In what could well be a vision of how alternative business structures might work in the future, Oxford-based law firm Darbys has entered into partnership with six other businesses to provide a one-stop shop advising directors on employment issues.

Called HR7, the partnership is not a spin-off company but an agreement between seven firms, including Darbys, to create essentially an outsourced human resources business.


It brings together a specialist HR recruitment agency, an executive mentor, a behavioural change consultant, a payroll service, an HR specialist, an outplacement and career counselling firm and a law firm.


Rob Bryan, employment law partner at Darbys and co-founder of HR7, said the firm might spin the new venture off as a company in the future but it is 'too early to tell' whether the idea will work out. The concept has the potential for success, though, he added.


'There are stacks of lawyers out there that will provide excellent, purely legal, advice,' said Mr Bryan.


'But clients, particularly the owner-managed businesses who don't have internal HR, need to know how to apply it.'