Starting a law firm in England & Wales.

Choose your structure

Decide how the firm will be set up: a sole practice, a partnership, a limited liability partnership (LLP) or a limited company. If people who aren't lawyers will own or manage the firm, you'll need to become an alternative business structure (ABS).

Not every solicitor needs a firm. Some work as freelance or consultant solicitors, or join a platform firm, instead. If that's you, see our solicitor profile sites.

Apply for SRA authorisation

New firms apply to the SRA for authorisation before they can offer regulated legal services. Among other things, the SRA will want to see:

• A compliance officer for legal practice (COLP) and a compliance officer for finance and administration (COFA), both approved by the SRA.
• Someone to supervise the work who is a lawyer and has practised for at least three years.
• Approval of the firm's owners and managers.
• Evidence that you can get qualifying professional indemnity insurance.

Allow time for this. See the SRA's firm authorisation pages.

Arrange professional indemnity insurance

Every SRA-authorised firm needs qualifying professional indemnity insurance from a participating insurer, on the SRA's minimum terms. A specialist broker can help you compare quotes, and you'll need evidence of cover for your application.

Set up money and anti-money laundering controls

Decide how you'll handle client money: a client account under the SRA Accounts Rules, or a third-party managed account. Your COFA oversees this.

If your work falls within the Money Laundering Regulations (conveyancing, for example), you'll also need a firm-wide risk assessment, and policies, controls and procedures to match.

Register the business

The practical admin:

• Companies House, if you're an LLP or a limited company.
• HMRC for tax, and VAT once you reach the threshold.
• The ICO data protection fee, which most firms handling client data must pay.
• A business bank account and practice management software.
• A written complaints procedure that includes the Legal Ombudsman.

Build your name and brand

Settle the name early: you'll need it for your application, registration and domain. Check it's available at Companies House, as a domain and on the UK IPO trade mark register. Then build the logo, colours and identity around it. See branding for new law firms.

Launch a compliant website

Your website is often the first thing clients check. On day one it should have:

• Your SRA number and the SRA clickable logo, displayed prominently.
• Your complaints procedure, including how and when to complain to the Legal Ombudsman and the SRA.
• Price and service information for any services covered by the SRA Transparency Rules.
• Company details (name, registered number, registered office) if you're an LLP or company.
• A UK GDPR privacy notice, and cookie consent if you use non-essential cookies.
• Clear warnings about bank-detail changes, to help protect clients from payment fraud.
• Solicitor profiles, a secure enquiry form, and pages that work on every phone.

We build all of this in from the start. See what we build for law firms.