IPFA: If you could personally change or influence one thing within infrastructure and/or energy, what would it be?

Rod: Assisting better understanding and knowledge sharing both between policy makers and advisory groups assisting in delivery of projects, and among the various advisory groupings. For junior and mid-level associates in particular, policy understanding and analysis (e.g. on costs and impact on the nation, consumers, debt etc) can sometimes be hard to come by- but is vital and interesting context to the day to day tasks of delivering schemes. AI and smart contracts may, in time, enable or result in a better understanding of that wider context, at least for those who seek it. Tech led specialisation might do the opposite though and organisations like IPFA are a vital resource for those who seek understanding and knowledge of Government policy, market trends and inter disciplinary collaboration.

IPFA: Knowing what you know now, what advice would you give to yourself at the start of your career?

Rod: Research, seek views on, the impact of AI, smart contracts and blockchain on the nature of legal work. Not easy but smart contracts are already in use in some sectors and will no doubt appear in infrastructure work, changing legal roles and input. Consider what the nature of workflows directed by legal tech might be and see what training and other opportunities are offered to mitigate the obvious risks. Consider too whether other critical, commercial, perspectives and input skills may be useful for a legal career in a time of advancing tech – perhaps in related or underlying policy, finance or technical matters.