Law firm Brodies has unveiled plans to develop its offices in Inverness and Aberdeen following a twelfth consecutive year of growth which saw turnover reach nearly £100 million.
The firm is on track to open a new office in Inverness this year and also plans to refurbish its premises in Aberdeen as a means to inspire its partners and employees as they come back to the workplace since the pandemic lockdowns.
The group recently completed a £6m investment in a new office overlooking Edinburgh castle which will inform how it designs its workplaces in the north of Scotland, Brodies managing partner Nick Scott said.
“It is a fabulous building, it is encouraging people to come back to the office and it is going to inform how we refit,” he said.
“We will spend some money on the Aberdeen office this year to try to bring what we learned there.
“It is my observation businesses will struggle to come back to offices if you just tell staff it’s a good thing.
“People actually have to experience that there is a genuine advantage and benefit to them in a building.
“We are creating spaces where people can enjoy the process of being at work, they are vibrant places which inspire them.”
The new office in Inverness at the Cradlehall business park will see the firm move from Dingwall and will “act as a catalyst” for recruitment.
The firm employs around 100 in Aberdeen and a dozen in Inverness.
Scott said: “The way people are working and interacting is all up for discussion.
“Instead of the traditional idea where you go to an office and sit at one desk you are creating an environment where people can collaborate.”
The decision to move to Inverness where it will share a building with accountancy firm Johnston Carmichael comes as it aims to grow the business there.
“We were reflecting how we were all going to be moving back into offices again and we concluded a better place in terms of recruitment of people as well as visibility for clients was to move to Inverness.
“It is a much smaller facility but it will have the same fit out and furniture and technology in it we have here.”
Growth driven by return to legal transactions
The moves come as the firm reports it made revenues of £98.5m in the year to the end of April 2022, up 19.5% from £82.5m the previous year. Operating profit increased from £39m to £46.1m, the company said.
Scott said while the firm had “made progress” in 2020/21, this year saw a return to more corporate deals and transactions.
“What was very pleasing is clients got busy again and our people worked really hard,” he said.
“Our lawyer headcount is only up about 2% but our revenue was up 20% – you can tell we were a lot busier.
“Productivity across all parts of the firm went up markedly.
“There was lot of advisory work going on in the first part of the pandemic as people tried to work out what it meant for them and how they organise their own businesses and lives.
“But this year we are now talking about there was a good deal more transactional activity going on.”
Headcount at the firm increased from 748 to 771 with all eligible colleagues receiving bonuses in May 2021, January 2022, and June 2022, Brodies said.
Seven new partners were promoted, including family lawyers Susie Mountain, in Aberdeen, and Inverness-based Sarah Lilley, bringing total partner numbers on 1 May 2022 to 116.
Over the course of the year, Brodies acted for the majority shareholders in the management buyback of the Parklands Group – one of the largest independent care home providers in the north of Scotland.
It also acted in the acquisition and development financing for Chrysaor, now called Harbour Energy, in its merger with the Premier Oil.
It also worked for housebuilders including Tulloch Homes and Pat Munro Homes in the development of hundreds of properties across various locations in the Highlands.
A ‘ton of capital’ is seeking profitable investments
Scott said despite the risks of rising inflation and a potential economic recession, there “is still a ton of capital looking for an investment to try and get a return”.
“All of those things point to their being still a fair bit of activity for us to be helping clients with.
“One of those things about getting close to £100m of revenue is you talk to a lot of people in a lot of sectors.
“That’s one of the things that drives our growth is we are quite good at spotting what the trends are and who might be new participants investing into Scotland – underpinning a lot of this is money coming into Scotland and the north east.”
He added he expects the energy transition will continue to drive activity.
“The shift in energy is a case in point where there will be new investment activity by new sources of capital who are wiling to invest in all sort of places in the energy market,” he said.
“In the energy space there is much more activity there and development was strong.
“It is amazing how things can turn so quickly in terms of sentiment.
“What is actually happening is there is a better more informed discussion about what is going on in the energy markets and what the energy transition requires and what it means.
“We are anticipating more development activity because fields are viable and there is sentiment which supports that investment activity.”
Another expected highlight this year will be the Battle of the Brits: Scotland v England at the P&J Live in December.
Brodies supported the tennis spectacular featuring Sir Andy and Jamie Murray coming to Aberdeen last year before the event was postponed to 2022 due to rising cases of Covid.
The event is accompanied by an ongoing series of engagements with local schools and youth groups led by Judy Murray.
“That is what is driving this from Judy’s perspective, she is intensely focused on legacy and getting the next generation of kids to pick up rackets,” said Scott.
He added: “It will be quite something to see Andy [Murray] play in Aberdeen. That will be a thrill.”
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