The Consortium of Professional Advisors is a diverse group of suppliers to the Legal Sector. The group includes Compliance, IT, Insurance, Marketing, Burnout Coaching, Risk Management, Legal Sector Merging, and Legal Sector Recruitment services. They have unique insight into the way law firms operate and work together to provide solutions to pain points across the legal sector.
Here, we’ll introduce you to the Consortium of Professional Advisors’ key members.
Amy Bell from Teal Compliance
A Compliance Specialist for Professional Service Firms, Amy Bell has a passion for helping firms adapt to meet the demands of the changing legal landscape. She’s a member and former chair of the Law Society’s Money Laundering Task Force, and the author of the best-selling compliance guide; Solicitors and Money Laundering.
Amy has over two decades of experience in the legal sector, her career starting as a Personal Injury Solicitor in 2000. Now, she’s the co-founder and Director of Teal Legal, Chief Executive Officer of Teal Compliance, and Director of Amy Bell Compliance. In her work, Amy supports everyone in a firm to understand compliance and how to apply risk management principles to improve client service and deliver efficiency.
Amy represents Teal Compliance, a team of expert compliance consultants for law firms. They believe that Compliance shouldn’t be feared – it’s a framework that enables firms to deliver high-quality, reliable, risk-free, and fair service to their clients, whilst protecting their business. Whether it’s AML training or a GDPR policy review, Teal Compliance’s approach is to understand and learn about the specific work types and risk profile of a firm to ensure that the support received is customised to them.
Andrew Hookway from Extech Cloud
A seasoned IT professional with over 35 years of experience in the IT industry, Andrew Hookway is the co-founder and Managing Director of Extech Cloud, an award-winning IT consulting company and Microsoft Gold Partner. He played a vital role in establishing Extech Cloud in 2008 and has helped the company become a leading Microsoft Cloud Partner and Azure Specialist.
Extech Cloud is focused on helping clients define and implement their digital and cyber security strategies, saving them time and money whilst improving the quality of service they receive. Andrew is a firm believer that people do business with people and is committed to empowering businesses and their people to achieve a better work-life balance.
Andrew has been a key player in the South East’s business community for the last six years. In addition to his work at Extech Cloud, Andrew is an ambassador for technology at the Institute of Directors and a director at Gatwick Diamond Business, a membership body for companies based within the Gatwick Diamond. He’s an active member of London’s exclusive Supper Club and The Leaders Council of Great Britain & Northern Ireland.
Brian Boehmer from Lockton Insurance
Brian Boehmer is a Partner at Lockton Companies LLP, a leading insurance brokerage firm that has been providing risk and insurance solutions to clients since 1966. With a focus on professional services clients, Lockton has been operating in the UK since 2006. As a specialist in Professional Indemnity Insurance for Solicitors, Brian has a wealth of experience in structuring and administrating group insurance solutions. In fact, he most recently worked with the Quality Solicitors group.
At Lockton, Brian works tirelessly to ensure his clients are well-protected and receive the best possible insurance solutions. He understands the unique challenges and risks faced by professional services firms and is committed to helping his clients navigate these challenges with confidence. Brian’s deep industry knowledge and expertise make him an invaluable resource for any client looking for insurance solutions tailored to their specific needs.
Lara Squires from Consortium more than marketing
Chartered Marketer and Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, Lara Squires has worked in marketing and the professional services sector for over 20 years. She founded Consortium more than marketing in 2013 to offer outsourced marketing services to accountants, lawyers and financial advisors, as well as suppliers to the legal sector. The agency helps its clients better communicate with existing clients and raise their profile externally to win new business.
A boutique agency, Consortium specialises in marketing for the professional services sector. The team is built of individuals with a variety of experiences and specialisms, which allows them to support their clients with the best advice and a wide range of services, from copywriting and market research to strategic marketing planning and social media training.
