A clutch of major law firms have continued the trend for strong 2023-24 results, with Brodies, Shoosmiths, Clyde & Co and Watson Farley & Williams among the latest to reveal healthy financial figures.

Brodies has today (15 July) posted a 7.5% revenue increase to hit £114.3m, marking 14 consecutive years of growth for the firm after it hit a key milestone last year when it became the first Scottish firm to pass the £100m mark.

After a 6% bump last year, profit held steady with a 1.2% increase from £48.6m to £49.2m. Profit per equity partner (PEP) also stayed flat at £846,000.

Managing partner Stephen Goldie, who replaced Nick Scott in May following Scott’s retirement, said that the firm has made progress across all core practice areas – banking and finance, corporate and commercial, dispute resolution and risk, personal and family, and real estate. ‘Our strategic plans for the next three-year cycle are now underway and we look to the future with confidence, in ourselves and in the resilience and ambitions of the clients that we work with,’ he said in a statement.

Clydes has also posted a strong set of results, with revenue up 10% to £845m, and PEP up by more than 4% to £739,000, with profit up 3% to £174.4m.

The headline turnover increase comes after the 22% increase the firm notched last year, though only 6% of that was ‘organic growth’, with the rest of the bump accounted for by the completion of Clydes’ merger with BLM.

Clydes continued to expand this year, opening new offices in Warsaw and Jeddah in December and May respectively. The UK accounted for 47% of the firm’s total revenue, with the proportion of revenue generated outside the UK a percentage point down on last year’s 54%.

Europe was the fastest growing region with a 17% increase in turnover. The shares accounted for by the US and Asia-Pacific were each down by half a percentage point on last year, to 21.5% and 11.5% respectively. The Middle East and Africa accounted for 12% of the firm’s turnover and Latin America for 2% – the same proportions as last year, while the UK saw 9% growth.

Watson Farley & Williams has also posted double-digit growth of 11%, with revenue at £238.4m, up from £214.7m last year.

Overall profit also rose by 7.2% to £66.8m from £62.3m, with PEP remaining steady at £593,000, a slight increase of 1.5% from last year’s £584,000. Equity partner numbers, meanwhile, went up nearly 6% from 107 to an estimated total of 113.

Commenting on these results in a statement, managing partner Lindsey Keeble said: ‘We continue to build on the successes of previous years with double digit global income growth. With a majority equity partnership, we continue to invest in the firm to build a sustainable business with strength and depth at all levels.’

Revenue was also up at Charles Russell Speechlys, where a 13% bump took turnover to £218.3m after a 9% increase last year.

Profit was up by more than 20% to £45.9m, while PEP went up more than 30% to hit £661,000, comfortably offsetting last year’s 3% dip.

The firm’s UK offices generated £174.4m (a little under 80%), with £43.9m from overseas. International revenue growth was faster than the firmwide average, at 15%, with the Luxembourg, Paris, and Switzerland offices singled out as strong performers. The firm also reported 30% revenue growth in Asia, boosted by lateral hires and the July launch of its Singapore office.

‘Our results this year paint a picture of sustained growth’, said managing partner Simon Ridpath in a statement. ‘The fact we continue to see strong revenue and profit numbers and investments back into the firm bodes well for the future, and we remain fully confident in our strategy.’

The firm’s strategy still has private capital as a ‘core focus’ according to Ridpath who also mentioned the ‘raft of senior lateral hires across the firm’, referencing the 22 partners the firm has taken on since the last financial year.

At Shoosmiths, meanwhile, revenue ticked up 5% to push the firm over the £200m mark for the first time to hit £206.7m. Profit was up 5% to £66m, while PEP jumped 16% to £781,000.

Though the increase in turnover was slightly below both the 7% the firm posted last year and the previous year’s 8%, the firm exceeded last year’s performance on profit, which increased 3% last year, and PEP, which went up by just £1,000. The corporate and litigation departments both outperformed the wider firm at 15% and 12% growth respectively, while real estate stayed flat.

elisha.juttla@legalbusiness.co.uk

alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk

tom.cox@legalease.co.uk

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I’m the only one in my immediate family who isn’t a scientist – they’re all biologists and engineers. My grandfather, though, was a lawyer in a small market town in Fife so I’d always been interested in law as a career. He was a traditional high street lawyer – doing very little corporate work – so training at Clifford Chance (CC) was a completely different professional life from his. But from him I saw someone who was regarded as an upright person in the community.

I began my career at CC which, at the time, was the biggest firm in the world. I came to London to follow my then girlfriend who was a professional violinist, but we’d split up by the time I got there! I wanted the experience and challenge of working in a huge organisation.

A few years later I got married and we took a year off to travel. I’d seen my friends from uni back in Scotland with evenings off and hobbies, and I’d always had at the back of my mind that I might go back. They were working on the Scottish side of transactions I was on in London so I knew I didn’t have to compromise on the quality of work or clients to achieve a better work/life balance.

