LAW firm Pinsent Masons has reported a 5% increase in turnover to £309 million in its first annual financial results following the merger with McGrigors.

The comparison is based on the previous combined turnover of both Pinsent Masons and McGrigors which stood at £294m.

In its previous financial year, prior to the merger, Pinsent Masons had turnover of £221m.

On that basis, it has seen 40% growth on the back of the merger – the largest involving a Scottish and English firm when it completed in May last year – for the 12 months to April 30, 2013.

In Scotland, the firm added four partners and advised on deals such as the purchase of Ennovate by Aker Solutions and the management buyout of Cala Homes.

More recently, it acted for Rangers International Football Club on its internal investigation into links between Craig Whyte and Charles Green.

Kirk Murdoch, Pinsent Masons chairman for Scotland and Northern Ireland, described the overall increase in turnover as "solid and satisfactory".

He said: "We would always like it to be more but we are reasonably happy with the outturn. It is pretty good."

Mr Murdoch believes the merger has led to many doors being opened for the enlarged firm.

He said: "With the scale of the business now in Scotland and the international dimension then the FTSE listed businesses and large private companies [we didn't act for] are looking at us now and seeing where we might be able to help them.

"The other side of the coin is we can help our Scottish-based clients into an economy using our office network in places like Shanghai and Istanbul.

"The trick is always to make sure the client feels they are developing a relationship with one firm and it is one business."

Mr Murdoch said the Scottish practice had picked up its "fair share" of corporate and deals work across the year while also performing well in areas including health and safety, tax and anti-bribery and corruption.

He indicated the growing likelihood of shale gas developments in the UK was one potential area of growth for the legal sector and said: "The guys we have got have experience [of shale gas] and have been able to draw on experiences from other countries. "There is no doubt the UK government is committed to trying to move to a more self-sufficient energy strategy.

"So that is one where we would see opportunities albeit it is early days."

Pinsent Masons is still operating out of two offices in both Edinburgh and Glasgow although Mr Murdoch said all teams are now "shuffled into the right positions".

It also moved into new premises in Aberdeen and longer term will try to amalgamate its locations in Scotland's two biggest cities.

Last year offices in Paris and Munich were opened while the Istanbul operation was set up in February.

The firm also has sites in Doha, Dubai, Beijing and Shanghai.

Mr Murdoch said the international network is important when trying to attract younger lawyers to the firm as the Scottish practice gets involved in a lot of overseas work.

He added: "We have lawyers based in Scotland who get involved in those international jobs and spend time [outside of Scotland]."

David Ryan, managing partner of Pinsent Masons, said: "The firm has changed dramatically over the past 12 months and we have made significant investment into the business.

"The performance of our international network has also been encouraging with significant contributions from our new offices in Paris and Munich. Asia Pacific was a real bright spot, with 30% turnover growth for a second consecutive year."

Pinsent Masons employs more than 350 fee-earners in Scotland, 1500 lawyers around the world and around 2500 people in total.