Din: PR Scully a profitable firm
Doorway Capital – the funder fast becoming a major player in the legal market – has expressed more confidence in the personal injury (PI) market by pulling a law firm out of a partnership voluntary arrangement (PVA).
PR Scully & Co, a family run personal injury firm in St Helens, Merseyside, has received funding to back an expansion of the practice.
Managing partner Paddy Scully said gaining the support and trust of funders was “incredibly challenging” for PI firms given next year’s Civil Liability Act reforms.
The support from Doorway “has been instrumental in concluding the PVA and securing our business for the future”.
He added: Although we are a small team of 14 people, with Doorway’s contribution we hope to steadily grow the firm over the next 3 years, continuing to drive our business forward.”
In 2017, Doorway saved national firm Simpson Millar – more than half of whose income comes from PI and clinical negligence – after its listed parent company, Fairpoint Group plc, went under.
As the new owner, Doorway has backed two acquisitions as well as a five-year £50m growth strategy to make Simpson Millar one of a handful of consumer legal brands.
We then revealed in December that founder Steve Din was eyeing up further investments in the legal market, although PR Scully’s funding is by way of a loan.
Mr Din said the firm had been in a situation that many banks and traditional financial institutions “would rather well avoid”.
But he told Legal Futures that PR Scully was “a profitable firm that has enjoyed considerable success” and that its profitability should grow quickly now creditors have been paid.
He expressed confidence that the firm would be able to weather next year’s reforms: “Before we invest or extend funding to a law firm, we assess the strength of the incumbent management team and, by implication, the ability of a firm to adapt to regulatory change.”
