Scotland’s third-largest firm by revenue, Shepherd and Wedderburn, had largely been thought to have fallen behind Brodies and Burness Paull recently. However, Shepherd has matched the revenue growth of its larger peers over the last five years, up 49%. And after a dip in 2016/17, revenue and profit both returned to growth this year, up 6% and 10% respectively. Revenue now sits at £53.5m and profit £22m, while profit per equity partner (PEP) increased more than 15% to £403,000.
Highlights from the year included advising FanDuel on its proposed merger with Paddy Power Betfair, as well as becoming the first top-100 UK law firm to offer funded litigation in partnership with Burford Capital. Chief executive Stephen Gibb (pictured) says real estate and corporate have been particularly busy, with deal activity flowing through into the start of this financial year: the firm advised fintech company Nucleus Financial Group on its £140m AIM listing in July, for instance.
Gibb also points to the hires of Jacqueline Moore from Drummond Miller to head up a new immigration department for Brexit-related advice and commercial litigation partner Philip Sewell in London from legacy Maclay Murray & Spens. Five partners were also promoted across property, corporate, rural, and commercial disputes and regulation.
The firm, now in its 250th year, opened its fourth office 18 months ago, in Aberdeen, to add to its Edinburgh, Glasgow and London bases. There are 12 partners in London and 60 in Scotland, with Gibb eyeing further growth in Scotland.
‘People are looking at Brexit and nobody really knows yet what’s going to happen. The general sentiment is: “Let’s just get on with it.”’ Stephen Gibb, Shepherd and Wedderburn
It has also commissioned the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute to do research into the outlook for Scottish businesses and the economy. The firm will take the research to clients in a bid to understand what challenges the economy faces and how they can be tackled.
Gibb comments: ‘We have a cautious optimism. We’re all waiting for the outcome of the discussions that are going on in London and Brussels about Brexit. But for the moment we, and more importantly our clients, are simply getting on with it, and I think for the balance of the calendar year and the balance of the financial year, that’s pretty much what will happen. After that, the uncertainty’s there.’
What’s been driving the return to growth in Scotland this year?
Stephen Gibb: Most of our business is UK-based – a lot of it is Scottish – and we see the effect of the sterling devaluation, and the continued inward investment into the UK and Scotland in particular, which is the second-biggest recipient of inward investment in the UK at the moment. That’s been really good for the market. People are looking at Brexit coming and, frankly, nobody knows yet what’s going to happen, so the general sentiment is: ‘Let’s just get on with it.’
Are you looking to invest more in London after that office’s record year?
Gibb: We have a good, tight group of people in London, who are very focused on their client bases and we had some pretty active clients across that time, which has continued into now. It’s a good mixture of business in London, which includes both local clients and a substantial referral practice from City firms. But at the moment our plan is to stay pretty steady – what we’re looking at is the Scottish-based market. I’d have to kill you if I told you about it now, but we’ll be making an announcement in the next couple of months about a major team hire.
What are your perceptions of the market at the moment and any upcoming challenges?
Gibb: The blindingly obvious one is Brexit and what’s going to be the outcome of that. There is a significant level of challenge there around immigration and the demographics of Scotland, because the peculiarity of the Scottish market is we have a more rapidly-ageing population, and that requires immigration to balance the books. That is one aspect that is going to require some peculiar thinking to get a sense of how Scotland can focus differently from the rest of the UK