You have more time free as managing partner than you might think – the challenge is what you do with it. I gave up all client work; I realised the most important thing to do with the time was stop and think. Think about the things that you could get involved in that nudge the business in the right direction, to help the people.

Every Friday afternoon I find someone to say thank you to. You never run out of people to say thank you to – it’s like a super power that never wears out.

The person who inspired me most professionally is our chair, Christine O’Neill. She is, by any margin, the brightest lawyer I’ve ever met. But allied to that she can think in 3D and combines a fearsome intelligence with a waspish sense of humour. It’s no surprise the Scottish government and the BBC (among others) seek her counsel – our firm benefits from that 365 days a year.

My next chapter won’t involve any paid role. I’m going to go back to university to study history of art. I studied it in between requalifying into English law and have been interested in it ever since. It’s history through the lens of art – it’s as much about who’s creating the art as what the painting is about.

‘My next chapter won’t involve any paid role. I’m going to go back to university to study history of art. It’s history through the lens of art – it’s as much about who’s creating the art as what the painting is about.’

As managing partner you’re on two terms and my second term was up. It’s 32 years since I was a trainee and it’s a good time to do something else. When I started at CC my old boss retired at 47; I always had in mind that I should force myself to do new things at about 50.

I liked real estate because it’s tangible; you can see these structures being built, and I could explain it to my mum(!). It’s friendly and a great industry to be involved in.

I always remembered the deals less than the people I worked with on them. In this role, I haven’t missed the client work. I was ready to do something different; I wanted a new backdrop against which to test myself.

Management is all about the people. You can get caught up in P&Ls and balance sheets but it’s all about people. Our most important audience is our internal audience; are they optimistic when they’re spending time with you? I would like to think that for all of the tangible success we have enjoyed, folk would say we cared about our people. We put a huge amount of investment into our people.

Twenty years ago we were the 13th biggest firm in Scotland but now we’re the biggest, with revenue of £100m. I wanted our firm to get to £100m – it was important to me to show that a firm in Scotland could do that; and to show our colleagues in the firm what the view looked like from there. I’ve also spent a lot of time getting our offices to reflect the firm we have now become. And I’m proud of making sure we celebrate everyone in the firm – business services colleagues, as well as lawyers. They have careers, degrees, hopes and aspirations too. We banned the use of non-lawyer as a word.

Half of the firms that were here 20 years ago no longer exist; they’ve been replaced with international or national UK firms. We welcome them all, because it makes it easier for us to differentiate ourselves. There are pros and cons of the big international firms versus independents; they force us to distinguish what’s compelling about our proposition.

We have a strategic review every three years in which we challenge everything – right down to why we are still together, but we’re proud of what we’ve created. Everyone in Brodies feels they have a stake in what we’ve created.

Our target hours for our lawyers are 1,200, which is much less than everyone else. We want our folk to spend time mentoring, training their younger colleagues.

‘Twenty years ago we were the 13th biggest firm in Scotland, but now we’re the biggest, with revenue of £100m.’

It was a privilege to be in management during Covid – you saw people at their best, all the acts of human kindness. Pride, and humanity, don’t come from job titles and seniority didn’t matter; sitting in the middle you saw all the wonderful things people were doing. I’ve been very fortunate with the hand I was dealt.

The danger for any business comes in setting plans that aren’t ambitious enough and then achieving them. There’s still plenty of space to grow in Scotland, and beyond. Energy transition is driving work everywhere. We’ve already set our 2024-27 strategy – it tells us how our firm will continue to grow.

Tech is an opportunity, not a challenge. Our biggest constraint has always been recruitment – getting as many people as we need; if you can have tech to help the people we already have be more productive and free them to focus even more on clients, that’s something we should welcome with open arms. I don’t see it replacing lawyers, but we’ll have more data scientists, project managers etc so we’ll be competing more with other industries for the same talent. It will force us to challenge ourselves.

I once judged the property awards in Scotland and I read out the prizes in the wrong order. Luckily they laughed but I made a fool of myself in front of more than 400 industry folk!

Personality-based conflict is the hardest bit of the job. People puffing up their chests for the sake of it. Usually I just say the two of you can go away and come up with the answer, or I’ll get someone else to do it. That frequently works.

I’m a big fan of Wes Anderson. In The Life Aquatic, Steve Zissou stands looking out at the ocean and says: ‘This is an adventure – you shouldn’t know what’s coming.’ That’s what I’m looking forward to now.

I have a twin brother. He’s an engineer but in life we’re fellow mariners. It’s a nice thing to have a twin brother – there’s always someone on the journey with you.

