The Aberdeen office of Brodies has played a key role in deals worth about £500million in its first 12 months. BILL DRUMMOND, the law firm’s managing partner, looks back over the year:
Aberdeen has proved a tough nut to crack for law firms from outside – be it the central belt, London or the English regions.
Over the past 20 years some have come and stayed, a few have grown and some have left – tails between their legs – having concluded that the Granite City market was too challenging.
In the meantime, the city’s many indigenous firms have developed, merged and generally prospered on the back of a long tradition of legal excellence.
Nevertheless, existing clients and the investment into Aberdeen during the Noughties by medium-sized oil and gas sector businesses as well as the burgeoning development of offshore technology and the rapid growth of the books of the banks . . . all made it clear that Brodies should make its own services available more directly.
It was up to me as managing partner to answer the question of how we could do this and succeed where others had failed. When I have a head-scratcher, my usual starting point is to ask people who know more that I do about the topic, so that is what I did.
Such is the self-belief in the future of the economy of the north-east that there is huge support for incoming businesses, such as ours, that deliver services which help others achieve their objectives.
Our (Aberdeen) office has grown from three people, including our first two local partners – Colin MacLaren and Clare Munro – to 33. We have a superb oil and gas team backed by specialist expertise from the wider firm and a range of terrific new clients to compliment our loyal existing clients.