Scots lawyer aims to shake up sector with tech-led firm

A technology-driven professional services group is being launched north of the Border with more than £1 million of initial backing, aiming to deliver “the biggest shake-up to the Scottish legal scene in decades”.

The firm is the brainchild of Rob Aberdein, and it aims to turn over £10m by the end of 2022. Picture: Ian Georgeson.

Aberdeins says it will bring a host of tech developments and innovations including app-based technologies to change delivery of legal and other professional services, to better support private clients, lenders and businesses. The focus will be on conveyancing, wills and executries, powers of attorney, litigation, debt recovery, family law and accessible corporate law for small and medium-sized enterprises.

With ten staff and offices in Glasgow and Edinburgh, the firm intends rapid expansion, driven by planned acquisition of “underinvested” legal firms – and it aims to turn over £10m by end-2022. The Aberdeins Board will be made up of a number of big hitters from Scotland’s business community and will be led by chairman Tom Barrie, the former MD and owner of Currie European.

Aberdeins is the brainchild of Scottish lawyer Rob Aberdein, who oversaw significant growth for Aberdein Considine before becoming the youngest-ever equity partner at English legal powerhouse Walker Morris.

He said: “The Aberdeins name will become an umbrella for a wide range of professional services, done differently. At its core will be legal services, but we are not just launching a law firm, we are about to deliver the biggest shake-up to the Scottish legal scene in decades.

"Make no mistake, our intention is to be disruptive and we know that won’t make us popular with everyone. But this is long overdue. Others who promised change have ended up turning into exactly the kind of firm they set out to displace. That won’t happen with Aberdeins.”

The company MD said the timing is ideal to use technology to “reflect the 2020s, not the 1950s,” while he is billing the firm as “a mash-up of the challenger, app-based bank, Monzo; of Tesla the electric car company headed by billionaire Elon Musk; and of Harvey Specter, the charismatic central character in legal drama, Suits, which launched Meghan Markle’s career”.

He added: “When I speak with people about what we want to achieve it is this description that grabs their attention and makes the hair on the back of their necks stand up. Further market research has validated what I’ve always believed – that clients are ready for something different. We’ll be looking to break down the traditional legal process to deliver an experience that’s fit for the 21st Century.”

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