Pinsent Masons sees its Scots business flourishing

The firm highlighted strong trading across a number of key sectors including energy, infrastructure, financial services and technology.

Revenues in the six months to September rose by 4 per cent to £146 million, compared with a year earlier. The figure was given on a like-for-like basis, meaning that it strips out the impact of the McGrigors deal.

Separately, newly-filed accounts for McGrigors confirm that it was well on track to increase annual turnover and profit in the run up to the merger.

In the seven months to the end of April, it booked a profit before members’ remuneration of £12.9m on turnover of just below £43.5m. These results compare with figures of £20.6m and £71.2m respectively for the year to 30 September 2011.

Law firms tend to see higher billing activity towards the end of the year, suggesting an even more robust outcome, year-on-year.

According to the Companies House documents, the average profit per member during the seven-month period was £142,000 – again higher on a pro-rata basis than the prior full-year figure of £216,000.

The enlarged Pinsent Masons employs more than 2,500 staff, including 1,500 lawyers and some 350 partners.

Ewan Alexander, a partner and head of Pinsent’s Edinburgh office, said: “We continue to operate in a challenging market domestically but were very happy to have acted on a number of high-profile matters in the past six months.”

He said the firm’s Aberdeen office had been a focus of “considerable activity” since the merger.