LAWFUEL – The Legal Business Newswire – Burness has become Scotland’s second most profitable law firm measured by profits per equity partner, reports The Herald.
The Edinburgh and Glasgow-based commercial firm leapfrogged its larger Scottish rivals, including McGrigors, Maclay Murray & Spens, Dundas & Wilson and Brodies, by increasing profits per equity partner to £361,000.
The only Scottish firm that is more profitable on that basis is Edinburgh-based Dickson Minto, which is reported by The Lawyer online magazine to have grown profits per equity partner to £1.15m in 2007.
This means Dickson Minto was the second most-successful law firm in the UK, with only the “magic circle” firm Linklaters having a higher profits-per-equity-partner figure, while Burness ranked 55th in the UK.
The next highest Scottish firms after Burness in The Lawyer’s rankings were Brodies (£330,000), Maclay Murray & Spens (£315,000), McGrigors (£310,000) and Dundas & Wilson (£308,000).
Roddy Bruce, a partner at Dickson Minto, declined to confirm the accuracy of the The Lawyer’s figures.
Philip Rodney, Burness chairman, said: “Unlike some of the other Scottish firms, we have not had the distraction of seeking to enter the lower end of the London market. Some clients of the Big Four law firms in Scotland have been feeling unloved as the firms have been focusing so much of their attention on the London market.”
