About Us /
highlights of the year
We have again made remarkable progress in achieving all of the testing benchmarks we set ourselves for the year...
Our achievements have a special resonance as the hallmarks of our confidence in our 20th anniversary year. They vindicate the vision that Rod McKenzie and I shared back in 1988 when our fledgling commercial law practice first took flight, ambitious to be "a dynamic firm that is a workplace of opportunity for employees and a compelling, cost-effective business proposition for our clients."
Today, we have carved our distinctive position in Scotland's marketplace by being more than legal advisers: what clients value most is the unconventional emphasis we've always placed on winning respect first as true business partners with strong commercial acumen.
That's the foundation of our brand. Its strength is reflected once more in our performance this year. We billed ?14.2m, a revenue increase of ?2m. This means we have now experienced eight successive years of double-digit growth to develop a uniquely well-balanced business platform, shared right across our core business areas, against deteriorating trends elsewhere.
Our tendering success illustrates our businesslike approach. We submitted an average of almost one tender a week, and succeeded with 48% of those concluded. That's well above the national average of 14%. Indeed, routine competitive re-tendering accounted for some 35% of our revenue last year - and we were reappointed by 100% of those clients.
Our drive into the Public Sector has also been particularly rewarding. We acquired major new clients - Forestry Commission Scotland, West of Scotland Housing Association, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and Inverness College among them. Public Sector clients now account for as much as a quarter of our firm's revenue.
Our performance against our internal yardsticks has been just as gratifying. We believe our legal staff retention rate at 90.5% is unrivalled in Scotland. We have been accorded "One to Watch" status in the Sunday Times league of the UK's best companies to work for. We are one of only three Scottish professional firms (and the only law firm) to be recognised among the 100 Best Professional Firms to work for in 2008, measured by the Managing Partners' Forum.
As part of our vigorous Corporate Social Responsibility programme, we acquired our own "carbon passport" - the first Scottish law firm to become carbon neutral. Our Healthy Working Lives initiative was another first among Scottish law firms. In renewing our Investors In People accreditation, we were commended as "world class" on several measures.
We already are at the heart of change. I chaired the Housing Improvement Task Force that recommended the "Single Survey" which will revolutionise house buying and selling in Scotland. The operation, accountability and responsibility of public services is set to be transformed as the Scottish Government implements most of the reforms to external scrutiny regimes which I recommended in the 2007 Crerar Review. And the approaching deregulation of the legal profession represents another seismic shift full of opportunity.
Now, as we plan ahead, our commitment to growth is undiminished. We aim to take our place at the top of the first division. We'll do that by responding innovatively to tomorrow's opportunities, and continuing to place ourselves at the very heart of change in the "new Scotland". Our optimism is based on the conviction that, in the last 20 years, we've built a distinctive brand powerfully equipped to provide the legal expertise and business partnership our clients need in the 21st century.
Professor Lorne D Crerar, Chairman
