Read 28 October 2026
Who buys law firms
Knights, Stowe Family Law, Fletchers, Higgs, Orwins, Express Solicitors and Canford Law each announce the firms they buy, on their own pages or their deal advisers'. We read 11 of those announcements. A buyer of 10% or more of a licensed body needs SRA approval, and the SRA has 90 days to decide. Tell Joseph Ellul what you want to buy and he replies himself.
Source: SRA: does your interest in a licensed body require approval
- 11
- acquisition announcements read, each on the buyer's, the firm's or a deal adviser's own page Who buys law firms: every announcement read
- 10%
- of the shares in a licensed body: the holding that needs SRA approval SRA: does your interest in a licensed body require approval
- 90 days
- for the SRA to decide on a proposed new owner SRA: authorisation and approval of role holders
Tell us what you want to buy
Buying a law firm: the approval rules
Last updated
Every rule below is a sentence read from the SRA's or the legislation's own page on the date shown. The figure is the rule's own number; nothing here is our estimate or advice.
Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 3 of the 9 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 6 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source for each breakdown it prices, in day (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences for one breakdown), so a page that gives figures for several breakdowns gives one for each and N counts 2 figures, never sentences; 29 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per gate a buyer passes: SRA approval of owners and managers before acquisition, the 10% material-interest threshold for a licensed body (ABS) under LSA 2007 Schedule 13, the FCA exclusion for selling 50%+ of a body corporate (RAO art. 70), the successor practice consequence under the MTC, and the SRA's warning notice duties; each with the clause and the date read
| Rule | What it says | Read | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Holding that needs SRA approval | 10% | 2026-10-28 | SRA guidance: does your interest in a licensed body require approval |
| SRA decision on a proposed new owner | 90 days | 2026-10-28 | SRA guidance: authorisation and approval of role holders |
| Representations after a warning notice | 28 days | 2026-10-28 | SRA guidance: authorisation and approval of role holders |
| Maximum prison term for acquiring without approval | 2 years | 2026-10-28 | Legal Services Act 2007, Schedule 13 (ownership of licensed bodies) |
| Approval lapses if the holding is not acquired | one year | 2026-10-28 | Legal Services Act 2007, Schedule 13 (ownership of licensed bodies) |
- The SRA's approval test catches those who hold 10% or more shares in a licensed body or any parent undertaking of it. (SRA: does your interest in a licensed body require approval)
- The SRA must act within 90 days of receiving notice of a proposed new owner, under paragraph 25 of Schedule 13 to the Legal Services Act 2007. (SRA: authorisation and approval of role holders)
- Acquiring a restricted interest without approval is an offence carrying up to 2 years in prison or a fine, or both, on indictment. (Legal Services Act 2007, Schedule 13)
Cite this page
“Buying a law firm: the approval rules”, Who Buys Law Firms, https://whobuyslawfirms.co.uk/ (updated 2026-10-29). Every row is a verbatim sentence read from the named source's own page through our fetch service on the date shown, hash-pinned to the stored read (the sha of the page's visible text; the raw page is mirrored to R2). 3 of the 9 named sources that could be read published a usable figure; 6 published none and are recorded as not published, never filled in; 0 could not be read (blocked, dead or unreachable) and count nowhere. The headline figures (median, minimum, maximum, quartiles) are over ONE figure per source for each breakdown it prices, in day (a source's median where its page yielded several accepted sentences for one breakdown), so a page that gives figures for several breakdowns gives one for each and N counts 2 figures, never sentences; 29 candidate sentence(s) were refused by a reviewer with the reason recorded. The fuller derivation this dataset is chartered to grow into (not yet what the figures above are; they are each source's own published figure as read): one row per gate a buyer passes: SRA approval of owners and managers before acquisition, the 10% material-interest threshold for a licensed body (ABS) under LSA 2007 Schedule 13, the FCA exclusion for selling 50%+ of a body corporate (RAO art. 70), the successor practice consequence under the MTC, and the SRA's warning notice duties; each with the clause and the date read
What happens next
- Tell us the kind of law firm, the area, the price range and whether you would buy the shares or the business. Two minutes, no account.
- Joseph Ellul reads the brief himself. Nothing is passed to a buyer, a broker, a panel or a marketing list.
- You get a reply about what a search for that brief involves. Ask questions, carry on, or do nothing.
This is a free information site run by Joseph Ellul. When you send a brief, he reads it and replies to you himself; it is not passed to any buyer, broker or law firm, and you pay nothing to ask. The site carries no advertising, no sponsored placement and no affiliate links, and no buyer listed here has paid to be listed. Every rule and announcement is read from the named page on the date shown. Nothing here is legal, tax, regulatory or investment advice; check the source before you rely on a row.
Straight answers
Who buys law firms in the UK?
Among the buyers whose announcements we read on 28 October 2026 are Knights, Stowe Family Law, Fletchers, Higgs, Orwins, Express Solicitors and Canford Law, several backed by private equity. Each deal links to the page that announced it. (Who buys law firms: every announcement read)
Does buying a law firm need SRA approval?
Holding 10% or more of the shares in a licensed body, or of its parent, needs SRA approval before you acquire it. (SRA: does your interest in a licensed body require approval)
How long does SRA approval of a new owner take?
The SRA must act within 90 days of notice of a proposed new owner. If it issues a warning notice, you have 28 days to make representations. (SRA: authorisation and approval of role holders)
What happens if you buy without approval?
It is an offence under Schedule 13 to the Legal Services Act 2007, carrying up to 2 years in prison or a fine, or both, on indictment. (Legal Services Act 2007, Schedule 13)
Who answers a brief sent from this page?
Joseph Ellul reads it and replies himself. It is not passed to a buyer, a broker or any law firm, and nothing here is legal, tax, regulatory or investment advice. (Buying a law firm: the approval rules)
Sources
This site's own dataset, every figure quoted from its source and dated:
- The Buying a Law Firm Rules carries 2 published figures read from 1 source's own page, from 28 to 90 day, read 28 October 2026.
- SRA: does your interest in a licensed body require approval
- SRA: authorisation and approval of role holders
- Legal Services Act 2007, Schedule 13
- SRA Authorisation of Firms Rules
- SRA warning notice: mergers, acquisitions and sales of law firms
- SRA Indemnity Insurance Rules
- FSMA (Regulated Activities) Order 2001, article 70
- Knights: adds a law firm to its Oxford office
- Taylor Rose: TTKW and McMillan Williams unify
- QualitySolicitors: Metamorph Group acquires QualitySolicitors
- Clarkslegal: investment by Orwins
- Higgs LLP: adds Vialex and Navigator Employment Law
- Fletchers: acquires Freeths teams
- Stowe Family Law: acquires Hatton Family Law
- Stowe Family Law: acquires Hawkins Family Law
- Stowe Family Law: acquires Crisp & Co
- Express Solicitors: acquires Aegis Legal
- Osborne Clarke: Canford Law acquires PDC Law
- Arrowpoint: Higgs LLP and August Equity
- August Equity: August-backed legal firm expands
- Arrowpoint: Ufenau and Express Solicitors
- OC&C: QPE invests in Canford Law
- BDO: acquisition of Canford Law by QPE