One of the leading figures in Scotland’s legal community, Alan McNiven, has died aged 70 after a long fight against a form of Parkinson’s disease.
Mr McNiven was chairman of Aberdeen law firm Paull and Williamsons between 2008 and 2011 and was involved in major oil deals throughout his career in the North East.
He was also a familiar fixture at the annual Offshore Technology Conference in Houston.
Alan was born and brought up in Clackmannanshire and attended Alloa Academy.
Sporting endeavours
He played cricket for his county, hockey for East of Scotland at schoolboy level and football at a junior level.
He studied at Edinburgh University and graduated with an honours degree in law in 1972.
On arriving in Aberdeen he played football for Hermes and cricket for Aberdeenshire Cricket Club.
Qualification
After he qualified as a solicitor, Alan joined Paull and Williamsons, Aberdeen, in September 1974.
He was admitted as a partner in 1980 and rose through the firm to become head of the corporate and insolvency law department and ultimately became the chairman from 2008 to 2011. He retired as a consultant in August 2013.
During his career, Alan was involved in many of the major deals in the growth of the oil industry and was a go-to person where negotiations were involved. He also sat on Aberdeen University Audit Committee for a number of years.
Street football
Outside work, Alan was the Junior Chamber Aberdeen organiser of the Champion Street Football Festival for a few years in the 1970s.
He was a keen, but not accomplished, golfer, being a member of Royal Aberdeen Golf Club (a member of its finance committee), Deeside Golf Club and Ballater Golf Club.
He helped the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen, as a member, organise golf matches against other cities in Scotland and played annually for the Scots in a Scots v Dutch solicitors match, allowing him to claim he played golf for Scotland.
He is survived by his wife, Lindsey, a well-known member of the golfing community, having been a captain of Aberdeen Ladies, daughter, Heather (a CA) and sons, Calum (a solicitor) and Neil (a surgeon), and granddaughter, Sophie.
His friend and fellow solicitor Roy Roxburgh said: “Alan was best known to his friends as a raconteur and his stories, and stories about him, will live on in the North East for a long time.”
The family’s announcement can be read here.