A private equity-backedlegal services venture has rebranded following its latest acquisition and set its sights on becoming a top-100 firm.
Backed by Scottish private equity investor Aliter Capital, Orwins will be the new name for a firm aiming to become a national legal business.
The firm previously comprised BBS Law in Manchester and Carter Bond in London, but has now added Reading-based commercial law firm Clarkslegal.
The 40-strong team will join a firm which now has a headcount of 150 staff and combined revenue of £23m. The target is now to more than double that revenue in the next two years through further acquisitions and growth, taking the firm into the UK top 100.
Unlike other consolidator firms, there is no intention to let any staff go, but instead to bring them along and have them working under one brand.
Dov Black, chief executive of Orwins, was previously managing partner with BBS Law. He said: ‘We really are about looking after our people. The model does not involve saying "let’s look at this business and slice and dice". It is about how we can enhance the offering and broaden our services.
‘I said in front of the [Clarkslegal] staff this week that we want everybody to come on the journey with us.’
Orwins, whose name translates as ‘brave ally’ in Old English, will expand into various regions over the next two years but try to retain one central culture, building a client base of high-net-worth individuals and small and medium-sized businesses.
Black stressed that while the business is a consolidator, it would not suffer from the same issues that have affected other firms who have acquired other practices in a short space of time.
‘It is easy to buy but very challenging to integrate – we have spent a lot of time and investment in preparing ourselves for integration readiness and we don’t do anything until we are ready.’
Monica Atwal, managing partner at Clarkslegal, whose history goes back more than 100 years, said the decision to sell was made from a position of strength. The firm had been in discussions with a number of potential suitors and wanted extra investment to enable it to expand the service provision. We were very clear on what we wanted to achieve which was to keep our values and our people and not be absorbed or stripped out but to genuinely work with like-minded firms and be competitive.
‘We saw where [firms] have made decisions that have not been the best for their clients or their people. We were in a good place and didn’t need to [sell] but it was about meeting the challenges that small and medium-sized firms face. The model of partnership is a dying one as you need investment.’
Clarkslegal LLP reported turnover of £6.1m and operating profit of £2.4m for the year ended 31 March 2025. Both were up marginally on the previous year. The business had net assets of £2.1m including £1.17m cash reserves.
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