Brodies

Brodies LLP
Limited liability partnership
Industry Law
Headquarters Edinburgh (HQ), Glasgow, Aberdeen and Brussels
Area served
 Scotland and UK
Services Legal advice
Revenue £52.1m (2014)
Number of employees
 86 partners
Website www.brodies.com

Brodies LLP is Scotland's largest law firm.[1] Its lawyers support Scottish, UK and global organisations in and from Scotland.

The firm offers legal advice to private and public sector clients both in the UK and internationally in its core business areas of corporate and commercial; energy (both renewables and oil & gas); real estate; litigation and dispute resolution; banking and financial services; employment, pensions and benefits, trust and tax, and personal and family.

Brodies' clients include multinational corporations, small and medium enterprises, entrepreneurs, business people and individuals from all backgrounds who are active in almost every sector of the Scottish economy.

Financial Performance

In July 2014, Brodies reported that the successful completion of its 2011/14 strategic plan led to a 13.2% increase in revenue to £52.1m for the year ended 30 April 2014.[2] This sustained the firm's growth path following the 7.5% increase reported in 2013.

This was the fourth consecutive year of revenue and profit growth for the firm, which saw its turnover rise by 41.4% during the course of its 2011/14 strategic period. This represented a compound annual growth rate of 12% over both the three-year strategic period and past decade. Revenue grew by 45.6% since the full impact of the global economic downturn was felt in 2009/10, and by 214% over the past decade.

In reporting its financial results, Brodies said it had continued to respond to changing market conditions, including sweeping changes in the Scottish legal market and the improving economic climate, by making substantial investment across all areas of the firm to enhance client service.

In 2013/14 operating expenses, driven by this investment activity, rose by 6.2% to £28.4m, resulting in a 23% increase in operating profits before partner distributions to £23.7m.

During the same period the total number of Brodies staff grew from 534 to 564, an increase of 5.6%. The number of lawyers and other professional advisers increased from 326 to 348, and the number of partners from 75 to 80.

Legal Rankings

Brodies is home to many solicitors regarded as leaders in their field and has more lawyers ranked as leading individuals in the independent legal directories Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners than any other firm in Scotland. In total, Brodies has 28 top tier practice area rankings in the current editions of the leading independent legal directories, including:

Legal 500[3] Chambers[4]
Agriculture and Estate Administrative & Public Law
Commercial Litigation Agriculture and Rural Affairs
Commercial Property Banking Litigation
Commercial Property: Leisure & Hospitality Education: Institutions
Commercial Property: Retail Employment
Crime: Fraud Environment
Employment Franchising
Environment Healthcare
Health Intellectual Property
Insolvency Litigation
Intellectual Property Local Government
IT & Telecoms Planning
Local Government Private Client
Parliamentary Professional Negligence
Planning Real Estate
Professional Negligence Restructuring/Insolvency
Property Litigation Retail: General
Shipping
Tax
Transport: Road: Projects & Infrastructure

Awards

The achievements of Brodies and its partners have been recognised with numerous independent awards in recent years. These include:

UK Law Firm of the Year 2014, British Legal Awards [5]

Scottish Law Firm of the Year 2014, Legal 500 Awards [6]

Legal Advisor of the Year 2014, Business Insider Deals & Dealmakers Awards [7]

Scotland Law Firm of the Year 2014, Who’s Who Legal Awards[8] - the third consecutive time the firm has gained this recognition.

Partner of the Year, Business Stream Annual Awards[9] in recognition of its lawyers’ “hands-on support”, “enthusiasm” and “willingness to go the extra mile”.

Bill Drummond, Managing Partner of Brodies, was named Managing Partner of the Year at the Scottish Legal Awards 2014.[10]

Bill Drummond was also named an EY Scotland Entrepreneur of the Year, 2014, and UK Management Partner of the Year at the Legal Business Awards, 2013.

Brodies’ intellectual property team was named Scotland IP Firm of the Year at the Managing Intellectual Property Global Awards in 2014[11] and 2015.[12] In 2015 they also achieved a ‘Gold’ ranking in World Trademark Review’s global list of the 1,000 leading trademark professionals for the second consecutive year.

Offices

Brodies has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Brussels. Brodies is the only Scottish law firm to have an office in Brussels.

Services

Brodies has practice areas in:[13] Alternative Dispute Resolution; Banking, Finance & Contentious Banking; Construction & Engineering; Corporate; Dispute Resolution & Litigation; Employment, Pensions & Benefits; Energy & Infrastructure; Health & Safety; Insurance & Risk; IP, Technology & Outsourcing; Personal & Family; Personal Injury; Planning & Environment; Public Law, Regulatory and Competition; Real Estate; Restructuring & Insolvency and Tax.

Brodies runs the largest free seminar programme of any Scottish law firm and provides regular legal updates to its clients via email and social media.[14]

PRIME Initiative

Brodies is a founding member of PRIME,[15] a pioneering initiative by the UK's leading law firms to encourage greater diversity in the legal profession by offering quality work experience and continuing support to young people from less privileged backgrounds.

Brodies is committed each year to offering students aged 13–17 the opportunity to take part in a structured work experience programme that is coordinated and delivered by Brodies staff representing departments across their business. Brodies’ target is to offer places to 30 students each year across its offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.

The programme delivers a minimum of 30–35 hours of work experience and is designed to give the young people involved an insight into all aspects of the business, not just law but also professional support services, such as IT, Finance, HR and Marketing.[16]

Brodies continues to develop its relationship with Wester Hailes Education Centre, Edinburgh and Drumchapel High School, Glasgow and is expanding its PRIME programme to Aberdeen. Brodies’ target is to offer places to 30 students each year across its offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen

External links

References

  1. ↑ Scottish Business Insider Law Review, June 2014
  2. ↑ "Brodies reports 13.2 percent revenue growth to 52.1m through sustained investment in client services". Brodies. 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  3. ↑ http://www.legal500.com/firms/471-brodies-llp/offices/4520-edinburgh/profile
  4. ↑ http://www.chambersandpartners.com/uk/firm/51/brodies
  5. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-business-30251021
  6. ↑ http://www.legal500.com/assets/pages/awards/uk/2014/2014-winners-law-writeup.html
  7. ↑ http://www.7daysscotland.co.uk/sites/events/deals-and-dealmakers/previous-winners.html
  8. ↑ http://whoswholegal.com/awards/
  9. ↑ http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/business/professionals/second-time-firm-taken-top-3588217
  10. ↑ http://kdmedia.co.uk/legalawards/winners/winners-2014/
  11. ↑ http://www.managingip.com/Article/3321434/Managing-IP-Global-Awards-2014-the-winners.html
  12. ↑ http://www.brodies.com/news/brodies-news/brodies-named-scotlands-top-ip-firm-for-second-year-running
  13. ↑ "Services". Brodies. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "Brodies Seminars". Brodies. 2014. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  15. ↑ "PRIME Initiative". PRIME Initiative. 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  16. ↑ "PRIME Initiative". Brodies. 2014. Retrieved 15 July 2014.