BT Law Ltd To Provide Services to Motor Claims Industry After Being Granted ABS Licence By Solicitors Regulatory Authority

BT today announced the launch of BT Law Limited, a business that will provide legal services to corporate customers, initially in the motor claims market, having been awarded a licence to operate from industry watchdog the Solicitors Regulatory Authority (SRA). 

The SRA has awarded BT an Alternative Business Structure (ABS) licence, effective from March 2013. With the ABS licence, the new business entity, BT Law Limited, will incorporate BT Claims, an already well-regarded name in the motor claims management industry, which handles more than 35,000 corporate fleet vehicles. 

BT Law Limited will offer an in-house end-to-end motor claims solution for businesses from incident notification, through investigation and resolution and now including full litigation management. 

BT Law Limited plans to grow over the coming years and, based on market demand for further services, will look to expand selectively into additional areas, such as public liability and employment law for corporate customers. The business will work closely with BT Fleet, another subsidiary of BT, which provides fleet management, vehicle maintenance and accident management to corporate customers who operate some of the UK’s most mission-critical fleets. 

The new business unit will have offices in three locations: London, Bletchley and Sheffield. BT Law Limited will be headed by Miles Jobling, who will become Director of BT Law. Miles Jobling is an experienced solicitor and will continue as the Head of Litigation and Employment Law for the BT Group. 

Samantha Barrass, Executive Director at the SRA said: “BT Law is a welcome addition to the Legal Services Market. The SRA has now licensed more than 100 ABSs and this number continues to grow, which means more choice for customers.” 

Miles Jobling, Director of BT Law Limited said: “The advent of ABS has changed forever the whole landscape of legal services. With our experience and market credibility we had already built a team with significant legal and claims handling expertise. This licence now gives us the perfect platform to take this much further forward and means we can deliver whole new areas of support for our existing clients as well as hopefully developing many new relationships. As we carry the BT name we understand just how important it is to best represent and protect our clients’ brands, which will remain as a main component of our service strategy.” 

The launch of BT Law Limited and granting of an ABS licence follows on from BT’s recent acquisition of Tikit, a company that provides technology solutions and services to legal and accountancy firms. 

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Notes to Editors 
Alternative Business Structures are a new form of practice that can provide reserved legal activities to businesses and the public. Compared to a traditional law firm, ABS are more flexible in that lawyers and non-lawyers can share the management and control of businesses; can have external investment and ownership; and can offer multiple services to clients (including legal services) from within the same entity.