2018 Law Awards of Scotland commendation blog Unique business model leads to recognition at Legal awards

Andrew Robertson, Managing Director of McClure Solicitors tells us how his firms operating model will lead to planned growth in the future.

McClure Solicitors is a private client company founded in 1853. Until 1984 we were a standard legal practice. We then began offering a Free Will for Charity service. The company has grown beyond all expectation. We now have 14 offices covering Scotland, England and Wales. Glasgow is our central processing unit.

We have a unique business model in the UK. We offer a free Will (including a free home visit if necessary) and simply request a donation for a charity of the client’s choice. We are now partnered with 161 charities who entrust their service users and supporters to us. Last year between donations, gift aid and legacies we raised over £47million for charity. This year we are on target to raise almost £60M.

How does our business model work? We are often asked this. We service about 1,000 new clients per month. Quite simply half of them take a paid for service and the other half just take the free Will. Future business includes estate agency, conveyancing, financial services, guardianships, deputyships, executries, probate etc. These are all a bonus. Every business model carries risk. Ours is no exception. The only certainty we have is the cost of the Free Will Scheme. However, based on past and current performance, we are confident that our business model is not only viable but really successful.

We have been operating this model for many years now and accordingly we have legacies maturing each month at the same time as providing legacies in new Wills.

Our business model is scalable, and we expect to increase both the volume of work and the number of offices as we continue to go forward.