What makes Edinburgh's professional work different from Glasgow's?
Both cities work under Scots law, but the work that pays Edinburgh's advisers comes from different places. Glasgow's firms lean towards industry. Edinburgh's lean towards money, government and the law itself.
- Financial services. Edinburgh is a major centre for financial services and asset management, regulated by the FCA. Around those businesses sits a ring of wealth managers, advisers, lawyers, accountants and actuaries.
- Government. The Scottish Government and the Scottish Parliament sit in Edinburgh, which brings a steady stream of public sector advisory and procurement work to firms in the city.
- The courts. Edinburgh is the seat of Scotland's senior courts, so litigation and advocacy work concentrates here.
- The professional bodies. ICAS, the Law Society of Scotland and Revenue Scotland are all based in Edinburgh.
On top of that sit the city's own schemes: the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, the Granton Waterfront regeneration and the tram extension to Newhaven, which opened in 2023. Each brings planning, property, legal and advisory work to local firms.
Which firms carry the load?
The 20 to 200 person practices that sit between those institutions and their clients: wealth managers and financial advisers, private client and commercial law firms, litigation practices, accountancy firms, policy and public sector consultancies, surveyors and property advisers working on waterfront and regeneration sites. What they share is that their best people spend a large part of the week producing documents for someone who will scrutinise them closely: a regulator, a court, a public body or a trustee.
Who scrutinises an Edinburgh firm's paperwork?
Usually more than one body at once.
- The FCA, for any firm in or serving regulated financial services. Consumer Duty applies in Edinburgh exactly as it does in London, and the regulator expects firms to be able to show the outcomes their customers receive.
- The Law Society of Scotland for solicitors, and ICAS for many of the city's chartered accountants. Both are based in the city.
- Revenue Scotland, which collects Land and Buildings Transaction Tax on property transactions.
- Registers of Scotland, where title is registered once a property transaction concluded by missives completes.
- SEPA, where environmental matters arise on regeneration sites such as Granton Waterfront.
- Scottish public procurement rules, which govern how the Scottish Government and other public bodies buy advice, with opportunities advertised on Public Contracts Scotland.
- UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018, across all of it.
What does that mean for the documents an Edinburgh firm produces?
Each audience brings its own recurring paperwork:
- For asset managers and their clients: periodic investment reports, suitability letters, fund commentary and the Consumer Duty evidence that backs them up.
- For boards and trustees: board packs and management information, rebuilt each quarter from the same sources.
- For the courts: chronologies, document indexes, summaries of evidence and the correspondence around a litigated matter.
- For government: tender responses, proposals, policy papers and the progress reports that follow a contract award.
- For private clients: executries, trusts and powers of attorney drafted under Scots law, and the letters that go with them.
- For property work on the City Region Deal and Granton: missives, title reports, LBTT returns, valuations and planning submissions.
Almost all of it is assembled by senior people from the last similar file. The judgement is theirs. The assembly does not need to be.
Which process should an Edinburgh firm rebuild first?
| Firm | Recurring job | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| Wealth manager or adviser | Periodic client reviews and reports | Client reporting |
| Any FCA regulated firm | Consumer Duty and suitability records | Compliance evidence |
| Firm reporting to a board or trustees | Quarterly packs | Board and management reporting |
| Litigation practice | Chronologies and document summaries | Document review |
| Consultancy advising government | Bids on Public Contracts Scotland | Tender responses |
The right answer is the job costing your firm most. Work it out as weekly hours on the job, times the people doing it, times your charge-out rate, times 46 working weeks, or let the audit do it in about three minutes.
What does a rebuilt investment review look like?
Today an adviser pulls valuations from the platform, rereads last year's notes, writes the commentary and then records what was said for the compliance file. Rebuilt, the valuations, the adviser's notes and the client's stated objectives feed a draft report and a draft record of the conversation, both in the firm's house style. The adviser corrects and approves them. The evidence of how the firm meets its duty to that client builds up as the work is done, instead of being pieced together before an internal review. A named person signs off anything that reaches a client. AI drafts; people approve.
How does the engagement run for a firm in Edinburgh?
Aldbry is based at 167-169 Great Portland Street, London, and works with firms across the UK, Scotland included. One process, one month. The first week is spent with the people who do the job, listing every source, style, handoff and sign-off, including the points where Scottish and English practice differ. The second and third weeks build the process on your own styles, templates and records, inside the software your team already uses, and test it on live files. The fourth week trains the team and makes it the standard way of working, and 30 days of support follow. The fee is fixed before work starts. If the process is not live in 30 days, you do not pay.
For firms in the west of Scotland, the Glasgow page looks at shipbuilding, ScotWind and the City Deal.