The former CEO and COO of Integreon and Osborne Clarke, Chris Bull, has joined online legal documents disruptor LegalZoom as its compliance officer for finance and administration, it has emerged.
Bull is part of a small but growing UK team set up by QualitySolicitors founder Craig Holt, who was brought in at the end of 2014 to run LegalZoom’s UK operations, in what was interpreted at the time as a statement of intent of its sizeable UK growth plans. The California-based site has partnered with QualitySolicitors since September 2012, giving clients access to online legal documents such as company formations, wills, power of attorneys and divorce documents.
LegalZoom in January became the first US company approved to offer legal services in the UK as an alternative business structure, which Bull, founder and director of professional services advisory firm Kingsmead Square, worked on the planning and application for.
In the US, LegalZoom is already a well-known legal brand, however its formal UK launch is still pending, with the UK website home page saying: “Following our successful pilot, we’re just adding the finishing touches ahead of our full launch.”
The building of the LegalZoom UK team follows the sale in 2014 of part of LegalZoom’s business to European private equity firm Permira for £122m, which was undertaken to facilitate significant growth plans.
At the time of the ABS launch earlier this year, Holt said: “By offering innovative legal solutions and a customer-focused experience, LegalZoom hopes to have a meaningful impact on the existing gap in access to legal services and the way legal help is delivered in the UK.”