Ash: Deal is logical step
An established estate planning firm has entered regulation by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and bought a family law practice to expand the services it offers.
W&P Legal, based in Lincolnshire, has just been licensed as an alternative business structure (ABS) and acquired Leicester firm Bright Legal Solicitors, which is led by Law Society council member Parvien Akhtar.
W&P specialises in lifetime planning and estate administration. Managing director Nick Ash is a member of STEP and sits on the Society of Will Writers’ professional standards board.
He said: “Welcoming Bright Legal Solicitors is the logical next step for W&P. We have specialised in wills and probate for over 20 years but for a long time now our clients have been asking us for more.
“Parvien and her team at Bright bring acknowledged expertise in family law, conveyancing and litigation, a perfect expansion of our portfolio of services.”
The three-strong Bright Legal team takes W&P’s workforce to 23.
Mr Ash said he expected referrals to and from Bright Legal, while becoming an ABS also made the work of W&P Legal easier.
While for the last eight years it has employed a solicitor to handle the reserved element of probate work, “we were running up against what it was possible to do” as an unregulated firm.
Structurally, as the SRA will not regulate work done before it was licensed, W&P’s main trading company has been put into run-off and all new business now goes through the ABS.
Mr Ash acknowledged too that becoming regulated provided extra credibility and he also saw it as an opportunity to keep growing the business. “We want to build something significant over time. We have got a plan until 2032 that sees us consolidating in the will-writing and private client sector quite a bit.”
This was a “good time” for private client law, he added, with family farm tax issues and impending changes to pensions a particular area of focus.
Ms Akhtar said: “Partnering with Nick Ash and W&P Legal allows us to bring together our strengths. This collaboration ensures our clients receive expert guidance across all their legal needs, with the same care and professionalism they expect from us.”