News
11th October 2014

Link Financial Group acquires Kearns Solicitors Legal Advocacy Business

The nationwide legal advocacy service of Kearns Solicitors has been acquired by the Link Financial Group (“Link”) and will trade as Kearns Solicitors, an approved trading style of Kearns Legal Services Ltd. The new company, licensed and approved by the SRA (Solicitors Regulation Authority), will specialise in business-to-business services within the legal sector. Link successfully applied for a licence to own and operate a legal firm as an Alternative Business Structure (ABS).

For the last 25 years Kearns have offered a nationwide advocacy service for blue chip clients and volume litigation solicitors at agency hearings in every county court throughout England and Wales, with 100 specialist advocates ready to attend hearings at short notice. Through offering a niche outsourcing service to the legal profession, supported by a bespoke diary system and cutting edge IT, Kearns has been able to expand its operations greatly since its inception in 1989, with its advocates handling up to 50,000 hearings per annum for many of the country’s leading lending institutions and their solicitors.

Link believes this systems driven solution, allied to the depth and breadth of advocacy experience, offers huge potential for growth and is a natural extension of its current operations and strategy to develop outsourced business solutions.

Selina Burdell, COO of Link Financial Group – “We are pleased to welcome Robert and the whole Kearns team to Link. We believe the Kearns proposition gives us a fantastic opportunity to expand our range of outsourced legal services to clients through our new ABS. It is a perfect complement to our longstanding unsecured loan servicing platform and recently formed mortgage administration business.”

Robert Kearns, founder of Kearns Solicitors – “Being part of Link’s wider organisation will allow us to take a step forward in developing our advocacy business into new clients and product areas, as well as supporting the group’s servicing activities as a wholly-owned legal firm. We plan to invest in enhanced training and monitoring applications which will continue to set Kearns apart from the competition. It is a compelling combination.”