I want to do a lot of travelling. My wife was a lawyer but by the time we had our third child she gave up work to look after our kids. She is the better part of my story; the part seldom told; behind my career is someone who gave up her career so I could see mine out. We always had a plan to go travelling again and I am honouring a commitment I made to her.

My kids are all doing the science bit – they know I’ve enjoyed the law, but they’re going back to our family’s natural routes.

Words: Georgina Stanley; Portrait: Juan Trujillo

georgina.stanley@legalease.co.uk

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Brodies has become the first independent Scottish firm to pass the £100m revenue mark.

The LB100 firm posted a turnover of £106.25m, marking an 8% growth compared to last year’s figure of £98.5m.

This is the firm’s thirteenth consecutive year of growth, while operating profit also increased by 6% from £46.1m to £48.6m

Managing partner Nick Scott (pictured) told Legal Business: ‘This year’s figures are the result of all our practices making progress, but the fastest growing practice area here was our personal and family practice.’

He added that reaching this milestone came at a time of a ‘constantly changing backdrop’ citing events such as the war in Ukraine, high inflation, and uncertain financial markets.

‘But it’s our job, of course as a firm to set ourselves a plan of making sure we’re making progress, whatever the backdrop,’ he continued.

The firm’s headcount has also grown by 3% from 771 to 794 and all eligible colleagues received a bonus of 6% in June, adding to bonuses paid throughout last year.

Earlier this year the firm launched its first Middle East office in Abu Dhabi, which coincides with further plans to upgrade its Scottish offices later this year.

Speaking about the Scottish legal market more broadly, Scott continued: ‘We are anticipating that transactional markets will pick up as the year goes through. We’re anticipating there being more activity on that side of the business, but disputes services generally are also in strong demand.’

Later this year the firm will reveal its strategic plans for 2024 to 2027.

Elsewhere in Scotland, Morton Fraser has also reported its highest-ever annual revenue of £25.7m.

The firm said this is an increase of 8% year on year and an increase of 25% over the last two years.

Chief executive Chris Harte told Legal Business: ‘We’ve had a growth rate across the business which has been consistent, with particular spikes in corporate, employment and private client practice areas. It’s encouraging that we’re having broad growth, which is not overly dependent on one area.

‘We compete with a range of firms, including large international firms and local firms, and our focus is making sure we are focusing on those service lines. This has helped drive our success.’

All staff will receive a bonus of 6%, which is not limited to just fee earners.

Finally, national UK firm Freeths has announced the opening of a new office in Glasgow, marking the firm’s first expansion outside of England.

Addleshaw Goddard real estate partners Paul Ockrim and Nick Taylor have joined Freeths as part of the expansion, which will be the firm’s 13th office in the UK.

Freeths has also revealed a 15% growth rate in revenue, taking its turnover to £129m, up 220% from £40.2m in 2014.

National managing partner Karl Jansen told Legal Business: ‘The move into Scotland came at the right point and right opportunity. We are seeing increasing demand from our clients for Scottish work, allied with more energy work up in Scotland which is a key area of growth.

‘We are starting out in Glasgow with a real estate practice, but we plan on expanding into other areas such as construction and planning, and obvious areas like corporate, litigation and employment. We fully plan to build a full service offering in the country.’

Elisha.Juttla@legalease.co.uk

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As financial results season enters the home straight, Scottish leaders Burness Paull and Brodies, as well as London-based disputes firm Stewarts, have announced strong increases to their top and bottom lines.

Burness Paull has unveiled a bullish set of financial results, with a 9% rise in turnover to £78.6m and a 7% hike in profit to £35.7m. Employees in particular will welcome the news, as the numbers are sufficient to trigger an all-staff bonus worth either 5% of their annual salary, or £2,500, whichever is higher.

Two years into a three-year strategy to attract and develop top talent, much of the growth is thanks to strong years for the firm’s staple practice areas of finance, real estate, dispute resolution and employment, though restructuring, technology, tax and public law also fared well. Standout transactions included Incremental Group’s £175m takeover by Telefónica Tech, and repeat instructions from tech giants such as Amazon and Comcast.

While positive, these results could not match the growth in 2020/21, when the revenue jumped 19% and profit 39% across the Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen offices.

Speaking to Legal Business, chair Peter Lawson (pictured) said: ‘We did experience a slight softening in the market following global inflation and the war in Ukraine. So we were delighted to come in pretty much what we budgeted. It’s just a slight softening, work continues to come in and we are still very busy.’

While profit and revenue were up, profit per equity partner (PEP) only saw a negligible increase from £725,000 to £729,000. Lawson said: ‘We took a strategic decision to allocate some equity points to the non-equity partners this year. We felt it was the right thing to do, to incentivise and reward all of the partners across the firm and we were pleased that we triggered our all-staff bonus’.

