Sustainable growth at Ledingham Chalmers

Supporting clients buying and selling residential property has been central to our sustainable growth over the past few years.

Not only have we seen year-on-year increases in financial performance in the private client discipline, which includes this area of expertise, recent deals we’ve concluded to enhance our service offering involve residential property to some extent.

In November 2019, we announced Simpson & Marwick’s Aberdeen estate agency practice was transferring to Ledingham Chalmers in a deal that created one of the city’s largest in terms of number and value of properties sold.

Most recently, at the end of last year, we acquired Inverness-based legal practice Anderson Shaw & Gilbert (ASG): creating a business with an annual turnover of around £14million with all personnel transferring across to our firm.

For now, the ASG estate agency practice will retain its name, while all other teams trade under the Ledingham Chalmers brand.

We’re making progress towards our goal to double revenue to £25million by 2025. Shortly before the ASG deal was announced, we released our financial results for 2021/22 which included our highest turnover — £12.8million — since becoming a limited liability partnership (LLP) in 2006.

Turnover for the group, including subsidiary Ledingham Chalmers Financial, was £13.6million, compared with £12.3million in 2020/21. Group profit rose to £4.1million from £4million the previous year.

The results reflected a strong performance across the board including in staple corporate and commercial practice areas. Results from the rural and private client teams (including residential property) continued to rise against the previous years too.

Looking ahead, a large part of our growth strategy will be strategic acquisitions and mergers.

This isn’t about growth for growth’s sake. It’s about broadening our offering or complementing the work we already do with public sector organisations and individuals, as well as multinational organisations, national companies and high potential SMEs.

These businesses operate across industries that drive the national economy, including energy, oil and gas, renewables, commercial property, construction, agriculture, leisure and tourism, as well as insurance.

Another key part of reaching that target is having the right people in the right roles in all our offices. As such, we’re actively recruiting for solicitors across all positions for our teams in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Inverness and Stirling. And we’re keen to hear from anyone considering a move.

It’s an exciting time to join our firm. There are great opportunities for people to take control of their careers; to exercise autonomy to progress and grow in an independent law firm where your contribution’s welcome and actively encouraged. Often there’s first-hand experience of working on high profile, high calibre and complex matters: looking after and protecting our clients’ interests.

You’ll find more details on our website at www.ledinghamchalmers. com/careers/ambitious-growth.

In conclusion, the exceptionally competitive marketplace for recruiting, winning and retaining business — and indeed growing our firm — is a challenge, but one I think we’re more than up for.

Jennifer Young Managing partner

April 03

April 14 day)

Learn the fundamentals and benefits of coaching and the use of specific tools for guidance and analysis. April 18

Learn how you can take advantage of this advanced technology and gain a competitive edge in your industry.

Bridge the gap between doing and supervising and become confident in delegating tasks.

Improve your self-management by changing the way you work.

April 26

The course provides an overview of all methods of payment when trading internationally.

April 28

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Understand how to protect your business and customers by implementing an ISO 27001 Information Management System.

Understand responsibilities and techniques in relation to HR requirements.

Designed to enhance the one-day ‘Train the Trainer’ course and will enable trainers to excel in the delivery of the training.

This course addresses the complexities of ‘leading from afar’ and encourages participants to consider how to build an effective team in an evolving marketplace.

Learn how to grow as a manager and improve the performance of your team.