What is the biggest law firm in Scotland?

Jan 29, 2023

Written By Zara Arif

In recent years, the legal landscape in Scotland has undergone a lot of change. This has made Scotland an exciting new area for legal development, with many international firms such as CMS, Pinsent Masons and DLA Piper setting up a presence in the country.

Law firms in Scotland

Some examples of Scottish firms include Brodies, Burness Paull, Harper Macleod and Shepherd and Wedderburn but this is by no means an exhaustive list of the biggest or the best firms that Scotland has to offer.

The biggest law firms tend to set up bases in the three key cities of Scotland. Edinburgh and Glasgow remain commercial business cities but Aberdeen also has opportunities for law firms which work within the energy sector.

It’s worth noting that there is competition between larger firms and domestic Scottish firms. Several strategies have been put in place by both types of firms in order to assert market dominance.

What makes a law firm ‘big’?

It can be hard to determine what makes a law firm the ‘biggest’ or the ‘best’.

In order to determine which is the ‘biggest’ law firm in Scotland, there are some factors which can help us to reach a decision.

Firstly, we can obviously consider the ‘biggest’ law firm by the number of lawyers it employs, including partners and trainees. These numbers can have a sizable effect on the type of work and practise a firm engages in, and are therefore important to know.

Another way to determine the size of a law firm is by measuring its earnings and its practice areas/specialisms. These are also factors which may contribute to a firm’s reputation and the type of work it does.

Largest number of lawyers

According to a 2019 survey carried out by the Scottish Business Insider the top 5 biggest law firms by the number of staff and partners was as follows: Brodies (552.5), Pinsent Masons (500), Burness Paull (442.5), Thorntons (412.1) and CMS (398).

These numbers are from a few years ago, so may have increased or decreased over time.

Largest earner

In terms of earnings, according to the same survey, Pinsent Masons came out on top for the year 2019, with an income of £233,188.

After this, the top 5 was dominated by firms with a Scottish only presence, such as Brodies, Burness Paull, Shepherd and Wedderburn and Harper McLeod.

Largest number of Practice Areas

Finally, in the 2019 The Times Best Law Firm’s, Harper McLeod was ranked as one of the top firms in Scotland, not least because of its wide array of practice areas. It was recognised and recommended in 9 different domains: administrative and public law; commercial dispute resolution; commercial property; company and commercial; employment; energy and renewables; entertainment and sport; family law and tax.

This ranking made Harper McLeod one of the highest ranking firms with a Scottish only presence.

In The Times Best Law Firm’s 2023, the top 10 included a mixture of firms from other jurisdictions and Scottish only firms. Those who came out on top were: Addleshaw Goddard, Anderson Strathern, Balfour + Manson, Blackadders, Brodies, BTO, Burness Paull, CMS, Dentons and Dickson Minto.

In this way, it is evident that Scotland is an exciting and thriving area for legal practice and its firms should definitely not be ignored or overlooked.

Becoming a Lawyer in Scotland