Divorce and separation service amicable has announced plans to set up a regulated law firm after submitting its application to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) in July.
The new and separate law firm will serve England and Wales and will be able to provide legal services and representation that amicable, as an unregulated business, does not provide. The search is now on for new recruits, the firm said.
amicable currently works with couples together, offering what it describes as a “simpler alternative to the traditional two-lawyer process”.
It was created 10 years ago by Kate Daly, a counsellor with a background in psychology, and Pip Wilson, co-founder and current CEO. In 2023 the Octopus group acquired a majority stake in the business.
The regulated entity will work with the people amicable can’t currently help directly, as well as carrying out some of the work amicable’s customers need from a regulated firm.
Alongside family law work, the new firm will provide conveyancing services for people who need to transfer property following separation or divorce; a “small, focused service” covering transfers of equity and related remortgages when a separating couple moves the family home into one name.
amicable says the new business will be “built as a technology-first law firm from day one”, taking the learnings from the years it spent building software around the separation journey to shape its own case management, client communication and drafting tools.
AI tools will support tasks such as drafting, triage and research, with a qualified solicitor reviewing every piece of advice and every document that reaches a client or a court, the firm said.
The new firm will be led by Pip Wilson alongside Alex Woolley, a former senior associate at a top-tier London family law firm, co-founder of two access to justice legal tech companies and a previous winner of the SRA’s Legal Access Challenge.
Wilson said: “We started amicable because we believed there had to be a kinder way to divorce. But working with couples together isn’t always possible for every situation, and until now we haven’t been able to help those people ourselves. The new firm is for them. It will be built on the same values, and on the technology and innovation that let us do things in a better way.
“We’re looking for family and conveyancing solicitors who share that ambition and want to help shape the firm from day one.”
