Action now can save pain later as organisations turn to a new form of specialist law advice. Lisa Garley-Evans, associate partner at Franklins Solicitors, explains more.
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ALL COMPANIES need legal advice at some point in time. Unfortunately many SMEs only do so when things have already gone wrong. At Franklins, we believe that prevention is better – and cheaper – than the cure. But what if you do not know you have a problem until it is too late?
Having recently joined Franklins, from my background as an in-house lawyer, we saw this gap in the market and therefore are pleased to introduce our new concept in legal service provision – in-house legal outsourcing. It is a very long-winded name for a service… so what exactly does this mean for the SME and what benefits can this bring to the stability of their business?
In-house legal outsourcing is where we provide support and legal advice as an in-house legal function without your business having the overheads of an employee’s salary. As your in-house lawyer, we work with you and your teams to understand your business and business model, your legal risks and opportunities and look to cost minimise in relation to legal matters.
I am really excited to head up this new function. As an experienced in-house lawyer with more than 25 years’ experience working with multi-national corporations, I can offer – along with the support of the specialist lawyers at Franklins – a friendly, flexible, affordable and commercial legal support function for your business to ensure it grows in a compliant legal manner.
We will work together with you and your teams to identify legal risks, gaps and opportunities and provide commercially driven legal solutions. You decide how much or how little you need our support.
Since the pandemic and the ensuing cost of living crisis, UK companies – especially SMEs – have been reassessing their requirements of lawyers and law firms. UK companies are now placing more emphasis on a law firm’s ability to grasp their strategic business challenges and providing them with commercial solutions at an affordable rate. Many SMEs do not have the luxury of an in-house lawyer or to have their law firm on speed dial therefore, unfortunately, many ignore their legal issues hoping they will go away or delegate to another function such as finance or HR.
I definitely would not trust a lawyer to file my end of year accounts. So why should an accountant feel comfortable drafting a contract or dealing with a settlement agreement?
Subject to business needs, areas typically suited to in-house legal outsourcing are contract management, employee/supplier disputes, compliance and governance and general commercial matters. The advantage of having your own in-house outsourced lawyer is that they are there for your business five days a week, no holidays or illness as we cover these so your business receives a seamless, uninterrupted service.
The business gets to get on with what they do best – leaving legal management to us.
If you think your business would benefit from a health check from myself and the team, please contact us on or call 01908 660966 / 01604 828282 . We have a wide range of legal specialisms to support growing businesses.