Burness has become Scotland’s second most profitable law firm measured by profits per equity partner.
The Edinburgh and Glasgow-based commercial law firm, founded as Messrs W&J Burness in 1832, leapfrogged its larger Scottish rivals, including McGrigors, Maclay Murray & Spens, Dundas & Wilson and Brodies, by increasing profits per equity partner to £361,000.
The only Scottish firm that is more profitable on that basis is Edinburgh-based Dickson Minto, which is reported by magazine The Lawyer to have grown profits per equity partner to £1.15m in 2007.
This means Dickson Minto was the second most-successful law firm in the UK on profits-per-equity-partner basis, with only the “magic circle” firm Linklaters having a higher profits-per-equity-partner, while Burness ranked 55th in the UK.
The next highest Scottish firms after Burness in The Lawyer’s rankings were Brodies (£330,000), Maclay Murray & Spens (£315,000), McGrigors (£310,000) and Dundas & Wilson (£308,000).
Roddy Bruce, a partner at Dickson Minto, declined to confirm the accuracy of the The Lawyer’s figures.
Philip Rodney, Burness chairman, said: “Unlike some of the other Scottish firms, we have not had the distraction of seeking to enter the lower end of the London market. Some clients of the Big Four law firms in Scotland have been feeling unloved as the firms have been focusing so much of their attention on the London market.”
Burness grew overall turnover to £22.5m in the year to July 31, up 24% from £18.2m in the year to July 2006, with particularly strong growth seen in corporate finance and banking, where turnover rose 33%. Another hot area for the firm was dispute resolution, where turnover grew by 25%. Profit margin rose from 42% to 47%.
Rodney added: “The profit demonstrates the underlying efficiency in our business. While the results are impressive, they are only one factor of a successful business. The other elements are attracting and retaining the most talented people, investing in the best systems and infrastructures and putting something back into the community. This year we have managed to do all these things — which puts us in a strong position to build further.”
In February, Burness doubled the size of its Glasgow office, moving out of a Georgian townhouse in West George Street and into the Aurora Building on Bothwell Street. This followed the merger with Glasgow-based property specialist Alexander Stone & Co in 1998.
Rodney, previously a partner at Alexander Stone, said the Edinburgh and Glasgow offices are now of equal size and operate seamlessly rather than as competing profit centres.
Rodney believes that Burness’s decision to focus on three key areas — corporate finance and banking, property, and dispute resolution — has helped fuel growth.
Clients include Standard Life, Aegon UK, Bank of Scotland, SMG, Elphinstone, BBC Scotland and Glasgow City Council. It recently won Shell, Somerfield and Terex as clients. To ensure it keeps tabs on clients’ perceptions of the services it provides, Burness recently established a client advisory group, comprising heads of legal services at several of these organisations to provide feedback.
Rodney, 53, was voted legal personality of the year in the 2006 Law Awards of Scotland, and has been the firm’s chairman since January 2005, when he succeeded John Rafferty, who remains with the firm as a corporate partner.
Rodney chairs Burness’s governance and strategy board, while Ian Wattie, who previously ran its commercial property department, is managing partner. Last week, Derek Cummings, formerly head of human resources at Sportscotland, joined Burness as head of human resources.
Rodney said that while, “emotions are running high”, on the merits of Clementi-style reforms for the liberalisation of the law, he remains unconvinced they are needed.
“In 1999-2000, the received wisdom was that any law firm which was not a multi-disciplinary partnership would be dead in the water,” he said. Given what happened to Dundas & Wilson’s alliance with Andersen and McGrigors’ deal with KPMG, that has proven not to be the case.
“We continue to be driven by the current and anticipated requirements of our clients rather than our personal aspirations.”
Burness has 38 partners and employs 235 staff. In the last year, Burness has added seven associates and earlier this month promoted three associates to the newly-created post of director.
Who is Top of the Scottish Peps?
1. Dickson Minto £1.15m
2. Burness £361,000
3. Brodies £333,000
4. Maclay Murray & Spens £315,000
5. McGrigors £310,000
6. Dundas & Wilson £308,000
7. HBJ Gateley Wareing £284,000
8. Harper McLeod £252,000
9. Biggart Baillie £208,000
10. Morton Fraser £168,000
11. Ledingham Chalmers £140,000
source: The Lawyer
This article was the business lead in The Herald on Monday, 27 August 2007.