LAW firm Weightmans has underlined its aspirations to expand in Scotland after hiring three key players from Edinburgh-based Anderson Strathern's insurance team.
The UK firm, which entered the Scottish market when it snapped up the construction arm of Semple Fraser when it went into administration in March 2013, has welcomed partner Douglas Keir and associates Sarah Phillips and Julia McDonald into the fold.
The hires cap a rapid rise for Weightmans in Scotland, which has seen the headcount at its Glasgow office rise from four to 12 in the last year.
Weightmans appointed insurance partners Pamela Stevenson and Seonaid Busby as insurance partners in 2014 in an initial recruitment drive. That initial expansion also saw Douglas Gourlay arrive as a real estate partner, also from Anderson Strathern.
The latest hires between them bring 40 years of legal insurance expertise to Weightmans in Scotland.
Mr Keir, who headed the insurance litigation unit at Anderson Strathern, has extensive experience of personal injury work. Ms Phillips and Ms McDonald specialise in defendant insurance litigation.
Bryan Finlayson, who joined Weightmans to spearhead its real estate team in Scotland in November 2013, said the latest arrivals offer a "massive opportunity to continue our growth pattern in Scotland generally. These are exciting times for the firm, both here and UK-wide".
But while he said the firm is keen to expand its team further, he insisted the strategy will be to grow by cherry picking expertise from other firms - not acquiring other firms outright.
Mr Finlayson said: "We have this stated aim is to grow organically and in a very focused way, rather than in any wholesale business acquisition in Scotland.
"This has given us the opportunity to seek out the correct people, the experts with the right skills and expertise we know will fit with what our clients are looking for.
"The other key thing for us is the reaction to client demand - they wanted us to be in Scotland and to be able to be provided with a full UK service.
"It has been great to be able to respond to that in an organic and focused way, rather than mirroring in the model of large scale English firms entering the Scottish market generally up until now, which has been to pick up a firm wholesale and then perhaps look at rationalising."
The legal landscape in Scotland has been characterised by consolidation since the financial crash of 2008. Some historic Scottish firms such as McGrigors and Dundas & Wilson have merged with larger UK rivals, while others including Semple Fraser and Tods Murray have gone bust.
Tods Murray was acquired by Shepherd & Wedderburn out of administration in October.
Mr Finlayson said further consolidation in the Scottish legal scene was "inevitable", noting that it was partly driven by clients' desire to work with firms which across the whole of the UK.
The lawyer, who is "dual qualified" in Scots and English law, said: "Consolidation is inevitable, particularly with the continued drive by clients for this holistic service, a full service throughout the UK that I've been hearing from my clients on the real estate side for some time.
He added: "My clients like to have single point of contact...and that is replicated across the market as people have sought to fill client demand. I don't see it changing - there are too many firms looking for slices of a cake that is not growing at the same rate it used to."
Weightmans has focused on two business lines since launching in Scotland, insurance and commercial, with the latter including real estate, construction and employment.
Mr Finlayson said there was a long-term trend for clients to slim down the panel of firms they work with. This benefits both parties as they can develop closer and longer term working relationships and allows the lawyers to better understand the businesses they are working with. He also said this brought economies of scale to clients by being able to negotiate better rates.
In real estate specifically, Mr Finlayson said there are signs the commercial property market is picking up.
"It's certainly not jumping on leaps and bounds, but there is no question more transactional work is being conducted. The run-up to Christmas last year, which is traditionally quiet a busy period for real estate generally on the commercial side, it was busier than it has been for a number of years.
"All the indicators are that it is moving in the right direction - not at 100 miles per hours but certainly there are encouraging signs."
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