Boutique commercial firm is ABS number ten

Boutique commercial firm Thinking Legal, based in Birmingham, is the tenth ABS to be licensed by the SRA.

Founder Jo Bligh, formerly partner and head of corporate at the Birmingham office of Browne Jacobson, told Solicitors Journal this morning that she left last year to set up a sole practice.

'I'd had enough of the management, but I really enjoyed the client work,' Bligh said. 'Becoming an ABS will give me the flexibility to bring new people into the business.

'Historic structures do not allow for any flexibility apart from having a team of lawyers. I want to do something a bit different.'

Bligh said she had no fixed plans on who she was going to recruit, but had been talking to accountants and other non-lawyer professionals about joining her firm. She said she had no plans to seek external investment.

On its website Thinking Legal describes itself as a 'boutique firm offering corporate and commercial legal advice and a unique service managing all your other needs, including tax, banking, property, competition, litigation, employment and intellectual property advice'.

The firm says it represents 'businesses, from start-ups to quoted companies, as well as individuals and partnerships, across a variety of sectors' and promises to work with clients to 'facilitate solutions rather than merely reciting the law and creating obstacles'.

Thinking Legal's licence will be effective from 31 July.