The Solicitors Regulation
Authority (SRA) has – not before time – announced the fourth alternative
business structure to gain approval under the new Legal Services Act regime.
Cardiff based solicitors’ firm
NewLaw Legal Limited, a personal injury specialist firm established in 2004 by
former Eversheds partner Helen Molyneux and Australian lawyer John Gannon, has
become the latest organisation to receive a license from the SRA.
It is the first law firm of
significant scale to obtain approval, having 250 staff across offices in
Cardiff and Glasgow. It seems that the firm should be commended on their
patience and tenacity – according to NewLaw’s chief executive, Helen Molyneux, NewLaw was founded in
anticipation of the legal services market being opened up to non-lawyer
ownership. I suspect that at the time
they did not imagine that it would take 8 years before that aspiration could
become a reality.
Nevertheless, all good things
come to he who waits, and Ms Molyneux believes that the approval will give added momentum to the joint
venture business strategies that the company has been evolving for some time. The jv strategy has led to the law firm
claiming to be the fastest growing law firm in the personal injury field.
The SRA began accepting ABS
applications on 3 January and has since received 74 stage two forms from
organisations, after initial applications from more than 200 applicants.
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