Over the last 12 months, the firm has brought in eight lateral partner hires, including immigration lawyer Grace McGill. The firm has also looked to move into family law, having hired former Brodies lawyers Richard Smith and Jennifer Wilkie earlier this year.

For its part, rival firm Brodies last month announced a twelfth consecutive year of growth which saw revenue reach £98.5m, up 20% on the previous year, as well as a boost in profit of 18% to £46.1m. The latest numbers will be particularly welcome given a static 2020/21, which saw both profit and revenue rise by just £0.5m.

Managing partner Nick Scott said: ‘Throughout the year, investments continued to be made in people, with the recruitment of colleagues in legal and business services teams, the payment of bonuses, and the introduction of new reward structures more closely aligning individual performance with reward. These measures represent the single largest investment in colleagues and colleague reward the firm has, to date, made.’

The last 12 months have seen the firm focus heavily on its office premises. A new Edinburgh office in January 2022 followed the opening of a London branch last summer, with a new Inverness outpost set to open its doors later this year.

Elsewhere, litigation specialist Stewarts has continued its striking financial run, today revealing a 43% jump in turnover and an eye-watering 93% uplift in profits. Total revenue grew from £79.7m to just over £114m, while net profit rocketed from £30m to £58m. Profit per equity partner (PEP) has shot up 86% from £1.4m to £2.7m.

On a four year track, revenues are up by 83%, however this includes a couple of shaky years where revenue  and PEP  plummeted as a result of Stewarts’ volatile contingency-fee reliant model.

The firm also announced its equity spread – Stewarts’ top earner took home £3.4m last year, while its lowest equity payout still easily broke seven figures at close to £1.2m.

Managing partner Stuart Dench, who replaced the long-serving John Cahill on 1 August, said: ‘During the year, we litigated ground-breaking cases, resolved disputes and achieved excellent outcomes for our clients. In previous years, we have indicated that our revenue and profit patterns will be “non-linear”. That remains the case, as these results demonstrate.’

Dench added that Stewarts plans to invest in new areas of work, announcing the launch of a policyholder disputes practice in September. A significant financial boon would have come Stewarts way this year, after Tesco settled a long-running shareholder dispute, paying out £193m. The dispute related to an accounting discrepancy in 2014 that saw the retailer post incorrect profits by a margin of £263m, with Stewarts partner Sean Upson leading a team representing a group of 112 claimants.

Charles.avery@legalease.co.uk

Tom.baker@legalease.co.uk

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Scottish leader Brodies is the latest firm in the LB100 to display its fiscal resilience, growing revenue and operating profit despite a significant Covid-19-induced slowdown during the closing months of 2019/20. 

Revenue at the Scottish independent was up 7% to £82m from £76.9m last year, making it 10 years of consecutive growth at Brodies and a 20% increase over the last two years. Operating profits, meanwhile, underwent a more muted 3% rise to £38.5m while profit per equity partner (PEP) suffered a 4% drop to £680,000 amid headcount increases. ‘Like many firms, we made a fair bit of progress until February,’ managing partner Nick Scott (pictured) told Legal Business. ‘We were up more than 7% up until the last couple months of the year when we were impacted by Covid.’

The 2019/20 performance is something of a slowdown on the previous financial year, when Brodies returned to form with a 12% hike in revenue following a period of more pedestrian growth. This year’s turnover was driven by mandates including acting for Chevron North Sea on the sale of ten Central North Sea assets to Ithaca Energy and acting for Accel-KKR on a series of international acquisitions to the private equity fund’s European portfolio. The firm also increased its cash balances from £21m to £25m in 2019/20. 

Meanwhile, Brodies also grew overall headcount over the financial year by 6%, including 29 additions to its corporate and commercial practice and 33 to its litigation practice. Throughout the Covid-19 lockdown Brodies has continued with new hires, with Scott attributing the firm’s minor slide in PEP to this investment in people.  

Despite the pervasive economic uncertainty due to Covid-19 and a potential no-deal Brexit, Scott is sanguine about the firm’s prospects in 2020: ‘Like most firms we made projections throughout this period and we’re currently a bit ahead on cash collected and client activity,’ he added. ‘There is an opportunity there; there is a lot of demand and clients asking for our help with their operational difficulties but also their wider difficulties in their lives. There is an opportunity for lawyers to help clients make sense of it all. There will be many existing clients who will need our help but also new clients entering the market.’ 

thomas.alan@legalbusiness.co.uk 

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Stephen Goldie discusses Brodies’ growing litigation practice and the increasing popularity of ADR

Brodies’ position as the leading independent law firm in Scotland is well established. The only Scottish firm in the UK top 50, Brodies continues to employ more lawyers, increase revenue and has achieved more directory rankings than any other firm in its jurisdiction. But, like other firms in the UK, there are any number of new challenges, changes and uncertainties shaping the climate in which we live and work.

