
Iain MacSween

Iain MacSween represents business and corporate clients in the fields of banking and financial services, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law.
Iain MacSween represents business and corporate clients in the fields of banking and financial services, corporate law, mergers and acquisitions, and securities law.
Iain represents financial institutions and their holding companies on a variety of corporate, regulatory and operational issues. Iain’s experience includes the chartering of de novo banks, the conversion of mutual financial institutions, public offerings, private equity and debt offerings, corporate reorganizations, mergers and acquisitions, regulatory applications and enforcement matters, securities law compliance, corporate governance, labor and employment, executive compensation, commercial contracts, letters of credit, swap transactions and large loans. Iain also represents corporations in connection with commercial loans and mezzanine financing transactions.
As outside general counsel to a number of financial institutions throughout the Southeast, Iain regularly represents these financial institutions and their holding companies in connection with their regulation and supervision by the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, NASDAQ and the Securities and Exchange Commission, as well as other federal and state regulators.
Representative experience includes:
Iain uses his more than 20 years of legal experience to represent public and private companies in mergers and acquisitions.
Representative experience includes:
Iain has been practicing law since 1995. Since joining Brooks Pierce in 2005, Iain has served as counsel to issuers, selling shareholders and underwriters in public and private securities offerings having an aggregate value in excess of $1 billion. Iain also counsels publicly traded corporations on federal securities issues, including 1934 Act periodic reporting requirements.
Representative experience includes:
Iain works with individuals and businesses of all sizes in corporate and transactional matters, including the sale and purchase of businesses, commercial contracts, equity and debt financing, and loan workouts.
Representative experience includes:
Iain has a unique background, having practiced law in the United Kingdom for almost a decade before qualifying as an attorney in the United States. As former Business Counsel to a large U.S. and European energy company, Iain provided counsel on regulatory matters, major company and industry reorganizations, financial services, credit risk, environmental matters, construction projects, and real estate matters. He also drafted and negotiated multi-million dollar wholesale energy, construction, and procurement contracts.
Iain previously practiced in the commercial real estate department of a premier British law firm, where he principally acted on behalf of several multi-national banks and oil and gas companies in property acquisitions, secured lending, private financing initiative projects and commercial lease agreements.
Recognized in North Carolina Super Lawyers (Thomson Reuters) as a “Rising Star” in Banking Law (2013) and Administrative Law (2012)
Received the prestigious "AV" Peer Review Rating from LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell (highest rating possible and signifies that reviewing lawyers consider him to have "Very High to Preeminent" legal ability and "Very High" ethical standards)
Moderator, Friendly Avenue Baptist Church (2018-present)
Board Member, Vice-Chairman, and Member of Executive Committee, UNITE Greensboro Jail Ministry (2018-present)
Volunteer, UNITE Greensboro Jail Ministry (2014-present)
Member, North Carolina Bar Association (2005-present)
Member, Greensboro Bar Association (2005-present)
Member, New York State Bar Association (2005-present)
Member, American Bar Association
Youth Soccer Coach, YMCA/Greensboro United Soccer Association (2013-2018)
Deacon, Friendly Avenue Baptist Church (2015-2018)
Member, Senior Pastor Search Committee, Friendly Avenue Baptist Church (2017-2018)
Chairman, Personnel Committee, Friendly Avenue Baptist Church (2015-2017)
Leadership Greensboro (2009-2010)
Iain possesses a unique background, having practiced law in the United Kingdom before qualifying as an attorney in the United States. Qualifying as a Scottish solicitor in 1996, Iain has worked in private practice with a premier Scottish law firm and in-house with a FTSE 50 multi-national energy company. In 2005, Iain was admitted to the New York and North Carolina Bars, and joined Brooks Pierce.
Things You May Not Know About Me:
At my swearing-in ceremony, a senior partner introduced me as “Possibly the only member of the Greensboro Bar who was previously a shepherd on the Isle of Skye.” It’s true, and while I still have a sheepdog, neither he nor I would know what to do if we saw a sheep in Greensboro.
I met my wife in Glasgow, Scotland, while she was on a study abroad program from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She returned home to North Carolina engaged. Warning to all parents: Don’t send your children on study abroad programs!
I enjoy playing and watching football (called 'soccer' on this side of The Pond). I follow a team in Paisley, Scotland called St. Mirren. They’re not very good.
The MacSween clan motto is “Constant and faithful.” My mother’s clan is MacGillivray. The MacGillivray clan motto is “Touch not this cat.“ No, I don’t understand what it means either.
My cousin (John Lowrie Morrison aka “Jolomo”) is a famous Scottish artist. I have absolutely no artistic skills.
If I were not a lawyer, then perhaps I’d still be a shepherd on the Isle of Skye.