TURNOVER at litigation law firm Balfour & Manson nudged up by two per cent to £9 million in the last financial year while partner profits remained static at £2.9m.
In the year to October 2017 the firm’s turnover was 20% higher than it was in 2008/09, when it came in at £7.5m. Profits, meanwhile, are marginally lower, having bounced around the £3m mark in that time.
Chairman Elaine Motion said the fact the firm’s profit figure has not also jumped is a sign that its strategy is working.
“Stability jumps out as the main thing about the figures,” she said. “We have remained extremely stable. It’s a sign of the way we manage the firm.”
While the firm has small private client and commercial practices, the bulk of the work it does is litigation focused.
Ms Motion said this has worked in Balfour & Manson’s favour over the past decade by insulating it against the worst of the downturn in the markets.
“That’s why we’ve ridden the storm so well,” she said. “Litigation has been the powerhouse of Balfour & Manson forever, and especially since 1990.”
In the firm’s accounts for the year it noted that the reserve fund it holds in case it is the subject of litigation fell from £315,000 to £300,180. It added £78,000 to the fund during the year and paid out a total of £92,820.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here