THE managing partner of law firm Anderson Strathern is considering moves into Aberdeen and Dundee as a way to grow its presence.

Murray McCall, elected to his role in September last year, also outlined that he is currently averaging at least one meeting a week with potential new partners from other firms and is actively looking at lateral hires of senior lawyers and teams.

The firm currently has offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Haddington, East Lothian, but Mr McCall said any potential expansion into Scotland's third and fourth largest cities may not be done through physical premises straight away.

He said: "Technology has meant you don't actually have to have an actual office in an area as long as you are delivering service to your client in the way they want. You can go and visit clients in their premises wherever they might be.

"We can service clients very well from our main offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh but notwithstanding [that] Aberdeen would certainly be the sort of place we would be looking at were we to set up another office.

"Dundee would be another and there are other parts of the country we would explore as well with places like Perth."

He indicated the lower oil price would not be a barrier to the firm moving into the north east.

He said: "I wouldn't say the current situation with oil and gas is creating difficulty as I still think Aberdeen is a very vibrant economy."

While Anderson Strathern has previously been involved in mergers, most recently with Bell and Scott in 2011, Mr McCall said there was nothing significant in the pipeline but it was open to discussions.

He said: "At any given time there is a discussion of some kind and at some level going on. We have never looked for a significant merger partner.

"We have tended to look more at lateral hires or a group grab of the right set of partners. In the current legal market you can never rule out a fairly big legal merger but you have to ask yourself whether it is the right thing for the business and the people in the business.

"There is no harm in having a coffee and a chat but most of these chats lead nowhere."

Instead the firm, which had revenue of £21.5 million in the 12 months to August 2014, is looking to snap up talented lawyers and teams.

Mr McCall said: "I am actively engaged in talking to lateral hires on a weekly basis. I probably see at least one new potential partner on a weekly basis and have been [doing that] for some months now."

Mr McCall also believes the wider Scottish legal market is growing again after many years of perceived stagnation or contraction.

He cited rising activity in areas which fell during the financial crisis, such as property, banking and construction, along with a generally more positive outlook from clients.

He said: "It is hard to put a finger on exactly when that happened but I would say within the past 12 months.

"There is an increase in activity and a lot more people optimistic about the outlook but they are realists.

"There are still a few dark clouds on the horizon as we don't know how things will play out globally and there is nervousness about the eurozone."

Mr McCall also indicated Anderson Strathern, which counts Robert Carr as its chairman, had seen record performance in the first six months of its financial year from practice areas such as commercial property, rural and private client.