Consultant lawyer practice nexa law, the self-style ‘distributed’ legal firm, has assembled a team of former in-house lawyers to act as ‘virtual general counsel’ to support growing businesses that cannot justify setting up their own legal department.

An alternative business structure regulated by the SRA, nexa law announced its nexaGC platform last week. Its team includes Ruby Ladak, former data protection and GDPR lead at BT Group plc, and Ashley Whitcher, former GC at Etihad Airlines.

Solicitor Nigel Clark, director, said in-house lawyers make ideal partners for growing businesses ‘because they have been on the buy rather than the sell side of legal services and know exactly what’s needed and what’s not’. In-house lawyers, he said, have a ‘better feel’ for legal compliance and risk management than private practice lawyers.

Highlighting Ladak’s expertise, Clark said the former BT lawyer is teaching businesses how to implement data protection regulation. ‘She dealt with it on a massive scale and [can] translate that.’

Clark said many fast-growing businesses cannot afford to employ an in-house lawyer full-time and cannot afford to hire private practice firms repeatedly.

‘Rather than act like a law firm and simply try to sell in multiple service lines, we can give fast growth businesses access to a virtual general counsel at a fraction of the cost of employing one even part-time,’ he said.