Dozen silks sign up for launch of ABS LawVest
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LawVest has signed up 12 silks for its legal services offering Riverview Law, which launches today.
Richard Lissack QC
Riverview Law, the trading name of ABS LawVest, which is part-owned by DLA Piper (28 October 2011), consists of two entities: Riverview Chambers and Riverview Solicitors.
Riverview Chambers has 43 barristers in total and is aiming to provide direct access to companies on a fixed fee. Riverview Solicitors will provide routine advice to business clients, also on a strict fixed-fee basis. Its model will be based on annual contracts with pricing determined by the size of the company.
Riverview Law will focus on employment, health and safety, intellectual property, corporate governance, family, divorce and environmental law. The silks include Richard Lissack QC, Jonathan Caplan QC and Stephen Tromans QC.
The barristers involved will retain membership of their existing chambers. These include Outer Temple, 1 Hare Court, 39 Essex Street, 11 South Square and 3 Pump Court.
Chief executive Karl Chapman told The Lawyer: “This is all about providing customers with certainty and transparency.”
Richard Lissack QC, who is head of strategic development at Outer Temple Chambers and head of the business and international teams at Riverview Law, said: “This provides businesses with an option for barrister-led advisory work and representation in-house within a single organisation.
“It has tremendous potential internationally and it fits in with the bar’s message. In fact it’s a paradigm example of providing direct access.”
LawVest’s shareholders include DLA Piper and AdviserPlus, a provider of outsourced HR, employment and health and safety advice.
For more on LawVest, see this week’s feature, Invested interest.
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Readers' comments (14)
Anonymous | 20-Feb-2012 9:45 am
LawVest? Nice idea, but will the market wear it?
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Anonymous | 20-Feb-2012 10:10 am
For the mid tier bar this is a huge wake up call. Those at the top of the commercial bar are cashing in on huge rates but it is difficult to see how smaller sets can cope with the onset of fixed fees, block contracting, reduced legal aid rates. This is just one model and certainly won't fit all, but hurrah for some much needed innovation.
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Anonymous | 20-Feb-2012 10:13 am
There seems to be a large number of barristers from 3 Pump Court on the list. Why is this?
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Anonymous | 20-Feb-2012 10:15 am
Is this the beggining of a fragmentation of the bar?
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Anonymous | 20-Feb-2012 11:26 am
The billable hour is still pretty common in transactional firms... Will they start following suit?
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VesTick | 20-Feb-2012 12:11 pm
LawVest? Is that in case they lose their shirts?
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Simon White | 20-Feb-2012 12:43 pm
This is hardly suprising as there will be an increasing number of such ventures emerging. What will be really interesting will be noting how many of them survive the first flush of enthusiasm and energy and have the longevity and resources (and management) to still be around in a year
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Catherine Bailey | 20-Feb-2012 12:52 pm
Cost certainty and price transparency are two of the three critical issues for businesses looking to instruct (as indeed they are for members of the public). The third element of high quality counsel goes without saying in a legal system as revered as ours.
So, will this latest development lead to price wars (as is the concern in some sets)? It may, it may not. It will undoubtedly lead to price comparison.
It will, however, result in chambers becoming more proactive in differentiating their skills and services from their competitors. They will need to become increasingly innovative in how they attract and retain business. They will need to become more aggressive in marketing their wares to the business sector and they will need to have strong partnerships in place with law firms or other legal professionals if they are to adequately meet the demands of the market.
It promises to be a very exciting year!
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Anonymous | 20-Feb-2012 4:56 pm
If it launched today, does the website launch at a later date? After four pages of google searching Riverview law I gave up and tried Lawvest, also to no avail. Am I missing something?
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Anonymous | 20-Feb-2012 5:04 pm
Anonymous @4:56pm
The sites for both LawVest and Riverview Law were the first results to come up when I searched for those terms just now on Google.co.uk. On Google.com LawVest comes up first, Riverview admittedly doesn't appear in the first few pages, but then it is a UK initiative and most users will be searching from UK search engines as Google defaults to whatever country you're based in.
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