- NEW business wins over reflect the firm’s strength in public and education sectors
- The Scottish law firm has just completed latest financial year and is set to report a steady revenue performance this November in spite of a challenging business environment since the onset of Covid-19
- Anderson Strathern not ruling out further merger and acquisition activity over the next twelve months
- Managing partner Murray McCall sees scope for expanding regional presence particularly in light of new work dynamic and recent deal with HALO
- Anderson Strathern launched Business Resilience Unit this year to support the Scottish business community as it positions its people to “help business recovery”
Scottish legal firm Anderson Strathern has revealed a series of client wins while announcing a raft of promotions and plans to recruit in the months ahead. The firm has just completed its latest financial year and 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, while the firm is not ruling out further merger and acquisition activity over the next twelve months. Anderson Strathern has completed a series of mergers in recent years, including a bolt-on deal with Glasgow-headquartered Hardy Macphail in October 2019.
Anderson Strathern Managing Partner Murray McCall said: “I really believe our people are not only our most important strength but that their commitment to each other and our clients has enabled us to navigate our way through such a challenging time in recent months. 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.”
“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 total in its latest round of promotions, including at Senior Solicitor, Associate and Senior Associate levels and is also planning to actively recruit more senior and junior level talent over the next twelve months to match increasing activity across a number of practice areas. McCall added: “What’s also notable about our promotions and planned recruitment phase is that we are looking for people at all stages and levels of experience to support us though our next phase of growth. So that might be one of the half a dozen trainees we’re keeping on at the firm, or the fact that we place great value in the experience of more senior partners, directors and consultants who bring gravitas and invaluable experience to our overall client offering.”
Commenting on operational activity during the coronavirus pandemic, Murray McCall said: “We now have established pre-eminent practices across commercial, public sector and private client and when you look across the practice groups they have all been impacted by Covid in some way. 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.”
- Anderson Strathern promotions: Laura Flounders (Commercial Real Estate), Kimberley MacNeil (Corporate), Liam Smith (Commercial Litigation) and Ilaria Moretti (Employment) are promoted to Senior Solicitor; Fionn Blair (Public Law), Ross Cameron (Commercial Litigation), Scott Fyfe (Corporate), Gregory Gardiner (Commercial Real Estate), Derek Morrow (Commercial Real Estate), Laura Murray (Private Client), Nichola McAtier (Commercial Litigation), and Catherine Macdonald (Rural) are promoted to Associate; and Kate Bond (Rural), Danielle Edgar (Family), Sarah Lonie (Private Client), Gillian Murray (Commercial Litigation), Laura McCabe (Commercial Litigation) and Robin Turnbull (Employment) are promoted to Senior Associate.
- Anderson Strathern launched a Business Resilience Unit during the Covid-19 crisis to support clients and business leaders across Scotland, drawing together specialist lawyers from across the firm led by Anderson Strathern’s Chair, Bruce Farquhar, and Director Neil Amner, who is also a member of the Scottish Chambers of Commerce’s Business Advisory Group.
- Earlier this year, Anderson Strathern announced that it will be the only law firm and the first Gold Partner in Marie Macklin’s Halo Enterprise and Innovation Hub being established next year in Kilmarnock.
- In 2019, Anderson Strathern – whose client base includes the Scottish Government, INEOS, Buccleuch Estates, Glasgow City Council and Apex Hotels – was selected as the first Scottish legal firm by the Meritas global network which numbers over 180 law firms from over 90 countries worldwide.
Anderson Strathern is a leading Scottish full-service legal firm advising the private client, commercial and public sectors with 53 partners and 251 employees across Edinburgh, Glasgow and East Lothian. Clients include Buccleuch Estates, the Scottish Government, Crown Estate Scotland, Clyde Gateway, Scotmid, Apex Hotels, INEOS, City of Edinburgh Council, Glasgow City Council, Transport Scotland, the Scottish Prison Service, and the Royal College of Nursing.
