Ten years on: Practice Manager Sarah Collins on Jurit’s journey

Three senior City solicitors walk into a bar. It sounds like the start of a joke, doesn’t it? Yet our decade-long journey from a handful of brilliant legal minds to the team of over 40 people that it is today, has been anything but.

We spoke to Practice Manager, Sarah Collins, about our journey and what lies ahead as we embark on the next phase of development.

Sarah’s relationship with Jurit all started in London, when a handful of lawyers invited her to a meeting to ask her if she wanted to be part of something new.

Gathered around the small table was a group of lawyers who, between them, had lived and worked across the globe for leading law firms acting for businesses on an international scale.

They knew a thing of two about how law firms worked and told Sarah about what they wanted to achieve with Jurit – a completely virtual law firm made up of the best legal minds, rooted in pragmatism, but without the City law firm price tag.

In 2014, Jurit was established with a handful of partners at the helm who had left their partner and senior in-house counsel roles at firms such as Clyde & Co, Macfarlane’s and IBM, in favour of setting up on their own to provide high quality advice, work how and when they wanted, for the clients they wanted to support.

Sarah was captivated by their proposition and soon came on board in a role which saw her progress from an executive assistant for a small firm turning over less than £300,000, to the practice manager of a multi-million-pound law firm today.

“I knew straight away that Jurit and its founding partners had a unique and exciting proposition in the legal market at that time. I was, and still am, excited to be part of that journey,” commented Sarah.

As with most small business start-ups, the role quickly developed as Jurit grew, and Sarah soon evolved from supporting lawyers with databases, contacts and the administrative side of running a business, to a much more strategic role as practice manager.

Sarah continued: “Back then, operating a law firm on an entirely virtual basis was very unusual, and to be able to do so with highly experienced lawyers who had careers from international and City firms, was very unusual. This experience, together with the very competitive rates we were able to offer as a virtual firm, soon translated into a lot of work, all of it for top quality clients.”

The firm’s operational cost base allows it to pass on savings to their clients, so that they enjoy senior-level quality and excellence – at good value.

“It was an exciting time, working for a fast-paced and quickly evolving firm full of entrepreneurial spirit. The model that we built meant that lawyers were motivated not by ever-increasing corporate targets, but rather by doing a good job at the end of which they would effectively ‘eat what they killed’. Target billing had become a thing of the past, replaced instead with a new drive and motivation to grow their own practices on their own terms,” continued Sarah.

Of course, having little scrutiny on targets has its pros and cons, and it can be tricky working at a law firm with a consultancy model to get the right entrepreneurial breed of lawyer on board, but having the flexibility and being empowered to work in a way in which suits you, is a heady mix and a benefit that is reaped not only by the lawyers, but also by their clients.

“The firm thrived and experienced double-digit, completely organic growth year on year, delivering City expertise and experience, at very competitive rates. It was a lovely place to be, working with a team of self-motivated people who wanted to be able to excel for clients, without the billing pressures of the traditional law firm model on their shoulders.”

That organic growth continued and, in 2021, the firm acquired a private client practice, PWT Advice, to add a new string to the firm’s practice area bow, enabling the firm to not only support businesses, but also the personal legal needs of their owners.

Today, the firm is made up of nine partners and 22 fee earners, with a strong administrative and management team turning over £3 million a year in fees for a range of corporate and private clients, including large multi-national businesses based in the UK and abroad, with major cases including advising Roadchef Employee Benefits Trustees Limited on a very substantial tax settlement with HMRC, other professional firms, innovative financial services solution providers, wealthy individuals and international corporations.

A decade on from that first transformative meeting and having broken down the doors of Legal 500 and Chambers with rankings in employment law, employee share schemes and incentives and for individual lawyers, thoughts are now turning to the next stage in the firm’s development.

“Whereas 10 years ago, our model was unique and agile, the pandemic put paid to that USP. Today, with more focus than ever on flexible working, there are a lot of virtual law firms somewhat like us operating in the market. Where we continue to stand out, however, is in our flat business model, the senior experience and technical expertise of our people and our competitive rates.

“We are now at a point where we are consolidating on the growth we have experienced to date, and are looking to make a step-change through the recruitment of several experienced lawyers at partner and consultant solicitor level, who will drive the business even further forwards.”

As many City law firms kick-started 2025 by mandating a full-time return to the office, Jurit sees this as a significant opportunity for firms like theirs, which are able to offer fully hybrid roles, backed up by the resources needed to successfully run a law firm – from excellent administrative support, marketing , IT to accounts.

“There will be a lot of lawyers out there who will not want to return to the office full-time, for a host of reasons – from childcare and commute times to flexibility and convenience. That is why we see 2025 as a year of real opportunity.”

“Those who are entrepreneurial of mind, personable and know how to do business development whilst being technically excellent at what they do, can really thrive in a firm like ours. You get the enjoyment and satisfaction of being in charge of your own destiny whilst benefitting from the nurturing, entrepreneurial culture that we foster.

“It can be a challenging jump and it’s not for everyone but if you’re ready and have the right mindset you can thrive in this environment, achieve what you want and need and contribute to the direction of the business for the future. For those willing to make the leap, there can be immense personal rewards.

“Of course, it can be challenging for smaller firms to become known in the market, but great strides are being made in this area thanks to the quality of the work we do and the people we have, which have helped us to become ranked in Legal 500 and Chambers.

“We are also alive to the benefits of investing in marketing and the best legal technology which, together with the vision that we have for the future, stand us in good stead as we embark on the next decade together.”