LAW firm Burness Paull is set to record a second successive year of rapid growth helped by strong activity in the Central Belt and Aberdeen.

Philip Rodney, chairman of Burness Paull, said the firm is on course to grow both turnover and profits by 15 per cent in the year to 31 July with all areas of the business performing well.

The results will cover the second full year of trading since the firm was created out of the merger of Central Belt-based Burness and Aberdeen's Paull & Williamson.

Burness Paull grew turnover by 20 per cent annually to £46.3 million in the year to July 2014, during which profits increased by 25 per cent to £20.7m from £16.5m.

While the growth rate appears to have slowed this year, Mr Rodney said: "In this environment 15 per cent is something that we are very satisfied with, we don't see it as growth slipping back."

Describing the results for the prior year as exceptional, Mr Rodney said the firm had benefited from a number of synergies that had been generated following the merger.

The current year has seen the Aberdeen area heartlands of the oil and gas industry shaken by the slump in the crude price since June.

However, Mr Rodney said: "Despite the downturn in Aberdeen activity levels there are very high."

He said Burness Paull has been working with clients to assist them with their cost containment strategies.

The firm expects the oil and gas industry to emerge from the downturn stronger than when it went into it.

Mr Rodney added: "We anticipate once the market has found a level that there will be quite a lot of private equity activity."

He said the firm is also seeing a lot of activity in the Central Belt, where the fall in the oil price may have provided a spur to the economy through reduced fuel costs.

Mr Rodney noted that Burness Paull has advised on a number of deals in the Central Belt in recent months.

These included a £4.5m management buy-in at Livingston-based CB Technologies funded by Maven Capital and a £4m investment by Epidarex Capital in Edinburgh University spin-out, Edinburgh Molecular Imaging.

Mr Rodney said the firm has a very strong pipeline of deals and the outlook for the rest of the financial year is good.

He has not detected any signs that the prospect of a closely fought General Election next month is prompting clients to rein in activity.

Mr Rodney highlighted the fact Burness Paull was named recently as one of the UK's 'fastest growing and most dynamic companies' in the London Stock Exchange's celebration of 'Organisations that Inspire Britain'.

He noted the firm has worked with a number of London law firms in successful joint pitches for business.

Recent research for the Law Society of Scotland suggested confidence had increased among solicitors following the long downturn, which led to a fall in lucrative transactions work.

In the annual survey of members' views, 61 per cent said that they were optimistic about the future of the profession, compared to 53 per cent in 2013.