Pinsent Masons figures show further advance
International law firm Pinsent Masons, which employs 550 people in its three Scottish offices, recorded continuing growth in its financial year 2015-16, according to unaudited figures released today.
Global turnover in the year to 30 April 2016 reached £382.3m, up 5.5% revenue on the previous year’s £362m (itself a 12% increase). Profit per partner, which rose sharply in 2014-15, increased by a further 2.3% to £550k.
Top performing sectors included advance manufacturing and technology, financial services and infrastructure, which accounted for around 20% of global turnover, while energy and real estate contributed about 12% each. Scotland contributed some significant corporate deals, and the firm also acts as advisers on the Aberdeen Harbour extension, the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, and a joint project among five local authorities engaged in Scotland’s largest joint waste treatment and disposal facility.
Pinsent Masons' managing partner, John Cleland, said: "Our vision is to be recognised as an international market leader in the global sectors in which we operate, and this latest set of results demonstrates further progress. It is particularly pleasing that we have managed to sustain growth and profitability while making unprecedented levels of investment into our business.
“Our partners recognise that if we are serious about becoming international market leaders we cannot stop investing. We have a good deal of momentum in the business and our focus now is on supporting clients based in the UK and elsewhere through what is likely to be a volatile and unpredictable trading period. Some time ago we assembled a multi-disciplinary Brexit Advisory Team which is already engaged with clients globally to address the challenges and opportunities linked to Brexit.
“The year ahead is hard to predict; however our strategic focus on industry sectors, international platform and broad practice mix means our business is exceptionally well placed to help clients respond to what lies ahead."
Scotland and Northern Ireland chairman, Kirk Murdoch, added: “We have had a very positive year as a result of three things: a genuine commitment to sector specialism to complement our legal expertise, internationalisation of our business to support our clients in growth markets, and innovation. The latter is particularly important in Aberdeen in the current climate where businesses want efficiency as well as excellence from their advisers."
Pinsent Masons’ Aberdeen office received a boost during the year with the opening of an oil and gas practice in Singapore which will support cross-border dealmaking across the Asia Pacific region. The firm also established an energy-focused office in Dusseldorf and extended its presence in Australia with new offices in Sydney and Melbourne with experience in the global infrastructure sector.