Ashtons Legal appoints two new partners, including a non lawyer, having gained an ABS licence

Posted 03/09/2014

Ashtons Legal has appointed Mark Whittaker and Adrian Mundell as partners in the firm as from 1 September. 

Mark joined the Cambridge office in early 2013 as a member of the Corporate and Commercial team having previously worked for a national firm in Leeds and Manchester. He has rapidly built up a local following. Adrian, a non lawyer from a banking background, has headed the firm’s Court of Protection team for over 10 years. This gives Ashtons Legal 32 partners and a total staff of around 300 across East Anglia.

This move comes shortly after the firm obtained its licence from the Solicitors Regulation Authority to operate an Alternative Business Structure (ABS). An ABS licence enables a business providing legal services to have non-lawyer involvement in its ownership. One of the options therefore open to the owners is to invite individuals from other disciplines to become partners in the firm.

Edward O’Rourke, CEO, says: “Some 310 organisations across the country have been awarded an ABS licence since this became an option. Some have applied because they wish to integrate other types of business with their own. We see it as an opportunity to reward, with a stake in our business, key non-lawyers who contribute to our success. Adrian Mundell is a prime example. He has been with us for over a decade and has built up a specialist Court of Protection team which is now attracting work from London and national law firms as well as locally.

I suspect a number of other law firms in the region will be considering applying for an ABS licence if they do not already have one. Being able to give non-lawyers an ownership stake in the business is potentially an attractive part of the equation when it comes to recruiting or retaining people who will enable us to thrive rather than just survive in a highly competitive redefined legal marketplace.”