Woolley: Firm built on technology
Well-known divorce and separation service amicable – which markets itself as an alternative to solicitors – is to enter regulation for the first time by setting up its own law firm.
An application for an alternative business structure licence is with the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) so that it can act for those whose partners refuse to engage with the traditional amicable service.
At the moment, amicable has to refer these people to a solicitor.
People will also be able to approach it like any other family law firm.
In addition, the practice will handle the reserved activities amicable currently has to outsource to solicitors – such as deeds enshrining pre-nuptial or separation agreements – and certain conveyancing services, covering transfers of equity and related remortgages, when a separating couple moves the family home into one name.
However, if a couple has been unsuccessful in using amicable, its law firm would not then take on one of them as a client because of the conflict risk.
Divorce counsellor Kate Daly and tech specialist Pip Wilson set up amicable in 2015 and it launched its app a year later. Its website says it offers “expert legal, financial and practical support, without the cost and stress of solicitors”.
In 2023, the Octopus Group made its first move into legal services by buying a majority stake in amicable.
Ms Daly told Legal Futures that the move was motivated by “frustration” that amicable had to turn people away and out of a desire “to use the same amicable ethos to help people” who needed a solicitor.
The law firm will be headed by Ms Wilson and Alex Woolley, who recently joined as head of legal innovation. They are recruiting a family solicitor and a conveyancing solicitor.
Mr Woolley was previously a senior associate at central London law firm Farrer & Co and co-founded Formily, a startup whose goal was to simplify how litigants put together their financial disclosure during divorce proceedings.
It was one of the winners of the SRA’s government-backed Legal Access Challenge in 2019, receiving a grant of £50,000, but was wound up around the turn of 2024.
In 2023, Mr Woolley set up NeedsMet, a service to help separating spouses understand what constitutes a fair financial split. This continues to operate.
He stressed that the new law firm would be built “technology-first”, rather than trying to bolt new ways of working onto a traditional practice.
The firm would be drawing on amicable’s experience to build case management, client communication and drafting tools. AI tools will support tasks like drafting, triage and research, but a qualified solicitor will review all output.
Ms Wilson said: “We started amicable because we believed there had to be a kinder way to divorce. But working with couples together isn’t always possible for every situation, and until now we haven’t been able to help those people ourselves.
“The new firm is for them. It will be built on the same values, and on the technology and innovation that let us do things in a better way. We’re looking for family and conveyancing solicitors who share that ambition and want to help shape the firm from day one.”
Mr Woolley said amicable had submitted a response to the Ministry of Justice’s consultation, A fairer end to relationships, which proposes giving some cohabiting couples legal rights.
He said it was a good idea – “Anything that brings certainty to couples is good news because it’s uncertainty that drives the cost” – but was concerned that the definition of cohabitation was “quite restrictive and doesn’t necessarily look at how the world works”.
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