City lawyer is top earner

Published on Tuesday 31 August 2004 12:23

ALASTAIR DICKSON, head of Edinburgh-based corporate finance firm Dickson Minto, is Britain’s highest-earning solicitor.

Mr Dickson took home 1.2 million last year, more than any of his peers, according to a survey of earnings at the top 100 UK law firms by Legal Business magazine.

In 2002, Mr Dickson was involved in one of the country’s most expensive divorces when he reached a 6m settlement with his wife of 28 years. He remarried earlier this year, to Belinda Robertson, who owns a cashmere business.

The survey covered 40,230 lawyers in the top 100 law firms. Collectively, they charged clients 9.1 billion in the 2004 financial year. Of this, 2.7bn was pure profit, shared among the partners who own the businesses.

Commenting on Mr Dickson’s "astonishing financial performance", the magazine pointed out that Dickson Minto "is not a large law firm, but the profits this year are astounding, beating those of all the other top 100 law firms".

The 90-lawyer practice has offices in Edinburgh and London.

Only three other UK firms had senior partners earning more than 1m: DLA, Slaughter and Butler - traditionally the City’s richest firm - and Richards Butler.

Dickson Minto’s equity partners have each received an annual profit share of 2.5m in the past four years. The firm’s niche in the private equity sector has helped it achieve a bumper year, Mr Dickson said.

"We did a lot of ‘sell’ work last year and got lucky on some things. All the buses finally came along at once," he said.