Industry Legal Founded 2002 Parent organization Keystone Law Group Ltd | Website www.keystonelaw.co.uk Number of locations 6 | |
Key people James Knight (Managing Director), William Robins (Operations Director), Ashley Miller, (Finance Director), Mark Machray (Business Development Director), Charles Stringer (Director), Kristina Oliver (Marketing Director), Maurice Tunney (IT Director) Number of employees 220 lawyers, 40 support staff | ||
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Keystone Law is a national professional services firm headquartered in London, United Kingdom offering a range of legal services for business and individuals.
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Background
The firm was launched in 2002 by solicitor James Knight, and Charles Stringer who was Head of Sales at the BBC. It was initially called Lawyers Direct but re-branded in 2008 as Keystone Law. On 21 October 2013, the firm converted to an Alternative Business Structure (ABS), making it the 173rd ABS to be approved by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, enabling the firm to offer a range of services in addition to law. It also allowed non-solicitor and co-founder Charles Stringer to become a director of the firm.
Keystone Law has approximately 200 consultant lawyers who through an award winning IT platform are able to work from any location in the world, and have access to office facilities when face to face meetings are required. Keystone only recruits lawyers who have at least 8 years post qualification experience which has usually been gained in a top 100 law firm.
In 2013 the firm opened its first international office in Guernsey and formally launched operations in Australia in May 2014 as Keypoint Law. 2013 also saw Keystone Law implemented an award winning recruitment campaign to attract partner level lawyers to join the firm, and increased headcount by 48% in less than twelve months.
In October 2014, the firm accepted £3.15m in investment from private equity firm, Root Capital. Root acquired a 35% equity interest from Charles Stringer, one of the founding Partners. Simon Philips, Managing Partner at Root Capital also took a seat on the board.
In May 2015, Keystone installed a 3 day live art installation at Liverpool Street Station as part of the “Law Set Free” campaign. The exhibit featured a lawyer chained to a desk in a prison cell which was decorated as an office, highlighting that a career in law doesn't need to be office based.
In January 2016 Keystone announced the opening of an office on the Isle of Man. Due to the Isle of Man legal requirements this involved establishing a new law firm in the Isle of Man. The move made Keystone the first UK law firm to establish a presence there in over 20 years.
In February 2016 the firm announced a turnover increase of almost 25% per cent, from £16.26m to £20.2m for the 2015/16 financial year.
In January 2017, Legal Week unveiled their Best Legal Advisers Report 2016-2017. Keystone Law was the only alternative business structure featured, and the only firm to appear in the Top 5 in all 11 categories. The categories varied from Quality of Legal Advice and Quality of Service Delivery, to Value for Money and Innovation. Legal Week referenced the firm as being one of the most highly rated in the survey, where quality rests in being engaged with the client at every level.
An interview with Chris Bull in Modern Law Magazine commends them as one of the strongest overall performers at the 2016 Eclipse Proclaim Modern Law Awards, where he was Chair of the judging panel. He refers to them as another paragon of NewLaw Firm models, with their fame spreading far enough to be regularly cited by US commentators as NewLaw champions.
Awards
Keystone Law has been recognised by a number of industry awards and is annually recognised by Chambers and Partners (Guide to the world’s best lawyers) and the Legal 500.