THE legal practice formerly known as HBJ Gateley has seen its turnover rise by 10 per cent in the year since it was taken over by English firm Addleshaw Goddard, leading its former senior partner to call the deal “an astonishing success”.

In the 13 months to May 2017 HBJ Gateley turned over £22.8 million and generated partner profits of £6.8m.

Addleshaw Goddard senior partner Malcolm McPherson, who held the same role at HBJ Gateley, said that in the 12 months to May this year the Scottish arm of the enlarged firm turned over in the region of £25m.

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“It’s not as easy now to say these are the Scottish figures, but it’s more than 10% above,” he said.

It comes on the back of a 23% rise in Addleshaw Goddard’s firmwide turnover to £242m, helped in part by the HBJ Gateley acquisition. Firmwide profits rose by 36% to £86m.

Mr McPherson said the Scottish practice had benefitted from doing work for existing Addleshaw Goddard clients in Scotland as well as being instructed on work that has originated in other parts of the firm’s network.

“We’ve had some really high-quality work from Addleshaw Goddard clients like SSE, Diageo and Standard Life Aberdeen,” he said. “We hadn’t worked for them before.”

He said the firm’s staff has also benefited from being able to work in overseas offices such as Dubai and Hong Kong, which in turn has led the firm to bolster its Scottish workforce with new hires. The firm has increased its legal headcount in Scotland by 17% in the past year.

Prior to being taken over by Addleshaw Goddard last year HBJ Gateley had been associated with English firm Gateley.

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While those two firms shared branding and referred work to each other, they operated as distinct entities with separate profit pools.

Their relationship cooled when Gateley listed on the Alternative Investment Market in 2015, with the two parting company completely last May.

Addleshaw Goddard sealed its takeover of HBJ Gateley on June 1 2017.