Much of our progress is underpinned by listening to, and understanding, what is on our clients’ minds. Developing our legal services to remain relevant is an ongoing priority. Sure, we hope to offer insight and analysis of upcoming developments from legislative changes, and technology will always play an important part in delivery, but clients will always need valuable judgement and expertise.

We continue to grow our litigation practice with people capable of doing new things. With a disputes team approaching 150 people, we remain at the forefront of dispute resolution and litigation in our jurisdiction. With an ambitious growth strategy, we continue to listen to our clients and develop our disputes practice to deliver services that are relevant to their needs. We already act in many high-profile complex disputes and represent clients from across the private and public sector. We are also involved in several high-profile cases in the Supreme Court and, through international arbitration, across the globe.

‘With a team approaching 150 people, we remain at the forefront of dispute resolution and litigation in our jurisdiction.’

Perhaps one of the greatest opportunities remains the demand from clients to stand up and fight a case to a conclusion before a judge or an arbitrator. We have continued to invest in our advocacy practice with more practising solicitor-advocates than ever before. The lines between traditional routes to appearance and solicitors with rights of audience in the higher courts are less obvious to clients than they once were. Clients should have a choice in terms of how they are represented in court. Advocacy by Brodies brings together ten solicitor advocates, each with a market specialism. Combining the right in-house advocacy experience with solicitors with deep levels of subject knowledge can, in appropriate cases, provide clients with an exceptionally efficient proposition in service delivery.

Increasingly, our clients are also looking to an adviser who can provide an authoritative voice on our country’s constitutional affairs and genuine insight. A good example is the regard in which our public law practice, led by our chair Christine O’Neill, is held. In her role as First Standing Junior Counsel to the Scottish Government, O’Neill has displayed the intellectual rigour required to deal with cases of constitutional significance and complexity, up to and including the Supreme Court.

Away from court and constitutional debate, there is an increasing trend, particularly among commercial clients, for choosing alternative dispute resolution (ADR). Following the introduction of the Arbitration (Scotland) Act 2010, Scotland established a modern arbitration regime, which has allowed many disputes to take place out of the public eye. Confidentiality for clients remains an important consideration in their contractual arrangements and, consequently, arbitration fits as a preferred forum for dispute resolution. Unlike some other international jurisdictions, if arbitration disputes spill into the court system, there are ways in which the Scottish court system can maintain confidentiality for the parties.

In sectors such as food and drink, manufacturing and energy, clients are increasingly including ADR clauses in their domestic, cross-border and international contracts, highlighting that it is not just the preserve of large multi-national organisations. We are seeing far more SMEs and supply chain businesses considering a private, faster and more flexible option for dispute resolution, whether through expert determination, mediation or arbitration. Our oil and gas clients favour well-established international arbitration routes and, as such, we are increasingly engaged to deal with international disputes.

We are seeing more SMEs and supply chain businesses considering a private, faster, more flexible option for dispute resolution, whether through expert determination, mediation or arbitration.

Continuing the theme of ADR, other areas within our business are also reporting significant increases in activity. Our contentious construction practice has successfully pursued in excess of 35 adjudications in the past year alone and is currently engaged in claims with a value over £350m. Construction and engineering disputes together with the claims taken against professionals in this area are ever present, which reflects ongoing activity in the supply chain, whether for major infrastructure or development projects.

Finally, a trend that has been ongoing across many sectors is the increasing burden arising out of regulatory issues, including formal investigations, which when combined with reputational and often business critical matters, demands immediate boardroom attention to protect corporate and, indeed, individuals’ interests. Strong project management skills combined with legal acumen and good working relationships with regulators are a valuable commodity that is often highlighted to us in client feedback.

In an ever-changing landscape, the challenge we set ourselves is to keep evolving, learning from clients and putting that learning into practice quickly to deliver tangible results.

This article was written by:

Stephen Goldie
Head of litigation, Brodies LLP

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‘Brodies’ expertise and knowledge within the Scottish litigation arena is second to none. They provide a high level of service and succeed in putting their clients’ best interest at the forefront of their advice.’
Chambers and Partners UK 2020

Stephen Goldie
Head of litigation and partner
+44 (0) 141 245 6226
stephen.goldie@brodies.com

Stephen Goldie is head of litigation at Brodies and a recognised expert in dispute resolution. With more than 20 years’ experience of dealing with highly-contentious and business-critical matters for clients across the UK and internationally, he specialises in solving contractual and asset-related disputes involving energy (oil and gas), manufacturing, real estate, infrastructure and finance issues. He advises clients in a broad range of dispute arenas including arbitration, mediation, expert determination and court, as well as commercial litigation, lease enforcement (including complex dilapidations/repairing issues) and portfolio debt recovery are also part of his repertoire. He has led on high-value cases involving contractual interpretation and misrepresentation claims which have been determined by the Supreme Court in London. International arbitration (through LCIA and ICC) is an active area of his practice. Corporate and finance clients including plcs, funds and private equity houses regularly work with him citing his ‘professional, concise and commercial’ approach.

