EMPLOYMENT law and health and safety market ‘disrupters’, Law At Work, has London in its sights as they grow their capital client base.
The company, which has offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, is targeting larger businesses south of the border as it seeks to further grow its London market share.
The outfit has steadily grown its income year on year since its MBO in 2012 by challenging the traditional legal firm billing and servicing models.
From SMEs to listed organsiations such as Hargreaves plc, LAW already works with a number of significant London-based brands including dance brand, Pineapple Studios, Alpha Plus Group, feelunique.com, and the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL).
Law At Work are also celebrating its first anniversary with one of the world’s largest independent facilities management firm client, City Refrigeration Holdings PLC.
LAW guarantees a flexible, all-inclusive fixed-price service, which is underpinned by an insurance indemnity that picks up legal defence costs and nearly all employment tribunal awards.
Unlike fixed-fee firms, LAW’s client base has access to a named employment lawyer for their account and access to the wider team of fully-qualified staff ensuring a quality and responsive service.
Jane Wright, Law At Work chief executive, said: “Business owners no longer want to be billed for every six minutes spent thinking about their case; they want and need access to quality advice, with a strong commercial focus and delivered quickly.
“Our business model is attractive to a wide range of businesses, from SMEs to PLCs, as it enables them to better plan budgets without losing access to high-quality legal professionals.
“LAW provides everything you expect from a top law firm, but at a fixed and all-inclusive fee, and in a personal, friendly way.”
As firms increasingly seek to outsource HR and health and safety to better manage costs, LAW has grown its customers base to now service more than 300 retained clients throughout the UK across every sector.
Jane adds: “The fee structure at a traditional law firm of paying by the hour may work well for large corporate transactions, but it drives the wrong behaviours for routine risk management around staffing and safety issues.
“The client calls in the lawyer at the very last minute to keep the fee low, and the lawyer has no incentive to carry out the work quickly.
“At LAW, we drive very different behaviours in our staff. By rewarding proactive and timely attendance to client requirements, we find that clients engage with their team at LAW earlier and, in the vast majority of cases, this helps us resolve any potential issues before they develop.
“This proactive approach, coupled with direct access to qualified staff, means that LAW’s clients are not only compliant with all necessary legislation but have more efficient processes, which equals happy clients.
“This innovative way of working is producing solid financials for the growing outfit.
“LAW’s last financial figures showed a third continuous year of growth, income is up by 3.5 per cent year-on-year to £2.2m in the financial year 2015/2016 whilst pre-tax profits remained steady.
“The numbers come following a year of intense investment including a bespoke IT infrastructure which will benefit LAW’s clients and with the expansion into larger premises in central Edinburgh to accommodate a growing head count, now at 33 across both offices.”
Ms Wright added:
“Last year, we focused in investing in our systems and people ahead of our push this year to grow our market share.
“We wanted to be in a solid place to be able to deliver our award-winning customer service in line with our growing UK-wide footprint.
“It is clear that businesses want the high levels of service and expertise, for an all-inclusive fee.
“This isn’t just true in Scotland, but across the UK and across business sizes – from SMEs to PLCs.
“We are seeing a growth in all our service offerings – businesses increasingly turn to us to provide solid and dependable employment law advice, to support their internal HR resources and ensure that they comply with all current and future health and safety regulations.”
LAW chair, Magnus Swanson, added: “Fixed-fee pricing is no longer just aimed at SMEs. Obtaining high-quality legal and health and safety support, on an all-inclusive fee basis, has seen us increasingly attract clients from larger, even PLC level, businesses.
“Our unique, customer-centric attitude, coupled with staff who are experts in their field, has also struck a chord with businesses in London and the south, and growing our footprint there in the next financial year, both with clients and also by acquiring suitable businesses, will remain a key priority for the business.”
ENDS
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