Almost thirty years in legal practice, the last seventeen of them spent on the part nobody bills for.

 

I qualified as a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives in 2002, specialising in Education Law. I spent the early years of my career in front of tribunals, which teaches you quickly that the strength of your case matters less than whether the file in front of you is in order.

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In 2009 I moved into legal practice management. That's where I kept meeting the same problem: practices that most need help with compliance are the ones with the least time to do it. A four-partner firm has no compliance department. It has a Practice Manager who is also running the office, or a Senior Partner doing it at nine in the evening.

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Why Fraxbiz exists

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I set up Fraxinus Business Associates to do that work properly, from the outside, so the people who should be earning fees can get on with it. Independent file reviews, mock Lexcel and SQM audits, Reg 21 AML audits, Legal Aid tenders, and training for the staff who look after the admin, and more than likely, their fee earners.

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What I'm qualified to do

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• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives, qualified 2002.

• Cert. Ed (Post-Compulsory Education and Training) - which is why the training side of this works rather than being an afterthought.

• Law Society Lexcel consultant training, completed with a 100% pass mark.

• Practice management since 2009, including oversight of  Lexcel/CQS re-accreditations and preparation of numerous Legal Aid Contract tender bids.

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How I work

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Hands-on and specific. I'd rather read twenty files and tell you which three would fail an assessment than send you a thirty-page template nobody opens. Where a policy exists but isn't being followed, the useful question isn't "what does the manual say?" but "does the person opening the file know what it asks of them?" - and that is usually a training problem, not a paperwork problem.

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I work with sole practitioners and firms up to about ten partners, with or without an in-house compliance lead. Everything is done with you rather than posted to you, and you'll always get a written summary you can put in front of an assessor, a supervisor or your insurer.

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The name

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Fraxinus is the Ash tree. The idea attached to it is simple: an ash needs to be properly rooted before it can put on growth, and so does a practice. The compliance work is the root system - dull, unseen, and the reason the rest stands up through nurturing.

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Outside work

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Iron Man-distance triathlons, marathons, and most things involving a bike or water. I'm a former chairman of my local running club, and I've spent a fair amount of time reading into sports psychology, mindfulness and hypnotherapy - much of which turns out to be useful when someone is three weeks from an assessment. For transparency, DIY is not in my skills set.

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Start a conversation

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If you'd like a second opinion on where your firm stands, the first thirty minutes are free and there's no obligation at the end of them. Tell me your assessment date, the audit you owe or your compliance query, and I'll tell you what I'd look at first.

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