Christine O’Neill
Partner and chair
+44 (0) 131 656 0286
christine.oneill@brodies.com

Christine O’Neill is chair of Brodies and a recognised expert on public and constitutional law issues in Scotland. Her hallmark is developing strong client relationships in the public and private sectors and providing clear, practical advice. She advises clients on legislation and statutory interpretation, the powers and duties of public bodies including the Scottish Parliament, and freedom of information laws and data protection. She acts for a range of Scottish and UK clients including BBC Scotland, the Gambling Commission, the Equality and Human Rights Commission, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service and the Scottish Qualifications Authority. In 2009, she became the first solicitor advocate in Scotland to be appointed as Standing Junior to the Scottish Government. In 2016 she was appointed as First Standing Junior Counsel – leading the standing junior group of advocates and solicitor advocates and being instructed for the government in cases of constitutional significance and complexity. In that role she appeared as junior counsel for the Lord Advocate in the Supreme Court throughout the proceedings that ultimately determined that the Prime Minister’s prorogation of Parliament in the autumn of 2019 was unlawful.

Jackie McGuire
Partner
+44 (0) 131 656 0008
jackie.mcguire@brodies.com

Jackie McGuire is a specialist in the field of local government law with over 20 years’ experience. Recognised as a leader in the field by The Legal 500 and Chambers UK she regularly advises local authorities on their powers and decision-making processes including in relation to education and social care. She is highly experienced in the delivery of training on conduct and governance. She heads up the firm’s government, regulation and competition team and its public sector services group, which is focused on the delivery of tailored services to our public sector clients. She is also involved in assisting clients improving service delivery by modernising and streamlining their business models.

Elena Fry
Partner
+44 (0) 141 245 6215
elena.fry@brodies.com

Elena Fry heads our insurance and risk team. She has been helping clients manage legal processes arising from health and safety incidents for 25 years. She deals with HSE, police and other regulatory interventions and prosecutions as well as the defence of complex, high-value and sensitive liability damages claims. She has a wealth of expertise and experience across the full spectrum of liability. Elena is a trusted adviser to clients dealing with high-profile crises and incidents. She is well known for her hands-on, pragmatic and solution-driven approach. Clients include insurers, self-insured businesses, public and third sector organisations and individuals.

Louise Shiels
Partner
+44 (0) 131 656 3723
louise.shiels@brodies.com

Louise Shiels heads our contentious construction team. She is an accredited specialist in construction law and dual-qualified in both English and Scots law. She has extensive experience advising clients on contract interpretation and contract delivery of all forms of construction, engineering and energy contracts. She regularly represents clients in all forms of dispute avoidance and dispute resolution for high-profile, complex disputes, both during the delivery of the project and post-completion of the works. She is currently engaged in some of the largest, most technically complex construction, engineering and energy disputes in the UK.

Tony Jones QC
Partner
+44 (0) 131 526 4029
tony.jones@brodies.com

Tony Jones QC is one of only six civil solicitor advocates in Scotland to be afforded the rank of senior counsel; this is testament to the fact that the majority of his career has been devoted to conducting advocacy in Scotland at the highest level. He is the only QC in Scotland to be accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as an expert in professional negligence and construction law. He has conducted litigations, arbitrations, adjudications and mediations relating to a wide spectrum of commercial disputes.

Ken MacDonald
Partner
+44 (0) 1224 392 170
ken.macdonald@brodies.com

Ken MacDonald leads Brodies’ international arbitration practice and is a respected business disputes lawyers with over 25 years’ experience. He advises clients and represents their interests in commercial disputes. He has a remarkable depth of expertise in dealing with real estate, commercial and contractual disputes with a particular focus in both the oil and gas and the property development sectors.

He is qualified in both English and Scottish law and is a notary public. In 2017 Ken completed his Diploma in International Dispute Resolution (Arbitration) at the Queen Mary University
of London.

Iain Rutherford
Partner
+44 (0) 131 656 0165
iain.rutherford@brodies.com

Iain Rutherford advises clients in relation to a broad range of commercial disputes with an emphasis on IT, IP and telecoms, energy and corporate and financial disputes. He has an LLM in IT and telecommunications law and has represented clients in relation to various IT/IP-related disputes, including trade mark and patent infringement, outsourcing, domain name and IT supplier disputes. He has also acted for banks and financial services institutions in relation to high-profile and high-value professional negligence, misrepresentation, contractual and pensions disputes and has acted in a wide variety of corporate litigation including warranty claims, unfair prejudice petitions and related shareholder disputes.

