Our Story – Part 1 – When Briegal met Bennett

A pair of legal comedians?

Laurel and Hardy
Morecombe and Wise
The Two Ronnie’s
Ant and Dec. Ok we will stop, shall we?

We are lawyers and yes, we mainly act for other lawyers, but we help professionals, partnerships and entrepreneurs. Our legal expertise is centred around owner managed businesses in which the owners will say “she is my partner” or “let me introduce you to my business partner”.

We look after the business and the people who own it. We try to do it with a smile, whilst remembering your matter may be serious but we can reduce the stress by having a sensible perspective and treating you fairly.

We like to have fun, don’t take ourselves too seriously but we never lose sight of the fact you instruct us as you need specialist legal advice.

So why are we launching a law firm in 2019?

We think the time is right because law, finance, accountancy and medical practices all need support from specialists. Technology is driving innovation, clients are more demanding and legal challenges can get in the way. We aim to remove the barriers. Meeting face to face three weeks on Thursday suit you? How about a video call on your phone in 30 minutes? Need 5 partners in different locations on that call?

That’s fine we will send you the dial in codes. Our sector changed and we believe the market needs a specialist firm outside of London doing what we do (we have lots of clients in London who are savvy and want to pay regional rates for the same expertise and that’s great for us and them). We have done it for some years within a larger practice together but sometimes a niche firm is easier for clients to feel comfortable with.

We are based in the Midlands and the North West, but we have served clients from Newcastle to Exeter in the last six months or so. Your location does not matter, only that you need partnership (including owner managed companies) or regulatory legal help and advice.

This is our brief story

Mark Briegal started specialising in partnership law after a career in banking and then management consulting. Mark joined a respected Legal 500 general commercial law firm to lead their partnership specialism in 2011. Mark also set up and then initially Chaired the North West Branch of the Association of Partnership Professionals (APP) that until then had been a London centred collective of advisers to the sector.

A couple of years later Paul Bennett joined the same respected firm having set up and sold his award-winning law firm which he grew from his kitchen table to sale in 5 years. Paul did partnership work as well but also defended professionals before regulators and acted for law firms in compliance, regulatory and employment cases.

We started discussing “difficult” cases despite being in separate offices. We were soon using each other’s precedents, thinking this guy I am working with is good. We started laughing and telling jokes. In joint meetings our clients loved having human solicitors, it helped when the partnership dispute was tense, when negotiating difficult points or when the regulators were being unreasonable.

Mark was on the management board of the nearly £10m firm and needed gags for his Christmas party speech. Paul wrote them, the funny ones anyway. Every year. The laughs, the humour and the happy clients. As the legal sector evolved so did our offering, but we realised it had to be two partners in a boutique law firm model not twenty-eight in a general commercial firm.

We both write occasionally for the legal press, Solicitors Journal, Law Society Gazette, Legal Futures etc. In fact Paul’s latest book is available on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Practical-Guide-New-Code-Conduct/dp/1911035584/ref=sr_1_2/257-5554697-2953047?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1551345529&sr=1-2&refinements=p_27%3APaul+Bennett 

We both present to the professional sector conferences.

We are experts who want to help other professionals, other business owners and being a comedy duo of sorts just suited us. We are a virtual law firm, no offices just technology, you need our expertise, our experience but not hundreds of staff doing other things. We have a willingness to come to you whenever needed.

Bennett Briegal LLP is about legal excellence with a smile and a sense of humour. Our corporate values is we joke “Fun” but perhaps “Fairness, Legal Excellence and Fun” is more complete?

Our services are those needed by law firms, professionals and partnerships. Get in touch if you have a question info@bennettbriegal.co.uk there is no obligation to take it further, but we will try to help with a smile.

Thanks for reading. In part 2 we will outline our services.