ABSs: accident company enters into 'long-term commercial agreement' with claimant firm


The post-Legal Services Bill future continued to take shape this week as accident company Helphire Group entered into a 'long-term commercial agreement' with Chesterfield claimant firm CS2 Lawyers and spent £10.7 million on buying the CS2 Group of legal services businesses.



Meanwhile, the Parabis Group - a multi-disciplinary professional services organisation serving the insurance industry - has boosted its legal capacity by bringing Leeds law firm Praxis Partners into the fold.



CS2 Lawyers, which has two partners and 200 staff, managed more than 10,000 uninsured loss recovery claims last year, while the group comprises Fleet Legal, a vehicle fleet accident manager, E-Claim, a provider of legal expenses insurance, and Medirep Marketing, a medico-legal reporting agency.



Helphire provides accident assistance to innocent drivers involved in road accidents. It also provides a range of services to the insurance and motor industries through its subsidiaries. Peter Holding, Helphire's legal director, confirmed there was a 'strong possibility' that CS2 would be brought within the group once alternative business structures (ABSs) are allowed, and that preparing for the forthcoming reforms was part of the motivation for the deal.



He explained that 'tighter control of the supply chain' would make it easier to ensure that customers received higher service standards.



Meanwhile, Praxis Partners joined the Parabis Group through merging with Parabis Law, part of the group. Praxis, which has nine partners and 150 staff, supplies legal and claims services to the insurance industry.



As well as non-legal consulting, health and safety, and management support subsidiaries, the Parabis Group contains three associated law firms: Parabis Law, which trades as Plexus Law and specialises in professional indemnity and large loss work; Badhams Law, which handles insurance litigation; and Rymills Law, a claimant personal injury practice.



This is the third merger of the year involving Plexus: it has also merged with the defendant department of Cheshire firm Bott & Co, and Colchester-based insurance litigation firm Gaston Whybrew.



Tim Oliver, senior partner of Plexus and the group chief executive, said he had had the prospect of ABSs 'in mind for some time'. He said many of the services the group provides require different professionals that would be easier if done under one roof 'rather than in silos'. With legal services 'at the end of the food chain', it was important to push further up that chain, he added.



Neil Rose