Scottish law firm Brodies pushed its revenues through the £100 million mark to a fresh record in its last financial year, with operating profit rising from £46.1m to £48.6m.
Brodies, which noted it is “acting for Parks of Hamilton and Rangers Football Club in their ongoing dispute with the Scottish Professional Football League”, declared it was the first Scottish-based law firm to achieve the £100m annual revenues “milestone”.
The UK top 50 firm noted its 8% rise in revenues to £106.25m for the year to April 30, from £98.5m in the prior 12 months, represented a thirteenth consecutive year of growth.
It reported that its headcount grew by 3%, from 771 to 794, including employees and partners, during the year to April 30.
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Brodies added that all eligible colleagues received a 6% bonus in June 2023. It noted that this added to bonuses paid in January, June and November last year A spokeswoman for the firm said: “Since 1 May we have recruited 60 colleagues.”
The law firm said it had continued to make progress during the year to April 30 across its main areas of practice - banking and finance, corporate and commercial, litigation, personal and family, and real estate – “with each reporting record income”.
It said its cash balances at the financial year-end were £29.5m, up 13% on a year earlier.
Brodies said its profit for the financial year before members' remuneration and profit shares was £49.147m, up from £46.071m in the prior 12 months.
Nick Scott, managing partner of Brodies, said: "That each of our practice areas were able to report progress was down to our clients, and the colleagues who responded to their calls for our assistance. All of this is against a constantly changing backdrop where clients and colleagues alike have been responding to events such as the war in Ukraine, historically high inflation, uncertain financial markets, and an economy that has been, on some measures, more severely impacted than many of our European neighbours.”
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He added: "So to record our thirteenth straight year of growth, and to become the first Scottish-headquartered law firm to report income over £100m, underpins our continuous focus on our firm's strategic plans. And it would not have been possible without the support of our clients and the commitment of our colleagues - each one playing a part in helping us reach this milestone.”
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Brodies said that, in line with the firm's strategic plans, investment in premises continued with a new Inverness office opening last September and proposals agreed for upgrades to its Aberdeen and Glasgow offices, which it declared would be completed later this year. The firm noted it had also launched Brodies Middle East LLP, “which, with its first UAE office in Abu Dhabi, will focus on supporting existing and new clients in the energy sector”.
Elsewhere in the Scottish legal sector, Morton Fraser has revealed an 8% jump in revenues to £25.7m for the year to April 30, which it noted was an all-time high for the firm.
It said net profit for the period increased by 24% year on year. The firm did not disclose the profit figure.
Morton Fraser, which has offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, said its headcount was more than 260, with this figure “stable over the last year”.
It noted that its revenue for its last financial year was up by 25% on the figure for the 12 months to April 2021.
Morton Fraser said a bonus of 6% of annual salary had been announced and, as in previous years, “this will be paid to all staff, not just fee earners”.
It flagged double-digit-percentage growth in revenues in its corporate, employment and private client practice areas.
Chris Harte, chief executive of Morton Fraser, said: “We're delighted with these results, which are testament to the hard work of our people and the confidence and support of our clients. Our commitment to developing talent remains key to what we do and allows us to get it right for our clients. We deliver for our clients through our people, and so we believe that it's important to allow everyone to share in this success by way of a firm-wide bonus."
Morton Fraser’s clients include the Scottish and UK governments, Diageo, Royal Mail Group, The Ministry of Defence, Transport Scotland, VisitScotland, Tesco, and Schuh.
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