 WHEN its latest financials were released two weeks ago, the numbers looked good for Brodies. Turnover was up 3 per cent, pre-tax profits and profit per equity partner had risen 13 per cent. But what lies beneath? Brodies is doing well, no doubt, but what makes it culturally different? What is in Brodies' DNa, what runs through its veins?  Bill Drummond should know. Managing partner for 13 years, he will have been at the helm for a decade and a half when his current three-year term ends in May 2013.  So what makes him tick? How does he retain that focus after so long in the top job? "I have a real work ethic. There has not been a year in my life that I haven't worked. I remember when I was nine or ten, doing jobs for a penny - or maybe ten shillings.  "I took this job when I was relatively youthful - 38, and must have been seen as a massive risk, inside and outside the firm."  Clearly, the risk paid off as Brodies grew, pushing turnover up from GBP8million in 2000 to almost GBP40m in 2008-9, snaffling up Bishops in 2006 to get a real foothold in Glasgow, and moving into aberdeen in March. ask how the aberdeen operation is going and Drummond spews adjectives like Jim Bowen on Bullseye: "It has been terrific, I am delighted, we are dead pleased. I am very happy with the people we have hired."  Some of the hires have given Brodies expertise in oil and gas, with Greg May and Clare Munro joining from Transocean and Total. Yet aberdeen is not all about oil and gas, Drummond insists: "We advise the Drum Property Group on the development of the new prime business park. Oil and gas are important but core services are vital - Brodies is about helping to find solutions for clients and the wider Scottish economy."  This is a repeated refrain - client service and wider economic impact really matter to him. When asked what is in the firm's DNa, he replies: "We have a culture which demands of us a constant improvement in what we do. What are our clients about? How can we serve them better? We have a gene that is about reviewing and developing for the benefit of our clients - and the other side of the equation is getting better as a business. There is total transparency in what we do. Transparency is driving so many things - client communication is instantaneous and they have a wide choice of law firms."  Drummond is not a fan of the popular legal mantra that Scottish firms are competing for a bigger slice of a smaller cake. "I struggle with that concept," he says. "Nothing stands still. Look at the changes we have seen with devolution, the economy, human rights, renewables, changes in employment law and so on. We may be at capacity in terms of lawyer numbers but not in terms of adapting and changing, providing new solutions. There is no fixed cake.  "The firms who will survive are those willing to change, invest and develop talent, those who get better at following clients' changing agendas, and provide them with relevant services when they need them - and those who look forwards, not back. We cannot rely on the world turning full circle and coming back to where we were in 2005 and 2006. That world is not coming back."  What is also in Brodies' DNa, says Drummond, warming to the genetic theme, is its status as a Scottish law firm cutting across sectors: "We are not as focused on specific sectors as others might be," he says. "Our focus is on our client base in Scotland and solutions required by businesses, institutions and people operating in, or from, Scotland. That leads to us having a diverse range of services that operate in a complementary way and at the top end of the scale."  Brodies works on three-year strategy cycles. How did the last strategy review, held in November and implemented in May, judge the previous strategy, drawn up on the eve of economic doom?  "It was fascinating We had to constantly refresh our thinking and inevitably make some alterations. I don't like the phrase 'flight to quality', but we had to show we were top-notch in every area. We did that, and in all our practice areas the core principles we set ourselves were spot-on. One example was the recognition we were underweight in the insurance sector, so we significantly increased our capacity; that was exactly the right thing to do."  Drummond makes no grand claims of perfection - "Of course we don't get everything right - absolutely not" - but says the available empirical evidence suggests Brodies did pretty well in the eye of the perfect storm. The firm made nine redundancies, remaining debt-free with a sound balance sheet. Yet Drummond admits he can be pessimistic; on the day we meet, the markets are tumbling: "The markets were down in the Far East and the FTSE had fallen sharply in the first hour. I thought I might just go back to bed."  But of course, he didn't: "It's impossible to predict where the economy is going, but we just have to constantly challenge ourselves, to review, to improve and to focus. Let's not get stupid in terms of overexpanding."  This might sound ironic after Brodies' move into aberdeen, where it already has 23 staff after taking over city firm Davies Wood Summers LLP - but Drummond is clear this was strategic rather than opportunistic, as was the decision to continue hiring in the darkest days. Last week, 13 of the firm's own trainees were taken on as newly qualified lawyers. "We never stopped recruiting throu 