Legal giant spreads its wings with new team in Aberdeen

SCOTLAND'S biggest indigenous law firm will today signal the start of a major phase of expansion by unveiling plans to open its first office in Aberdeen and appointing six senior legal sector figures as partners.

Brodies - one of the most venerable names in Edinburgh's legal community - has hired Colin MacLaren, former head of property services at Granite City-stalwart Paull & Williamsons, and Clare Munro, an oil and gas consultant at Bond Pearce, to launch its Aberdeen operation.

Solicitor advocate Mark Clough QC, Brodie's first Queen's Counsel, is joining the public law and regulatory team in Edinburgh from London-based firm Addleshaw Goddard.

The firm already has about 310 staff in Edinburgh and a further 150 in Glasgow, with the latest recruits taking the partnership up to more than 65 members.

Managing partner Bill Drummond said: "Brodies in Aberdeen will be a long-term investment in and commitment to the city and the region, where we have many valued clients in a wide range of sectors.

"There will be a permanent, locally-based team for the North-east, offering the full range of corporate, commercial, and private client legal advice to the region's business community and public sector organisations."

While other firms - such as Dundas & Wilson, Maclay Murray & Spens and McGrigors - have higher turnovers and use bases in London, Brodies has concentrated on its Scottish offices and has more lawyers in Scotland than its rivals.

All of Scotland's big corporate law firms have suffered during the financial crisis with fewer deals being completed, but firms such as Brodies - which operates over a wide range of sectors - have weathered the storm.

Although Brodies' turnover fell from 39.1 million in 2008-9 to 35.8m in 2009-10, the firm still replaced Shepherd & Wedderburn as Scotland's fourth-largest law firm by revenue, expanding the traditional "big four" law firms north of the Border into a new "big five".

The three other new partners are Paul McMahon, head of employment at Harper Macleod, Richard Smith, partner in commercial property at Biggart Baillie, and - as revealed in The Scotsman on Saturday - Michael Stoneham, partner and former head of banking and financial services at Dundas & Wilson.

MacLaren and Clough have already taken up their posts with the firm, while the other four recruits are expected to join over the coming weeks and months.The firm currently has its eye on premises in Aberdeen and is expected to make an announcement shortly.

Drummond added: "We're delighted to be welcoming six new partners of such stature and calibre in 2011.

"All are noted lawyers in their fields and widely respected in the profession - but also clients, who are invariably the best judges of these things, repeatedly single them out for their know-how, service delivery, commercial acumen and dynamism."

Commentators have often questioned whether Brodies will follow its "big five" rivals in opening a London office. While Drummond has not ruled out a return to the UK capital - it closed its last premises there during the previous recession - he said any decision would be driven by clients' demands.

He added that a move into London could have potentially diluted Brodies' "fire-power".