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Brodies' Aberdeen boss hails record turnover as recruitment drive kicks off

Brodies' Aberdeen boss hails record turnover as recruitment drive kicks off

Brodies' Aberdeen boss says the firm's 15th straight year of growth is driven by its commitment to recruiting top legal talent at all levels and strengthening its local teams.
Partner Martin Ewan's comments come as the legal firm reports a record turnover of £126.7 million for the financial year ending 30 April 2025 – up 11% from £114.3m the previous year.
All equity partners at the full-service law firm were awarded £885,296.
Meanwhile, staff members bagged a 5% bonus, performance bonuses and salary increases.
This comes as operating profit grew slightly to over £50m, up from £49.2m.
Brodies, which employs over 100 people in the Granite City, has almost doubled its Inverness workforce since opening an office in Clava House in 2022 – from 12 to 23.
Mr Ewan said clients across the north-east and Highlands and Islands have been facing a number of challenges, which has led to increased demand for their services.
He added: 'Our ability to support our clients now and in the future is underpinned by growing a practice of local experts who work with specialists across the wider firm.
'That includes the recruitment of the best lawyers at all levels, starting at the grassroots level of our trainees – for which we are currently in the process of recruiting our next cohort for 2027 across all of our offices.
'We have invested – and will continue to do so – in growing our locally-based teams of skilled lawyers so that we can help clients with their commercial ambitions and challenges, and support them on personal and family matters.'
Highlights from the financial year include:
Continued investment in the Highlands and Islands has seen work start on an expansion of Brodies' Inverness office to support the firm's growth in the region.
The planned work taking place over the summer will provide colleagues with additional desk space, breakout and collaboration areas.
Brodies' managing partner Stephen Goldie said this progress comes amid continuing domestic and global headwinds and reflects the resilience and ambition of its clients.
He said: 'As we enter the second year of our current three-year strategic cycle, we remain focused on those plans – recognising the talent and contribution of our colleagues, encouraging greater collaboration across our firm and with our clients, and investing in our offices and in technology that augments the high standards our clients expect.
'Our plans for Inverness are just one example of this, reflecting the ambition of our clients in the Highlands and Islands, the opportunity that exists in the region, and the hard work and dedication of our colleagues to support those clients, be they businesses, organisations or individuals.'

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How SpaceX's rocket diplomacy backfired in the Bahamas
How SpaceX's rocket diplomacy backfired in the Bahamas

