A modern business for the modern world.
About Me
I am Mark Maclean and I am the owner and legal consultant at Straight Line Legal. I qualified formally as a solicitor in 2014 and have been working in private practice at various top 50 UK law firms for well over a decade. I now work as a non-practising solicitor, which means that I am still on the roll of solicitors but no longer hold a practising certificate (for more information on what this means please see the website FAQs below).
Over the years, I have worked primarily as a commercial solicitor dealing with a very diverse caseload of contentious (e.g. court litigation) and non-contentious work. Working in private practice has given me lots of experience across different work types; from drafting and interpreting contracts of insurance, through to advising on large scale construction projects.
The ethos behind Straight Line Legal is very simple: I want to offer SMEs an affordable and easy way to get legal help. I started my career with this idea in mind but it wasn’t until I had the opportunity to move out of private practice that I have been able to fully realise it. It feels like a rite of passage for young lawyers to explore what the corporate world has to offer - fancy city-centre offices, big ticket cases, multi-national client projects, and so on. As exciting (and educational!) as this was, over time it became clearer that I wasn’t achieving what I set out to do. This business model, however, gives me the flexibility and freedom to finally offer a no-nonsense legal solution for businesses who really need it.
In my spare time I am usually stuck into something music-related, whether it is playing, composing, recording, or sometimes just listening. I love spending time with the family (including my whirlwind of a toddler, Marnie!) and usually exploring something or somewhere new if we can. I also have a (perhaps unhealthy) obsession with all things fantasy and sci-fi!
Why Straight Line Legal?
If you are wondering why / how Straight Line Legal can benefit your business, here are some things I offer:
Competitive Fees: The streamlined business model has done away with unnecessary costs associated with city centre premises, top-heavy partnership structures, complicated IT systems, layers of unnecessary admin, and hefty regulatory fees. Those savings are passed straight onto you.
Clear Service and Pricing Structures: Traditional law firm models rely heavily on uncapped hourly rates and annual fee billing targets. It is not unusual for hourly rates for commercial work to be upwards of £200 + VAT / hour, and fees can quickly escalate. For obvious reasons this model doesn’t always serve clients well and therefore all work I do will be on a fixed fee basis, with no background targets or financial incentives for you to worry about.
Experience: You will have access to over a decade of experience and knowledge in the commercial world, without the stuffiness (and price tag!) that typically comes with it. There is a strong chance I have seen your legal issue before (or at least one very similar) and have successfully resolved it.
No Jargon: There is simply no justification for over the top legal waffle or flowery language in the modern business world. I won’t leave you scrambling to decipher needlessly Shakespearean phrases like ‘whereof’ or ‘hereunto’: I will speak to you in plain English in terms that mean something to you and your business.
Responsiveness: You will only ever deal with me and will never be passed from pillar to post when you have a query. I firmly believe that a quick chat can usually resolve most issues and I will gladly pick up the phone rather than toing and froing. I have full control over my workflow and you can rest assured that you won’t have to wait weeks for a simple response from an overworked case handler.
Understanding: As a small business owner myself, I fully understand the pressures and issues facing businesses and I want to help you succeed! I always have an eye on the commercial realities of a situation and legal strategies are created with that in mind.
Straight Line Legal is not a traditional law firm!
Straight Line Legal (SLL) is an alternative legal service provider and it does not adopt a typical law firm structure to deliver legal services. Read on below to better understand the options available to businesses providing legal services, and how this may impact the work SLL does for you.
A brief history of regulation
The legal world is one steeped in tradition, which is perhaps no surprise given that the earliest foundations of our current legal system were formed many hundreds of years ago! One aspect of this tradition which has been hard to shake is the heavy regulation, which for years meant that only traditional law firm partnerships could deliver legal services to the public.
Thankfully that changed in 2007 when a process of gradual deregulation was introduced, and further expanded recently in 2019. The law that brought about this change was the Legal Services Act. One of the major overhauls was the split of legal work into two distinct work types: reserved and non-reserved.
Reserved work covers just the following: appearing in court, conducting litigation, lodging certain property documents, conducting probate, administering oaths and notarial activities. Everything else is non-reserved - including general legal advice, alternative dispute resolution (before litigation), and drafting commercial documents e.g. contracts. Only regulated law firms and/or practising solicitors can do reserved work but the change in law means that unregulated businesses can undertake non-reserved work.
Choosing unregulated
It is understandable to be a little unsure at the mention of the term ‘unregulated’. However, these businesses are integral to the delivery of legal services in England and Wales. Very recently, the Legal Services Board estimated that the unregulated sector may account for up to 39% of the total market for small businesses, covering a variety of legal issues.
There are huge benefits to deregulation both generally and in the context of legal services; deregulation was necessary to increase competition, innovation, and consumer choice in the market. In the same study mentioned above, the Legal Services Board found that unregulated providers are often cheaper, more innovative, and more transparent with their prices than regulated competitors; while still offering a very good level of client service overall. It is easy to see why the unregulated model is attractive to both the legal service provider and its clients.
SLL’s business model
I made a clear and intentional decision to formulate SLL as an unregulated alternative legal service provider, (meaning the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) does not regulate the service that SLL delivers), for several good reasons:
Focused delivery. SLL delivers only non-reserved legal activities to clients, which supports a focused and streamlined business model; reserved areas are rarely applicable to SLL’s business clients looking for commercial advice / services. Regulation is no longer necessary for non-reserved work (as outlined above).
Reduced overheads / costs. The cost of complying with the regulatory regime can be very high and by removing certain overheads, I can offer much lower prices to clients.
More time for clients. The regulatory regime can be time-consuming and involve a lot of procedural hoop-jumping. This would hike up the overall cost of doing business and reduce the efficiency / speed of the service that SLL can deliver to clients.
Technology and Innovation. A regulated business has a number of restrictions which can inhibit innovation and the use of technology; an unregulated firm is not held back in the same way.
Quality of service
Whether a business is regulated or unregulated doesn’t necessarily have a bearing on the quality of service delivered to clients. After all, as in any market there are good and bad regulated businesses, and good and bad unregulated ones! It is reassuring of course that the Legal Services Board found that overall satisfaction levels are high and similar for regulated and unregulated providers.
Nonetheless, some concern over unregulated offerings employing inexperienced and/or unqualified consultants is reasonable and understandable. However, clients can rest assured that this is not the case with SLL - you will receive the highest standard of service because you will be getting a trusted legal advisor who:
studied, trained, and qualified as a practising solicitor;
worked for over a decade in various top 50 (regulated) law firms;
has significant experience of the legal commercial world;
has vast experience of the SRA regulatory regime and a full understanding of what constitutes great client care;
remains on the roll of solicitors (currently non-practising) where regulatory status can be monitored; and
is accountable to the SRA under the core SRA Principles.
Ultimately, being unregulated is a fantastic fit for SLL’s business model and it allows a degree of flexibility and innovation that is not available for regulated businesses. It really is an exciting time for the profession now that regulators are seeing the true benefits that this modern system has to offer.
Differences
Although there are various benefits to instructing an unregulated legal service provider, there are certain differences between the two systems that you may wish to consider before making any decisions. I have prepared a more in-depth look at those differences here if you wish to learn more.