The last remaining firm from the Metamorph Group stable has been forced to close after being unable to obtain professional indemnity insurance.
Richard Sauvain, managing partner with Aylesbury practice Parrott & Coales, said potential insurers were concerned about the risk of exposure to Metamorph claims rather than any issue with the firm itself.
Parrott & Coales had been one of two firms that survived a series of SRA interventions around the turn of the year following the collapse of the Metamorph Group. The other firm, Hampshire-based Beeton Edwards, ceased trading with effect from 5 May and said it was unable to provide legal advice or take on any new matters.
Sauvain had vowed to do everything possible to keep Parrott & Coales in business but appears to have been unable to shake its association with Metamorph.
He said today: ‘We are all very upset that the firm is having to close through no fault of any of the staff here. We are letting our clients know and are currently working on closure in September. We are trying to arrange closure in an orderly manner in order to protect client’s interests and ensure that their cases can be transferred to other solicitor’s firms.’
Thirty staff had stayed with the firm this year but were told at the end of June that it was likely to close. Some have arranged alternative work and others may leave in August, before the rest of the staff are let go in September.
Parrott & Coales had been operating for almost 250 years and was believed to be the oldest firm in Aylesbury.
When the firm was acquired by Metamorph, the firm said being part of the group would ‘strengthen our presence and allow us to embrace all challenges in the legal profession’.
Metamorph promised to ‘revolutionise’ legal services through collecting high street practices from across the country and allowing them to retain their identity while cutting the costs of back-off and administrative functions. At its peak, the group boasted more than 650 professionals working from 15 offices. But the group and its firms failed to submit annual accounts on time last summer, and reports emerged as the year went on that staff were not being paid.
The SRA intervened to shut down a number of the firms to protect the interests of client interests and took collection of 60,000 boxed of closed matter files. Metamorph as an entity has yet to formally close, with a compulsory strike-off action suspended in May. Almost 90 former staff are pursuing the company to secure missed redundancy payments.
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