Shepherd and Wedderburn’s chief executive Stephen Gibb (pictured) has hailed 2014/15 a ‘cracking year’ as the firm posted a revenue increase of 26%, from £38m last financial year to £48m in the year to 30 April.
Continue reading “Tods acquisition helps boost revenue 26% to £48m at Shepherd and Wedderburn”
Devolution, nationalism and the dramatic shake-up in its political landscape – it’s been another turbulent period for Scots law firms.
In the early hours of 8 May, Alex Salmond, the former leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), delivered his victory speech after being returned to Westminster as MP for the constituency of Gordon, Aberdeenshire, ousting the Liberal Democrats from the seat.
‘There’s going to be a lion roaring tonight, a Scottish lion, and it’s going to roar with a voice that no government of whatever political complexion is going to be able to ignore,’ he declared.
An interesting battle is raging in Scotland on levels large and small. In early May, the Scottish National Party (SNP) swept to victory in 56 of the 59 seats available to it in the General Election and party leader Nicola Sturgeon pressed prime minister David Cameron to revisit the draft legislation on devolving more powers to Holyrood. Bolstered by a suddenly soaring national profile, the SNP leader claimed the proposed reforms were not in the spirit of the Smith Commission’s recommendations following the referendum on independence last year. Entente cordiale persists, but there’s an undercurrent of tension on both sides as the 300-year-old union has never looked under more pressure.
This tussle will continue for some time yet as, although the SNP hasn’t pushed for a second independence referendum, that threat will never be far from the table. The UK government might take a more phlegmatic approach and give the SNP exactly what it is asking for… and more. Cameron has been reportedly pressed by some senior Tories to call Sturgeon’s bluff and put full fiscal autonomy on the table, believing the SNP may baulk as that would leave the Scots on the hook for budget collection and cuts as well as spending, potentially leaving the Scots government with an £8bn hole in its budget.
Continue reading “Be wary of vaulting ambition as competition ramps up in Scotland”
Insurance firm Kennedys has finally entered the Scottish market with the launch of two new offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
The so-called West Lothian question is a political and not legal question. It was asked as long ago as 1977 by Tam Dalyell MP who represented West Lothian from 1962 to 1983 and Linlithgow from 1983 to 2005. The question asks whether MPs from Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, sitting in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, should be able to vote on matters that affect only England.
Continue reading “Guest post: The West Lothian Question – a few thoughts”
It was late in the day, as opinion polls narrowed alarmingly, that English lawyers took notice of Scotland’s independence vote last month and entertained the huge implications of a split in the UK’s 300-year-old union.
It was late in the day, as opinion polls narrowed alarmingly, that English lawyers took notice of Scotland’s independence vote last month and entertained the huge implications of a split in the UK’s 300-year-old union.
As several major Scottish institutions warned they would relocate operations to London, sterling buckled and one mortgage-backed securities deal went so far as to exclude Scots real estate, the implications began to sink in for business.
Continue reading “Gang aft agley – relief for Scots lawyers but indy vote is hard on mice an’ men”
Scotland’s ‘no’ to independence last month returned confidence to the markets with a spike in sterling and share prices of FTSE 100-listed Scottish companies.
The legal profession breathed easy too as while independence would have signalled a surge of work over the first few years, long term the outlook was tied to uncertain economic fortunes.
Scottish LB100 firm Shepherd and Wedderburn has acquired out of administration the business and assets of 158-year old Tods Murray, in a deal closed late on Friday (3 October).
Scotland voted no to independence yesterday by a wider margin than many had expected, providing certainty to a legal market which has been hampered by the possible large-scale upheaval.
