Dr Donald Lawrie, Lawrie IP founder

The firm has experienced substantial growth over the decade, with an increase in turnover of at least 20% each year since its first year of trading.

Lawrie IP has grown from one person in 2010, founder Dr Donald Lawrie, to 28 employees. And last year, Lawrie IP located to larger premises, moving into newly refurbished offices at 310 St Vincent Street – formerly Whyte & MacKay’s global headquarters.

The firm is continuing to recruit people to meet client demand and allow the business to further expand, with plans to grow to 35 staff by 2023.

Lawrie IP has recently made a senior appointment with Jim Robertson taking up the newly created role of head of life sciences. He was previously a partner at IP firms Marks & Clerk and Wynne Jones. Lawrie IP had been looking to recruit someone senior to cover this growing sector for some time and are delighted to have secured someone with Jim’s skills, knowledge and experience.

Other recent appointments include: Simon Taylor joining in another new role as head of operations; Gillian Craig coming on board as an experienced trade mark paralegal from drinks firm William Grant & Sons; Jaclyn Dunn joining as a part-qualified patent attorney from IP firm HGF; and law graduates Adam Ryan and Jemma Law joining to strengthen the records team.

To mark its tenth anniversary, Lawrie IP has had ten bottles of a 10-year old Single Malt Scotch Whisky bottled by one of its clients, another Glasgow-based firm, Douglas Laing & Company Limited.

Dr Donald Lawrie said: “It has been really rewarding to see Lawrie IP grow to be an established and successful IP firm with a turnover of £2.7m in the space of ten years. Since starting out we’ve recruited many excellent people and we have enjoyed working with clients across a range of sectors, from food and drink to life sciences.

“Despite COVID-19, we’ve managed to further expand the firm in the last few months and have made a number of significant appointments. The experience of having our staff working remotely has also given us confidence to expand the firm outside of Scotland and we will be looking to create a presence in England in 2021.

“The focus now is on continuing to expand the firm by providing an excellent service to our existing clients, as well as bringing in new business. I’d also like to thank the Scottish business community for the support we’ve received in the last 10 years.”