The graduate jobs market is tough at a time when we are seeing the rise of artificial intelligence.

Business Editor Ian McConnell analyses some more uplifting news on this front.

A couple of things jumped out when speaking with the chair and managing partner of a major Scottish law firm this week, aside from a very strong set of financial results.

Burness Paull reported that its annual turnover had exceeded £100 million for the first time.

And the firm achieved a 27% rise in profit from £35.9 million to £45.7m in the year to March 31 on the back of its 12% increase in turnover to £105.2m.

These are undoubtedly impressive and eye-catching results, and Burness Paull chair Peter Lawson and managing partner Mark Ellis were in understandably upbeat form as they underlined the firm’s strategy of focusing on “higher-value, more complex work”.

Aside from this, two things which really stood out from the interview were Mr Lawson’s comments about the strength of the talent from Scottish universities, and what he and Mr Ellis had to say about the rise of artificial intelligence and the implications for the sector and Burness Paull.

There was a bit of crossover between those two topics as well but more of that later.

Mr Lawson flagged the quality of Scottish university graduates on the global stage. And he highlighted this as a key advantage for a major Scottish law firm such as Burness Paull.

He said: “Speaking to law firms across the world, we have the benefit in Scotland of having fantastic universities with fantastic graduates. So the pipeline of talent that comes in at the trainee level is extremely good and is a real strength of the legal sector in Scotland. They’re very good degrees and, speaking to firms even in London, they find it much harder to get that really good pipeline of talent coming........

© Herald Scotland