Maclay Murray & Spens revert to traditional roots with Law at Work sale

Law At Work (LAW), the fixed fee employment law and health & safety consultancy owned by Scottish law firm Maclay Murray & Spens (MMS) has been sold in a management buy-out.

The MBO was led by Magnus Swanson, who was the chief executive of MMS until June 2011, and who retired from the firm in May of this year.  He is LAW's chairman, and one of the three shareholders (the others being Chief Executive Jane Wright and director of legal services Donald McKinnon).

The acquisition price has not been disclosed, but it is understood that the MBO was backed by HSBC.

LAW employs 30 staff, and has a turnover just in excess of £1.5m, and it is not expected that there will be any job losses following the MBO.

LAW was one of the early trailblazers in the field of fixed fee employment law services for employers, having been established in 2001.  Although the concept of offering an all-inclusive fixed fee service at a price guaranteed for three years is now not so revolutionary, at the time it was a real departure for a law firm which had traditionally charged on a time spent basis.  However, it appears that MMS may be returning to its more traditional roots, as it is reported as saying that the sale of the business follows a comprehensive strategic review, following which is was decided to withdraw from commodity-based services.  MMS also sold its corporate advisory arm Regulatory Solutions to the IMS Group as a consequence of the strategic review.