A sports solicitor has become the latest of a string of lawyers to shun the Solicitors Regulation Authority in order to come under the bar regulator’s entity business model.

Solicitor Kevin Carpenter told the Gazette that he opted to register his business Captivate Legal & Sports Solutions, which offers legal and sports advice, with the Bar Standards Board as it provides a ‘more proportionate’ form of regulation.

He claimed SRA regulation is burdensome for small firms.

He said: ‘The SRA doesn’t recognise that the regulatory requirements for smaller firms aren’t the same as for larger ones. There is not enough flexibility in the system on the face of it.’

He said he was midway though the authorisation process under the SRA when he became aware that another solicitor had opted to register with the BSB and decided to explore this option.

Captive Legal is the fourth business to adopt the model in order to change regulators, citing a lighter regulatory touch as one of the main attractions.

Carpenter, who was previously a media, entertainment and sports lawyer at London firm Hill Dickinson, said he has no plans to hire any barristers, but will conduct some advocacy as part of his tribunal and specialist resolution work. He is the only person working for the firm.

Carpenter said that his new model will allow him to offer a much broader range of legal advice, more cost effectively than he could have done at a traditional firm. ‘I am not sure that the partnership model works that well for clients of a certain size or in certain sectors,’ he said.