Commercial law firm Burness Paull LLP has marked ten years of continuous growth with a rise in turnover for its financial year ending 31 July 2019, posting an annual income of £58.5M – up 2% from £57.6M in 2017/18. Profit was £22M – down 8% from £23.8M.
Commenting on the firm’s results Burness Paull chair Peter Lawson said: “Economic and political uncertainty had a tangible impact on two of our biggest markets, namely oil and gas and commercial property.
“As a result the first six months of our financial year were relatively flat, with Brexit and oil price recovery delaying some investment decisions and taking a while to convert into activity. However, the second six month period was materially better as clients adjusted to uncertainty being the new norm and the gradual uptick in activity in the North Sea flowed into investment and transactional work.
“The fact that our corporate team had a record year, particularly in tech and international markets, and topped the Scottish legal deals table for the fourth consecutive year, is evidence that clients were bullishly responding to changes in their markets by investing.
“Current activity levels are encouraging, and with our strategic investments in people and tech over the past 12 months we are confident about stronger growth in the year ahead.”
The firm has made significant client-focused investments in new technology. Among the latest developments is the adoption of a full cloud computing strategy to increase security of its data, improve resilience and provide the business with a digital infrastructure that can be rapidly expanded to meet the needs of clients. It has also been implementing state-of-the-art document automation driven by artificial intelligence, and a new practice management system to introduce a raft of new client and matter efficiencies.
Mr Lawson continued: “To achieve consistent growth over the past ten years is a real achievement for the firm given the wide-ranging changes in the legal sector and the economic and political uncertainty during that time. Being involved in advising major corporates over the past 20 years has taught me that long-term sustainability is the key driver for a successful business. Long-term investment is vital too, especially so for us given the pace of change within the legal sector.
“That’s why we have carried out a painstaking review process in partnership with clients to find out what support they are going to need from our firm over the next few years. We know many of them are weathering challenges in their businesses and have a big drive to reduce operational costs.
“Based on their feedback we have brought forward some major investment decisions relating to talent and technology in order to shape our service in response. We are now gradually re-engineering the firm for better long-term performance, starting with client-driven services.
“Technology is becoming an increasingly powerful enabler in legal services with benefits in terms of speed, accuracy and cost. By smart investment in better tech paired with the best people we can pass those benefits on to our clients, no matter whether they are based in Scotland, across the UK or internationally.”
The firm scored a series of high-profile new client wins and instructions including: winning work for blue-chip technology sector names such as C-Trip / Skyscanner and Zoopla / USwitch (ZPG Group); acting as lead external lawyers to Dubai-based Dragon Oil (a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Emirates National Oil Company) in connection with the acquisition of BP’s interest in 12 Egyptian concessions; successfully representing J K Rowling in civil litigation following the dismissal of her former PA; advising Bluegem on the £300m sale of its stake in the iconic Liberty London fashion store; and advising on the House of Fraser administration.
Over the past 12 months Burness Paull also won awards in its market-leading corporate finance and IP practices, plus a Proud Scotland award for its diversity initiatives.