Reuters

time11 minutes ago

  • Reuters

How SpaceX's rocket diplomacy backfired in the Bahamas

NASSAU, Bahamas, July 29 (Reuters) - When SpaceX was negotiating a deal with the Bahamas last year to allow its Falcon 9 rocket boosters to land within the island nation's territory, Elon Musk's company offered a sweetener: complimentary Starlink internet terminals for the country's defense vessels, according to three people familiar with the matter. The rocket landing deal, unlocking a more efficient path to space for SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9, was then signed in February last year by Deputy Prime Minister Chester Cooper, who bypassed consultation with several other key government ministers, one of the sources and another person familiar with the talks said. Reuters could not determine the dollar value of the Starlink arrangement or the number of vessels outfitted with Starlink terminals. The Bahamian military, mostly a sea-faring force with a fleet of roughly a dozen vessels, did not respond to a request for comment. Reuters found no evidence that Cooper broke any laws or regulations in striking the deal with SpaceX, but the people said the quick approval created tension within the Bahamian government. By this April, two months after the first and only Falcon 9 booster landed off the nation's Exuma coast, the Bahamas announced it had put the landing agreement on hold. The government said publicly it wanted a post-launch investigation after the explosion in March of a different SpaceX rocket, Starship, whose mid-flight failure sent hundreds of pieces of debris washing ashore on Bahamian islands. But the suspension was the result of the blindsided officials' frustration as well, two of the people said. "While no toxic materials were detected and no significant environmental impact was reported, the incident prompted a reevaluation of our engagement with SpaceX," Cooper, also the country's tourism chief, told Reuters through a spokesperson. SpaceX did not respond to questions for comment. Cooper and the prime minister's office did not respond to questions about how the rocket landing deal was arranged. SpaceX's setbacks in the Bahamas – detailed in this story for the first time – offer a rare glimpse into its fragile diplomacy with foreign governments. As the company races to expand its dominant space business, it must navigate the geopolitical complexities of a high-stakes, global operation involving advanced satellites and orbital-class rockets – some prone to explosive failure – flying over or near sovereign territories. These political risks were laid bare last month when Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said her government was considering taking legal action against SpaceX over 'contamination' related to Starship launches from Starbase, the company's rocket site in Texas, 2 miles north of the Mexican border. Her comments came after a Starship rocket exploded into a giant fireball earlier this month on a test stand at Starbase. Responding to Sheinbaum on X, SpaceX said its teams have been hindered from recovering Starship debris that landed in Mexican territory. SpaceX is pursuing aggressive global expansion as Musk, its CEO, has become a polarizing figure on the world stage, especially following high-profile clashes with several governments during his time advising President Donald Trump. More recently he has fallen out with Trump himself. Starlink, SpaceX's fast-growing satellite internet venture, is a central source of revenue funding Musk's vision to send human missions to Mars aboard Starship. But to scale globally, SpaceX must continue to win the trust of foreign governments with which it wishes to operate the service, as rivals from China and companies like Jeff Bezos' Amazon ramp up competing satellite networks. The company's talks with Bahamian officials show how Starlink is also seen as a key negotiating tool for SpaceX that can help advance other parts of its business. According to SpaceX's orbital calculations, the Falcon 9 rocket can carry heavier payloads and more satellites to space if its booster is allowed to land in Bahamian territory. Meanwhile, Starship's trajectory from Texas to orbit requires it to pass over Caribbean airspaces, exposing the region to potential debris if the rocket fails, as it has in all three of its test flights this year. SpaceX's deal with the Bahamas, the government said, also included a $1 million donation to the University of Bahamas, where the company pledged to conduct quarterly seminars on space and engineering topics. The company must pay a $100,000 fee per landing, pursuant to the country's space regulations it enacted in preparation for the SpaceX activities. While SpaceX made steep investments for an agreement prone to political entanglement, the Falcon 9 booster landings could resume later this summer, two Bahamian officials said. Holding things up is the government's examination of a SpaceX report on the booster landing's environmental impact, as well as talks among officials to amend the country's space reentry regulations to codify a better approval process and environmental review requirements, one of the sources said. Arana Pyfrom, assistant director at the Bahamas' Department of Environmental Planning and Protection, said SpaceX's presence in the country is "polarizing". Many Bahamians, he said, have voiced concerns to the government about their safety from Starship debris and pollution to the country's waters. "I have no strong dislike for the exploration of space, but I do have concerns about the sovereignty of my nation's airspace," Pyfrom said. "The Starship explosion just strengthened opposition to make sure we could answer all these questions." Starship exploded about nine and a half minutes into flight on March 6 after launching from Texas, in what the company said was likely the result of an automatic self-destruct command triggered by an issue in its engine section. It was the second consecutive test failure after a similar mid-flight explosion in January rained debris on the Turks and Caicos Islands, a nearby British overseas territory. Matthew Bastian, a retired engineer from Canada, was anchored in his sailboat on vacation near Ragged Island, a remote island chain in southern Bahamas, just after sunset when he witnessed Starship's explosion. What he initially thought was a rising moon quickly became an expanding fireball that turned into a "large array of streaking comets." "My initial reaction was 'wow that is so cool,' then reality hit me – I could have a huge chunk of rocket debris crash down on me and sink my boat!" he said. "Fortunately that didn't happen, but one day it could happen to someone." Thousands of cruise ships, ferries, workboats, fishing boats, yachts and recreational sailboats ply the waters around Caribbean islands each year, maritime traffic that is crucial for the Bahamas tourism industry. Within days of the explosion, SpaceX dispatched staff and deployed helicopters and speedboats to swarm Ragged Island and nearby islands, using sonar to scan the seafloor for debris, four local residents and a government official told Reuters. On the surface, recovery crews hauled the wreckage from the water and transferred it onto a much larger SpaceX vessel, typically used to catch rocket fairings falling back from space, the people said. The SpaceX team included its vice president of launch, Kiko Dontchev, who emphasized in a news conference with local reporters that the rocket is entirely different from the Falcon 9 boosters that would land off the Exuma coast under SpaceX's agreement. Joe Darville, chairman of a local environmental organization called Save The Bays, was angered by the Starship debris, as well as what he described as a "deal done totally in secret" over the Falcon 9 agreement. As Bahamian waters become increasingly polluted and coral reefs shrink, he's unhappy with the lack of transparency in his government's dealings with SpaceX. "Something like that should have never been made without consultation of the people in the Bahamas," he said. Pyfrom, the official from the Bahamas' environmental agency, said the review of the SpaceX report and the approval process will show "where we fell short, and what we need to improve on." SpaceX, meanwhile, is forging ahead with Starship. Musk said earlier this month he expects the next Starship rocket to lift off within the next three weeks.

Students across West Lothian offered live legal career advice from top law firm during exam results week
Students across West Lothian offered live legal career advice from top law firm during exam results week

Daily Record

time11 minutes ago

  • Daily Record

Students across West Lothian offered live legal career advice from top law firm during exam results week

With thousands of students across Scotland receiving their exam results next week, MFMac, one of Scotland's 'big four' independent law firms, is launching a new initiative to support young people considering a future in law. Students across West Lothian are being offered live legal career advice from a top law firm during exam results week. ‌ With thousands of students across Scotland receiving their exam results next week, MFMac, one of Scotland's 'big four' independent law firms, is launching a new initiative to support young people considering a future in law. ‌ The MFMac Career Helpline, running from August 4 to 8, will provide live career advice for students during Scotland's exam results week. ‌ The initiative is designed to break down barriers and offer practical guidance for aspiring lawyers, particularly those without industry connections or mentors, and help parents navigate their children's career options. Through the Helpline, students and parents will have the opportunity to speak directly with the firm's current trainees and members of the People team, gaining insight into legal pathways, university decisions and what a career in law can look like beyond the traditional routes. Martin Glover, Chief People Officer at MFMac, said: 'Getting your exam results can be daunting, particularly for those without access to career advice or legal role models. ‌ 'Through this Helpline, we want to give students and parents a clear starting point: someone to speak to, questions answered and honest advice about what's possible. It reflects our broader mission to make legal careers more accessible, inclusive and achievable for all.' Jamie Stewart, a Senior Solicitor in MFMac's Commercial team, added: 'When I got my exam results, I felt completely unsure about what to do next or how to progress into my career. I had no close contacts in law, and I didn't know who to ask for advice. 'This Helpline offers students something I didn't have – a chance to speak to someone who understands your concerns. I'm proud to be part of something that helps you see there's always a way forward. ‌ 'Remember, your results don't define your future - there's always a path ahead.' Students and parents can call The MFMac Career Helpline on 0131 247 1060. The line is open between 9am to 7pm from August 4 to 8.

Conditions ‘really tough' for running UK businesses, says Gary Neville
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Conditions ‘really tough' for running UK businesses, says Gary Neville

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