Everyman Legal launches franchise scheme

Solicitors are to be offered the chance to set up their own practices under a franchise scheme launched today by commercial firm Everyman Legal. The firm, which in October became the first practice to target a stock exchange listing, will support members through its marketing and back-office systems.

The ‘hub franchise’ scheme is an extension of Everyman’s home-based freelance model, allowing solicitors to start practices under the Everyman umbrella. Everyman founder James Hunt (pictured), a former partner at Birmingham firm Needham & James, said it will differ from other franchise operations by offering members independence to adapt their business to suit their location.

‘We will strip out the baggage of the old-fashioned traditional law firm and liberate young and mid-career solicitors who in the past would have set up their own law firms,’ he said. Franchising will help solicitors deal with the ‘daunting prospect’ of the complex regulatory regime, he added.

Everyman, founded in 2007, intends to trade its shares on Sharemark, a stock market for smaller companies, in the last quarter of 2012.