15 Atholl Crescent
Edinburgh,
EH3 8HA
Scotland

Tel: +44 (0)131 228 3777
Fax: +44 (0)131 228 3878
Email: mailbox@brodies.com

Web: brodies.com

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With the expansion of UK and international firms north of the border, as well as the stepping down of former managing partner Bill Drummond, Scottish leader Brodies has for the past two years endured what was by its own high standards pedestrian growth. 2018/19, however, has seen a return to form and place in the top 50 for the first time. Revenue increased 12% to £76.9m while profit per equity partner jumped 16% to £708,000.

These year-on-year growth rates are much faster than last year’s 3% and 4% respectively for revenue and profit, while the firm’s five-year growth track sees the top line up 48%. For managing partner Nick Scott, the performance comes after his first full financial year in charge – some validation for the man who had the difficult task of replacing the highly-regarded Drummond.

The year’s highlights include acting for cloud software provider Episerver in September 2018 on its sale to US-based private equity house Insight Partners for $1.16bn. The firm also acted for Premier Oil on the drafting and negotiation of agreements relating to the development of the Tolmount field – one of the largest undeveloped gas discoveries in the southern North Sea.

The firm has also enjoyed a purple patch advising national political bodies. Chair Christine O’Neill acted for the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Constitutional Committee on matters arising out of the EU (Withdrawal) Bill; the UK Parliament’s Trade Bill and the Scottish Parliament’s own Brexit legislation.

The firm has also bolstered its bench. Overall lawyer headcount increased 7% to 364, with Aberdeen receiving the lion’s share of the growth, increasing headcount in the city 16%. One of the additions to the Aberdeen office was planning partner Elaine Farquharson-Black, who decamped from rival Burness Paull, while oil and gas in-house lawyer Bryan Wilson also joined, having been general counsel at Maersk and latterly Total.

The financials will provide a strong platform for Scott’s plans moving ahead. The firm is looking to further invest in laterals, while new premises in Edinburgh and the rolling out of a rebrand should make for a positive start to 2020, despite the persistent gnaw of uncertainty on the UK economy.

How have you managed to be resilient?

Nick Scott: It’s a broad book of business and clients that we’ve got. There’s no certainty in anything anymore, but people have realised they just have to get on with it. There are funds with cash that need a return and they have to invest. The market was fairly resilient in terms of client demand, but some of it was market share; we made progress in our share of the market.

Any particular areas booming at the moment?

Scott: It’s been across the sectors. Intellectual property in the corporate sector; real estate saw us act on one of the largest urban regeneration projects in the UK. There’s been plenty of M&A in the oil and gas sector, and there’s been work for the Scottish government.

How do you see the rest of the year?

Scott: We anticipated last year that there would be a point when everyone just sat on their hands; we thought that might be in the lead up to and immediate aftermath of March. Of course, that date’s gone away. For us, client activity continues at a decent level. Do I think that will be the case over the next 12 months? It’s a fool’s errand to make any predictions. You can only make progress while you can as there’s a limit to how much we can control in terms of the political and economic backdrop.

thomas.alan@legalease.co.uk

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US and City firms have extended their reach in key jurisdictions with Baker McKenzie making a move in Silicon Valley and Linklaters hiring in New York, while Morgan, Lewis & Bockius welcomes infrastructure partner from US rival Latham & Watkins in London.

In London, Morgan Lewis hired infrastructure partner Ayesha Waheed from Latham & Watkins. Waheed focuses on international energy and infrastructure transactions and has experience working through Europe as well as emerging markets in Africa and Asia. She has acted for developers and lenders in oil and gas, power generation, and infrastructure projects around the world and has advised on all aspects of international project financings and privatisations.

London managing partner Frances Murphy told Legal Business: ‘Our goal in the London office continues to be growth and concentrating on qualitative hires that move our existing practices on that base while also being very responsive to client demands, needs and expectations.’

‘As far as we’re seeing currently from client instructions and interests, there’s a deep appetite for strategic investments in strategic geographies. I can only anticipate from that, that we’re going to be seeing the corporate group move from strength to strength. We’ve already moved from seven to ten partners.’ Murphy added.

Baker McKenzie, meanwhile, bolstered its M&A capabilities in Silicon Valley following the hire of Leif King. He joined the firm from Skadden Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP where he was head of corporate and M&A.

Head of corporate & securities in North America Alan Zoccolillo told Legal Business: ‘As we continue to focus on building out core transactional practice, we saw a great need on the West Coast in the US to build out our tech practice. We hope [King’s] hire will be the first in building a more robust team on the West Coast to help augment our other M&A teams in New York, London and other key centres around the world.’

He added: ‘This is the busiest August I can ever remember. We’re seeing an uptick in work across all sectors, in both strategic M&A and private equity.’

