Anderson Strathern mulls more deals after client wins

Legal firm Anderson Strathern has bolstered its client roster and it plans to recruit in coming months as it considers further merger and acquisition (M&A) activity.

Promoted staff (from left) Danielle Edgar, Fionn Blair, Robin Turnbull and Laura McCabe. Picture: Stewart Attwood.

The Edinburgh-headquartered firm, which also has offices in East Lothian and Glasgow, has just completed its latest financial year and says it is set to report a “steady” revenue performance this November in spite of a challenging business environment since the onset of Covid-19.

The University of Strathclyde, City of Edinburgh Council, and the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body are among recent tender wins, complementing its client base that includes the Scottish Government, Ineos, Buccleuch Estates, Glasgow City Council and Apex Hotels.

Anderson Strathern managing partner Murray McCall praised the firm’s 53 partners and 251 employees for enabling the firm to navigate “such a challenging time in recent months”. He added: “With our promotions this year, we are strengthening the firm’s offering to help business recovery and individuals. As work and life adapts to the Covid pandemic, we’re finding that it’s driving demand for a range of legal services.”

He addressed the firm’s M&A strategy, after it completed a series of mergers in recent years, including a bolt-on deal with Glasgow-headquartered Hardy Macphail about a year ago. He said: “We also continue to look at ways to add growth by way of acquisition, in addition to organic growth, and we’re not ruling out further activity here in the months ahead.

“One good thing to have come out of the pandemic is the focus on new ways of working, and what we’ve realised is that this new work dynamic is presenting us with opportunities to add geographic footprint and routes into other regional markets around Scotland.”

Anderson Strathern has promoted 18 fee-earners in its latest round of promotions, and is planning to actively recruit more senior and junior-level staff over the next 12 months to match increasing activity across a number of practice areas.

McCall added that the firm is looking for people at all stages and levels of experience to support it though its next growth phase. He continued: “While private client, restructuring and employment law activity stepped up significantly during lockdown, other areas like corporate deal activity, routine commercial real estate and residential property were definitely hit hard in the early days – but are now rebounding strongly.”

It comes after Anderson Strathern announced that it had launched a business resilience unit during the Covid-19 crisis.

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