Legal eagle on a mission to help SMEs
GIBRALTAR-based law firm Ramparts has opened a Manchester office and installed senior associate and client relationship manager Caroline Wright to drive its new offer to the region’s SME community.
Wright, 42, a former head of legal at Jerrold Holdings, which recently rebranded as Together, has teamed up with Ramparts chief executive Peter Howitt and director Aaron Carpenter alongside two other junior lawyers to launch the UK arm of the operation in the North.
Wright has also completed seven years as head of legal for a group of tour operators in North Wales but has returned to her spiritual home of the North West to launch the new service she passionately believes in.
“Our USP is that we want to offer a service to SMEs across the North West, enabling them to have access to legal services without incurring expensive bills,” she told TheBusinessDesk.
“When SMEs require legal services, they do not necessarily have the funding to pay the traditional hourly rates other firms offer, but we can offer them legal services on a fixed-rate basis.
“We can put together packages of standard documents for a fixed price. For example, if an SME sets up a new website, it may contact a website developer who will provide it with the website, but they do not usually provide all the legal documentation required.
“There is a requirement for a cookie policy, a privacy policy and website terms of use, which we can provide for a fixed price, which are at a discount on the usual hourly rates.”
Wright said Ramparts is also providing start-up packages for new businesses, including shareholders agreements, employment contract, and standard terms and conditions of trade.
“We can also provide an out-sourced in-house legal function on a retainer basis.,” she went on.
“There are various tiers of retainer which can provide the SME from five hours per month, right up to 50 hours per month.
“Each SME will be appointed one of our senior lawyers as their client relationship manager, who will spend some time with them and learn about their business, understand their issues, challenges and find out what their future strategy is.”
Wright said that from her experience, of working in house, spending time within a business is “vital in understanding their issues and/or any potential risks”.
“When you join a business as a new head of legal, part of your role is to evaluate the business and see if there are any gaps or risks,” she said.
“A legal health check is conducted initially to establish the challenges. Not many SMEs have the funds to be able to employ a solicitor to work in house. This is where Ramparts step in.”
“We have recently released our fixed-price retainer services for SMEs.”