The hire of King follows several recent hires, in line with firm’s strategy to grow its transactional practice in key business centers around the world. These include the hires of life sciences lawyers Randy Sunberg and Denis Segota and Wall Street M&A lawyer Mark Mandel in New York, as well as Peter Lu, Rob Mathews and David Becker in London.

In New York, Linklaters hired Jason Behrens and David Miller from Schulte Roth & Zabel. Behrens has experience in structuring, formation and negotiation of private closed ended funds and acts for sponsors raising funds in a variety of asset classes, including real estate and private equity.

Miller has experience in representing employee benefit plan trusts, funds of funds, foundations, endowments and family offices on their investment into funds and their secondary market transactions.

Linklaters global head of US practice Tom Shropshire told Legal Business: ‘One of the core tenets of the firm-wide strategy is to expand our funds capability and build out our relationships with key clients operating throughout the funds environment. The US market is a key market for both the upstream and downstream sides of funds activity. We want to expand the group to have a broader client base, doing a wider range of work than it had done historically.’

Global head of investment funds Matthew Keogh added: ‘Private equity, real estate, infrastructure and credit funds have raised a lot of money in last four to five years and there are a number of factors which drive that, some of those are macro. We’ve seen a trend for increasingly large funds for top sponsors and those funds to be raised in an environment of high demand.’

Scotland saw a busy week for lateral hires. Clyde & Co announced it was transferring its private client team, led by partner Nikki Dundas, to Scottish firm Gillespie Macandrew in Edinburgh.

The private client team of five, which will operate under Gillespie Macandrew from 2 September 2019, became part of Clyde following its merger with Simpson & Marwick in 2015. Clyde wants to focus on its core sectors of insurance, energy, trade & commodities, transport and infrastructure, while Gillespie Macandrew advises on all areas of land and rural business, private client, commercial real estate, tax and disputes.

Clyde & Co managing partner for Scotland David Tait commented: ‘Gillespie Macandrew is an excellent fit for Nikki and her team and allows them to carry on providing high quality private client work for their clients.

Leading Scottish independent Brodies, meanwhile, added to its employment and immigration practice with the hire of Elaine Mcllroy. Mcllroy has over 17 years of experience as an employment and immigration lawyer and previously led the UK immigration team and Scottish employment practice at Weightmans.

Head of employment Tony Hadden told Legal Business: ‘We wanted to service immigration law requirements from our clients as the seemingly never ending saga of Brexit continues. We’ve had huge number of queries from clients with EU nationals and as Brexit became less and less certain we realised we had to bring in a team to help with those queries.’

muna.abdi@legalease.co.uk

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Scottish independents Brodies and Shepherd and Wedderburn have continued their strong growth tracks despite ongoing uncertainty.

Brodies, Scotland’s largest firm, had a particularly strong year, as revenue rose 12% to £76.9m and profit came in at £37.4m, up 14%. This was up on the previous year’s flat growth of 3% and 4% respectively, with revenue up 49% over the last five years.

It was the first full financial year under new managing partner Nick Scott (pictured), who told Legal Business client activity had proved resilient despite political and economic uncertainty. The firm’s practice areas – banking and finance, corporate and commercial, litigation, personal and family and real estate – had all grown, he said.

‘There’s no certainty in anything anymore, people have realised they just have to get on with it,’ he commented. ‘We did anticipate that there would be a point when everyone just sat on their hands – we thought that might be in the lead up to and immediate aftermath of March – but for us, client activity continued at a decent level all year.’

The firm added ten partners through six promotions and four lateral hires, pushing the overall number of partners past 100 for the first time. Key mandates included acting for private equity fund Accel-KKR on the £1.16bn sale of cloud software company Episerver Group, acting for Drum Property Group in a deal with Barclays to develop a new headquarters in Glasgow, and advising the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Constitution Committee regarding Brexit.

Scott said the firm would look to invest further this year, adding further lateral hires, as well as taking new premises in Edinburgh from next year and rolling out a rebrand. While activity had remained strong because of client demand, Scott also pointed to increased market share as helping drive revenue.

‘There’s a limit to how much we can control in terms of the political and economic backdrop,’ he commented. ‘It’s a fool’s errand to make any predictions to be honest, you have to make the progress while you can.’

Meanwhile, Shepherd and Wedderburn had a relatively flat year, as revenue rose 4% to £55.7m and profits were up by the same percentage to £22.8m. Over the last five years, the firm has grown turnover by 45%: just behind Brodies’ growth trajectory.

The firm made several lateral partner hires, which included the expansion of its property and infrastructure practice with a trio of partners from DWF, as well as opening an office in Singapore.

Shepherd and Wedderburn managing partner Andrew Blain commented: ‘All divisions were busy and reported growth in 2018/19. Although we have yet to see what the outcome of Brexit will be, we remain cautiously optimistic about the year ahead.’

hamish.mcnicol@legalease.co.uk

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