New hires at Brechin Tindal Oatts help out in quest for £10m turnover
By Ian Fraser
The Herald
July 9th, 2007
BRECHIN Tindal Oatts, the Glasgow-based commercial law firm, has hired three lawyers its bigger rival Dundas & Wilson, and is confident it can grow its turnover by 11% to £10 million in the current year.
Dundas’s Mark Morton, who is poised to start at Brechin Tindal as a litigator on August 1, is the most recent signing. The other two ex-Dundas solicitors, Alan Eadie and Jill Setterington, joined Brechin Tindal in 2005 and December 2006 respectively, also in its litigation department.
While all three join as associates, professional negligence expert Eadie has since been promoted to become a partner at the St Vincent Street-based firm.
Brechin Tindal’s managing partner Willie Young said: “People often move because of the nature of the work they are asked to do. One thing that we can guarantee here is that we will give them challenging work. They also know we are reasonable payers and nice people.”
Brechin Tindal was formed in 1997 through the merger of the Glasgow firms Brechin Robb and Tindal Oatts. Young said that in the decade since that alliance, Brechin Tindal has doubled its number of partners from 12 to 24 and more than doubled its staff numbers to 157, while the number of fee earners has risen from 17 to 43.
He said the firm, founded as Brown & Dunlop in 1850, has more than doubled its turnover over the past five years.
Young expects this to increase from £9 million in the year to April 30, 2007 to £10m in the current financial year. Young said Brechin Tindal’s turnover is split about 45% litigation and about 45% corporate and commercial, with the remainder being private-client work.
The firm’s busiest area is representing global insurance companies, and it counts five of the world’s 12 of the largest among its clients. The companies concerned could include the likes of AIG, Allianz, Axa, Aviva, ING, Generali, Nippon Life, State Farm, Tokio Marine and Zurich (however BTO has a policy of never giving away the identity of its clients). Scottish-based rivals which are also active in insurance law include Simpson & Marwick and HBM Sayers.
Brechin Tindal is also particularly active in advising retailers on their property portfolios, housing associations, housing transfers and urban regeneration.
However, Young said the law firm has no particular desire to see the Clementi reforms implemented in Scotland as he does not believe the firm has any need for external capital. “We have no interest in buying turnover,” he said.
The firm started offering an in-house advocacy service in 2001. The firm has since built up an internal group of nine solicitor advocates, the largest number of such people to be found in any Scottish law firm.
Brechin Tindal claims the service can save clients time and money as it avoids the need for external counsel (such as advocates, barristers and QCs).
“That sets us apart from other firms,” said Bill Speirs, a partner in BTO. “It gives clients consistency of advice and representation throughout a court case.”
The practicse, called BTO Advantage, is led by Brechin Tindal’s Edinburgh-based solicitor-advocate Tony Jones, who has rights of audience in the House of Lords, the Privy Council and the Court of Session.
The latest addition to the team is Paul Motion, who joined from Ledingham Chalmers in May 2006. An experienced IT and IP litigator, Motion is secretary of The Society of Solicitor Advocates and is “highly recommended” by the legal services directory Legal 500.
Corporate disenchantment at the very high fees demanded by some City of London-based law firms is also generating a surge in new business for Scottish and English regional firms, of which Brechin Tindal is taking full advantage, said Young.
This article first published by The Herald on July 9th, 2007.
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