Obiter’s chums on the Gazette newsdesk were surprised last month when Alex Mills, founder and director of ‘exciting legal franchise brand’ Dynamo Legal, declined the offer of an interview. Such bashfulness from the promoter of a new commercial offering is unusual, especially on launch day.

It turned out that Mills was unavailable for comment ‘due to an ongoing TV contract’. One glance at his publicity mugshot was enough to ring alarm bells: The Apprentice, by any chance? No comment.

Sure enough, last week the 22-year-old former graphic designer and stone mason from South Wales was revealed as a contender on the next series of Lord Sugar’s BBC1 programme. If he wins, his marketing network will receive a £250,000 investment.

Not that it will need the money, if ‘The Legal Superbrand’ takes off as hoped. Mills says he plans to raise £7m a year in subscriptions by recruiting 245 firms nationwide. A video on Dynamo’s website highlights the company’s goal of ‘changing the face of legal services’. The entrepreneur explains how with Dynamo Legal the ‘days of confusion stress, worry about costs and the pain of searching for the right solicitor are gone’. Poetically, Mills says he wants to ‘remove all the woes and start adding some pros’.

Obiter wishes Mills well, but in the meantime, has a tip: update that website saying that the company is regulated by the Financial Services Authority and that all its solicitors are governed by the SRA in ‘respect of conduct and customer satisfaction’. Solicitors notice these things.

The new series of The Apprentice starts on BBC1 tomorrow evening.