At the end of a dramatic year for the Scottish legal market, the recently announced union between Glasgow and Edinburgh star Burness and one of Aberdeen’s strongest firms, Paull & Williamsons, looks set to redefine the Caledonian top-tier.
The merger, which was announced last month and takes effect on 1 December, will see the two firms combine to form Burness Paull & Williamsons, a firm with 400 staff, including 60 partners and 158 fee-earners. The Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow offices will each be roughly the same size. Combined revenues based on 2011/12 figures will be around £37.6m, which will place the new entity ahead of Big Four firm Shepherd and Wedderburn and just behind local rival Brodies.
The tie-up will create a firm with strength in both central and northern Scotland, a position few other firms can match. According to The Legal 500, Burness has leading disputes, real estate, media and corporate finance practices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, while Paull & Williamsons tops the bill for corporate, oil and gas and real estate in Aberdeen.
Burness chairman Philip Rodney said that he had been approached by a number of English and Scottish firms over the past couple of years, all keen on pursuing a merger, but Paull & Williamsons was the only candidate that it made obvious sense to combine with.
‘We had actually spoken to Paull & Williamsons twice before about a merger, as many other firms had, but it wasn’t prepared to go down that route at the time,’ said Rodney. ‘So when Gordon Buchan [Paull & Williamsons’ chairman] called me earlier in the year and asked if I wanted to meet, we got together quickly. Because both firms were so aware of each other’s strengths and both firms were doing well, the negotiations were very straightforward and painless.’
‘The negotiations were very straightforward and painless.’
Philip Rodney, Burness
Rodney will take on the role of chairman of the new firm, with Burness managing partner Ian Wattie assuming the same title at the combined entity. Scott Allan, Paull & Williamsons’ managing partner, will be deputy managing partner and Buchan will sit on the board as a consultant. Rodney said that even discussions over the executive of the firm were painless and, more importantly, the skillsets and practice areas were complementary given the geography of the combined firm. There will be no more than ‘one or two’ administrative staff redundancies.
The merger is consistent with Burness’ declared strategy of concentrating solely on Scotland, a tactic that has proven successful for the firm and local rival Brodies. The firms are among the strongest performers in the Scottish peer group of the LB100, with Brodies posting a five-year compound annual growth rate of 7%, the highest in the group, while Burness has the second highest profit per lawyer in the group (£75,000).
‘Unlike many of our rivals, both firms have elected not to open a London office,’ said Rodney of the merging firms. ‘We have instead concentrated on our markets, and succeeded in building a large base of international clients from Scotland.’
While Brodies and Burness have been on an upward trajectory, the traditional Big Four in Scotland – Dundas & Wilson, Maclay Murray & Spens, McGrigors and Shepherd and Wedderburn – have stuttered recently. Dundas & Wilson was the worst-performing firmin the LB100 in revenue terms, with turnover down 12%, while McGrigors was taken over by English national firm Pinsent Masons in May. Maclay Murray & Spens saw revenues remain static in real terms following a drop the previous year, while Shepherd and Wedderburn also saw revenues stagnate.