Proner: Lawhive expanding incredibly rapidly
Consumer law platform Lawhive has said it will be looking for similar targets after buying fee-share law firm Woodstock Legal Services.
The firm has also launched an alternative business structure (ABS) in the US and taken investment from Premier League footballers Harry Maguire and Reece James.
Chief executive Pierre Proner said the deal would bring 50 more consultants to Lawhive, which already has around 300, many of them working for its own alternative business structure, Lawhive Legal, and the rest for small law firms in its network.
Lawhive delivers qualified leads, onboards clients with identity and anti-money laundering checks, enables solicitors to work online and on the phone, and provides secure file-sharing and messaging, invoicing and billing.
Solicitors pay a monthly platform fee based on the volume of work they have billed.
It offers fixed-fee services and claims to be on average 30% cheaper than traditional high-street law firms. It also promises to beat any quote from a law firm by at least 10%.
Mr Proner said Lawhive was “expanding incredibly rapidly”, increasing its revenue sevenfold in the last 12 months and, by the end of this year, was likely to have 400-500 consultants in the UK.
Woodstock will keep its brand and identity, operating as part of the Lawhive group alongside Lawhive Legal, with chief executive Carly Jermyn continuing to lead Woodstock.
Woodstock, based in Poole, Dorset, was launched in 2014 and offers a full range of civil law services, including conveyancing, commercial, private client, family and employment.
Mr Proner said lawyers at Woodstock could “build a bigger book of clients” when Lawhive technology was dealing with their administration.
They could also rely on Lawhive’s generative artificial intelligence assistant ‘Lawrence’, used every day by most of the platform’s lawyers. Two years ago, Lawrence achieved a strong pass in the Solicitors Qualifying Examination.
But Mr Proner stressed: “We will remain lawyer-led, however our software develops.”
Ms Jermyn commented: “We’ve created a place where lawyers are supported to grow their careers in a way that fits their lives and works for their clients.
“This partnership is about scaling that vision with the right kind of technology — AI that enhances our skills and values, rather than eroding them. What makes it unique is that our lawyers will have the opportunity to shape the tools they use every day, instead of having them imposed on them.”
Mr Proner said Lawhive was looking at further acquisitions of fee-share firms, and also law firms which were “open to moving to fee-share”, he went on.
Lawhive opened in the US in June and had expanded “incredibly rapidly” there too, operating virtually but owning a small ABS in Arizona, the state leading the way on liberalisation in the US. It is the first UK firm, but not the first overseas firm, to achieve this.
Mr Proner said Lawhive was “looking across the world” for other countries to expand into, probably next year, whether it was elsewhere in North or Latin America, Europe or Asia.
Lawhive raised over $40m in Series A funding in December last year to accelerate its US expansion plans, having raised $9.5m in May 2024 in a round led by GV (Google Ventures).
The latest round was co-led by GV and TQ Ventures, with participation from Balderton Capital, Jigsaw, Episode 1 and Premier League footballers Harry Maguire and Reece James.
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