Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Broad Street Legal a “legal, business, and training consultancy” and not a “law firm”?
To answer your question, our consultants are not acting as solicitors when providing services through Broad Street Legal In the UK, law firms comprise solicitors who are authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). In other jurisdictions, law firms comprise lawyers who are regulated by their local professional bodies. When we provide services to our business clients we are not regulated or authorised by the SRA or other professional body. We practice as legal consultants, business management consultants, and training consultants.
Specific to the UK, there are certain activities which are “reserved” to solicitors (and in some cases other authorised, regulated persons like barristers or licensed conveyancers). These are: (i) the exercise of a right of audience (i.e. the right to act as an advocate in court); (ii) the conduct of litigation; (iii) conveyancing; (iv) probate activities; (v) notarising; and (vi) the administration of oaths. We do not conduct any of these reserved activities. We provide legal advice, usually on an in-house basis, in non-contentious corporate/commercial, financing, intellectual property and technology matters, which is not an activity reserved to solicitors.
Law firms are required to hold a high level of professional indemnity insurance to cover the practice of reserved activities and non-reserved activities. As a legal, business management, and training consultancy, we are able to keep our insurance costs and various other costs down, by only advising on non-reserved activities. We structured our business in this way, so that we can work in a truly lean and agile manner, passing these cost savings directly onto you – including being able to offer 50% or more discounted rates to international law firms providing the same services.
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What qualifications, training and experience do your legal and business management consultants hold?
Our legal consultants were all formerly solicitors or attorneys for large international law firms (at top 100 UK, US, international firms). Now, as legal consultants, we conduct the same activity, using the same skills and knowledge, but without being authorised or regulated as solicitors or as a law firm. We hold up-to-date practicing licences. In addition, our business consultants are qualified business professionals and hold project management and coaching training (e.g. Prince2 Foundation and Practitioner). We are dedicated to learning and development and the promotion of blended skills for our consultants to offer you the best value legal and business expertise possible.
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Do you have professional indemnity insurance?
Yes, we have professional indemnity cover of £1,000,000 per claim. We are insured to provide legal consultancy, business management consultancy and training consultancy services. We also have public liability cover of £5,000,000 per claim. If we are advising you in relation to a particularly high-value or high-risk transaction, we are able to increase our professional indemnity cover as required on a case-by-case basis as required by you.
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Do you work for and instruct law firms?
Yes, we work for law firms and have connections with a large network of international law firms that we engage from time to time. When our consultants work for international law firms, it is possible that they can be covered under their law firm’s professional indemnity insurance as practising solicitors or lawyers. We also instruct law firms for specialist or local advice (and in particular where needed for reserved activities, e.g. contentious matters from time to time) and are able to project manage this process for you. In this instance, we can be your in-house legal manager, offering this complete service to you. If you are a law firm, please contact us to see how we may be able to collaborate together.