Keystone Law outlines post-investment growth plans


William Robins

Robins: private equity firm provides “outside viewpoint”

‘Dispersed’ firm Keystone Law has set out an ambitious growth strategy for the firm in the wake of taking external investment, which will see it more than double the number of its offices.

Operations director William Robins told last week’s Legal Futures Annual Conference that the alternative business structure, currently based at two offices in London and one in Bristol, would have eight offices “relatively soon”.

Internationally, Mr Robins said he expected the process would “take a bit longer, but it is definitely going to happen”. A year ago it made a first move overseas by expanding into Australia.

Keystone announced a £3.15m investment from private equity firm Root Capital last month. Root Capital took a 35% stake in the law firm and its managing partner, Simon Philips, took a seat on the board.

Mr Robins said Keystone’s need was not primarily for the capital to be used immediately, but for an “outside viewpoint” on things. He said Root provided an expert management consultancy, together with capital “for later”.

Mr Robins went on: “We’re an ABS, so we’re able to be a lot more fleet of foot. If we see a business opportunity out there, we can race after it, and we’re not so constrained by regulation.”

He said international expansion became “an awful lot easier” with external capital.

“We particularly wanted to invest in technology – a lot of which we have to build ourselves,” Mr Robins said. “Quite frankly, there isn’t really anybody in the market selling stuff which meets the requirements of a law firms structured like ours”.

Speaking alongside Mr Robins, Mr Philips said the “holy grail” for external investors was an “investable business model” which offered good returns, and Keystone could be the “exception to the rule” in the legal world.

“Many firms, and I suspect particularly traditional partnerships, although they can be fantastically successful in delivering legal services, don’t lend themselves to being investable business models very easily.

“I don’t just mean the structure – I mean the culture and the whole of those businesses.”

Mr Philips said a lot of private equity firms of all sizes were looking at the legal services market and although “not many deals” had been done, “there is interest”.

He added: “For those entrepreneurs in the legal world who come up with interesting business models and new angles, the money will be there.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags:




Leave a Comment

By clicking Submit you consent to Legal Futures storing your personal data and confirm you have read our Privacy Policy and section 5 of our Terms & Conditions which deals with user-generated content. All comments will be moderated before posting.

Required fields are marked *
Email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Blog


Keeping the conversation going beyond Pride Month

As I reflect on all the celebrations of Pride Month 2024, I ask myself why there remains hesitancy amongst LGBTQ+ staff members about when it comes to being open about their identity in the workplace.


Third-party managed accounts: Your key questions answered

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has given strong indications that it is headed towards greater restrictions on law firms when it comes to handling client money.


Understanding vicarious trauma in the legal workplace

Vicarious trauma can happen to anyone who works with clients who have experienced trauma such as domestic or other violence, child abuse, sexual assault, torture or being a refugee.


Loading animation