Scottish lawyers are more mobile than ever
The choice on offer for a lawyer wishing to work in Scotland is greater than ever before – but that leaves challenges for the firms themselves, as they fight harder to keep hold of their brightest talent.
Burges Salmon is Scotland’s Paul Weiss
The recent news coming out of Burges Salmon that its newly qualified (NQ) salary in Scotland has been raised to £68,000 shows this is a firm that – despite its years of protestations to the contrary – is now firmly two-site, intent on building out in Edinburgh and not afraid to splosh the dosh to […]
Burges Salmon lays down gauntlet in Edinburgh with £68,000 NQ salary
Burges Salmon has increased its trainee and newly qualified solicitor (NQ) salaries, with what is believed to be a market-topping £68,000 in Edinburgh. In its home town of Bristol, first-year trainee pay rose from £44,000 to £47,000 as of 1 September, with second years getting a boost from £46,000 to £49,000. NQs will get £72,000, […]
Beyond the Bubble: Walker Morris goes to pot
This week, a Yorkshire firm is investing to meet its staff’s new demands after doubling revenue in three years, while Walker Morris employees try a new hobby.
Shepherd & Wedderburn pays all-staff bonus as revenue rises 7 per cent
Scottish-headquartered firm Shepherd & Wedderburn posted a 7 per cent rise in total revenue for the 2023/24 financial year, with net profit reported as having risen by 12 per cent to £30.2m. In recognition of the firm’s performance, a bonus of 5 per cent of annual salary was paid to all employees. This is the […]
Brodies pays firmwide bonus as revenue hits £114m
Brodies has posted a 7.5 per cent rise in fee income for its financial year to 30 April, the Scottish firm’s 14th consecutive year of revenue growth. Turnover rose from £106.3m to £114.3m. The bottom line grew less significantly, with operating profit up by 1 per cent from £48.6m to £49.2m and average profit per […]
Beyond the Bubble: Mills & Reeve doubles Leeds footprint – plus a bumper financials update
Leeds: Mills & Reeve is soon to double its footprint in Leeds with the relocation of its office. Beyond the Bubble, in association with LexisNexis: While the firm is staying put at 1 City Square, it is vacating its current premises on the fourth floor and has agreed to take a 10,200 sq ft office […]
Scotland’s Anderson Strathern shifts year-end from “out-of-kilter” August
Scottish Independent Anderson Strathern is planning to move its financial year-end from its current 31 August to 31 March, a shift that will result in a seven-month fiscal period for 2024/25. The move is the firm’s response to HMRC’s basis period reforms and is aimed at reducing the admin burden on business services staff and […]
Financials 2023/24: Burness Paull staff rewarded with 7.5 per cent bonus
Scottish firm Burness Paull has posted a 28 per cent drop in revenue from £83.2m to £60.1m, following a change in its financial year-end that cut four months from its trading period. The year-end change at Burness Paull, prompted by HMRC’s basis period reforms, is one of the most significant among UK 200 firms. Unlike […]
Beyond the Bubble: How Hunters bounced back
London: Lincoln’s Inn firm Hunters Law has rebounded in the 2023/24 financial year, posting a 10.2 per cent revenue rise, from £12.7m to £14m. Beyond the Bubble, in association with LexisNexis: The firm had flatlined for several years, dancing between £12.1m at the lower end to £12.7m at the higher end for the previous five financial years. […]
Blackadders goes forth to the UK200
Every year we bid goodbye to famous old names from Britain’s legal scene. Whether by merger or misadventure in the last few years the likes of BLM, Coffin Mew, Ince, RadcliffesLeBrasseur and Taylor Vinters have made graceful or not-so-graceful exits from the ranks of the UK200. But every mighty tree that falls in the forest […]
The true cost of being Scottish
How many trainees does it take to build a law firm? We welcome your suggestions for punchlines on that one (winner gets published in a future Horizon). But if one was inclined to think of a serious answer, one would naturally say that the larger the firm, the more graduates you need. After all, big […]