Lara established Consortium because she saw a need in the professional services sector for sector-experience marketing support. She also wanted to offer a flexible work-life balance to her team (especially those with children) that she hadn’t found for herself previously. As a result Consortium’s team of experts work remotely and flexibly to deliver their award-winning services.
Leah Steele from Searching for Serenity
Leah Steele is a Bristol-based coach, mentor and trainer, who is passionate about preventing burnout, tackling imposter syndrome and managing stress. She coaches individuals and organisations through her business, Searching for Serenity, which she founded to provide not just coaching, but mentoring, training and consultancy services for those struggling with career sustainability.
In her decade-plus time in the legal profession, Leah saw many people around her leaving their careers or falling ill due to exhaustion – including herself. She became determined to help others find a way to create a fulfilling career without sacrificing their personal lives. Her approach focuses on skills like time management, efficiency, and action-taking, whilst also addressing underlying beliefs that can contribute to burnout and imposter syndrome.
Leah’s training sessions are engaging and practical, with attendees leaving with tangible tools and resources that they can implement immediately. Her goal is to help brilliant professionals do their much-needed work in a way that is sustainable, less exhausting and more fulfilling.
Paul McClusky from Gemstone Legal
Paul Mccluskey is a finance and risk management specialist who helps law firms to develop their approach to finance and risk management through his company Gemstone Legal. With over 15 years of experience, he is passionate about helping law firms to secure funding packages, increase returns on client money and improve their overall financial management.
As a commercial finance broker, Paul has access to a wide variety of funding sources and can advise and source improved interest rates to maximise returns from client money and de-risk the management of client monies. He also offers Law Society-approved Lexcel assessor services to help law firms to deliver operational excellence in line with the International Lexcel Standard.
In addition, Gemstone Legal provides COLP and COFA support services, ABS and new law firm applications, and independent AML audits and file reviews. Their expertise in client money management, across all three UK law society jurisdictions, is unrivalled.
Overall, Gemstone Legal helps law firms to rest easy, safe in the knowledge that their business is on a stable footing. They work closely with small and large firms to offer the operational and regulatory guidance they need to stay in business, making their money work harder for them and ensuring they remain compliant with all relevant regulations.
Philip Lewis
Described as a “need-to-know” person, Philip Lewis is a professional services specialist and business matchmaker with over 40 years of banking experience at Barclays. He focuses on working with solicitors practices who are interested in mergers or acquisitions. He has a strong relationship with a law firm merger company, Ampersand Legal, and has helped them complete several merger and acquisition deals in the legal sector.
Philip helps solicitors who are interested in switching to consultancy roles, which can provide them with increased flexibility and earning potential. He has a unique and comprehensive network of contacts in professional practices in London, making him an incredibly effective “Business Matchmaker”. Overall, his extensive network and banking knowledge enables him to connect people and businesses with solutions to their needs.
Alex Holt from The Cashroom
Alex Holt is an experienced legal sector professional who currently heads Business Development for Cashroom, a company that specializes in outsourced legal cashiering, compliance, payroll, and management accounting services for law firms in the UK. He started his career as a Solicitor in 1993 and later became a partner at two top 100 law firms. Alex went on to set up his own Executive Search business specializing in strategic resourcing and merger and acquisitions for law firms. He then joined a global IT outsourcer, Steria, where he created and delivered their strategy for developing a legal sector offering.
In 2014, Alex joined Cashroom and played a crucial role in expanding their client base from around 50 to over 250 law firms across the UK. He opened Cashroom’s services to England and Wales, and later in 2022, to the USA, leading new market and product exploration.
Cashroom’s services include legal cashiering, payroll, management accounting, statutory accounts, credit control, and consultancy projects. With more than 130 specialists across their two locations near Edinburgh and Manchester, Cashroom aims to ease law firms’ accounting and bookkeeping concerns, reduce their costs, and improve their services. Cashroom’s unique insight into the legal sector’s requirements, along with their use of technology, makes them an ideal finance partner for law firms.
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