Grice: Huge growth planned
Octopus Legacy, the fast-growing estate planning and bereavement business, has predicted its probate work will grow by 1,000% over the next 12 months following its acquisition of the private client team at NewLaw Solicitors.
More than 50 lawyers and other staff from the Cardiff-based practice have joined its alternative business structure (ABS), Octopus Legal Services, increasing the size of its team by around a third.
Octopus Legacy is part of the £13bn financial services and energy business Octopus Group.
The deal comes hot on the heels of it also buying Shoosmiths’ will bank as it looks to build the UK’s largest estate planning business through acquisition and organic growth.
No staff transferred as part of the Shoosmiths deal and Octopus would not confirm the size of the will bank.
Octopus Legacy is now the second largest estate administration business in the country after Co-operative Legal Services. It said that, as a result of the NewLaw deal, it would support more than a million people, up from around 200,000 in 2023 and increase its probate work tenfold within 12 months.
The aim is to build an integrated service spanning wills, estate planning, probate and practical support for families after a relative has died, from finding a funeral director to arranging a house clearance.
But despite the ambitions, Octopus Legacy is not planning to recruit more lawyers, saying it would achieve the growth “without adding frontline legal hires”.
Instead, the company will rely on its in-house AI platform to deliver the routine work involved in estate planning and probate cases.
In a statement, it said: “At the heart of the expansion is a deliberate use of artificial intelligence to fix the parts of the system that slow everything down.
“Rather than following the wave of businesses replacing client-facing teams with chatbots, Octopus Legacy is using AI to handle repetitive administrative work at scale, from document handling to case coordination, streamlining processes and improving communication.
“By removing much of the manual effort behind the scenes, Octopus Legacy can unlock more human-to-human support, shorten timelines and provide a more joined-up experience for families.”
It also promised “clearer fixed fees instead of percentage-based pricing” for probate work.
Sam Grice, chief executive of Octopus Legacy, said: “At Octopus Energy, we saw what happens when a service is rebuilt around the customer rather than the system. The bereavement sector is at that same moment now, where a more joined-up model can replace one that no longer works.”
Mr Grice joined Octopus in 2022 when it bought his company Guardian Angel, which was rebranded as Octopus Legacy.
Octopus Legal Services was launched in January 2025 and, six months later, Octopus Legacy bought WSL Will Writing, adding 300,000 clients to its books.
NewLaw was one of the first ABSs and is owned by listed company Zigup (formerly Redde Northgate).
It is best known as a personal injury practice but last year Zigup decided to exit the personal injury market “as it no longer provides attractive returns”.
Also reflecting the changing wills market is national firm Irwin Mitchell announcing that it is to close its high-volume wills division to focus on “complex advice” for high-net-worth clients.
The high-volume division provides wills for free or at discounted rates via third parties, such as charities. It is not known yet how many staff may lose their jobs.
A spokesman said: “We are in discussions with those affected and will look at re-deployment opportunities where possible so its too early to say what the impact will be. There are a small number of partner exits, including some planned retirements.”
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