A former director of collapsed claims firm Pure Legal is spearheading another fast-expanding law firm, the Gazette can reveal.

Solicitor Jennifer Shaw is the sole director of Liverpool-based First Legal Solicitors Ltd, an SRA-regulated practice specialising in housing disrepair claims, tenancy deposit claims and stamp duty land tax refunds.

Companies House records show that Shaw has been director of 10 different companies including Pure Legal, which went into administration in November 2021. Shaw remained a director of Pure for more than five years before resigning in November 2022.

There is no suggestion that First Legal is in any other way linked to Pure Legal, or that it is a successor practice to the closed firm.

First Legal was incorporated in 2016 and Shaw took over as sole director last July. This period coincided with the business effectively going from a standing start to an established claims firm.

Money owed to the business (which would include work in progress) rose from £44,241 in April 2022 to £1.23m a year later, with cash reserves jumping from £94 to more than £23,000.

Amounts owed to creditors increased from £168,000 to almost £900,000.

Last week, First Legal posted on its LinkedIn page that due to increased long-term and committed funding agreements, it was looking for new claims management companies to refer additional volume housing disrepair work.

The firm’s website states that it works on a no win, no fee basis, adding: ‘If we think you have a valid claim we take your on your case with the understanding that if we lose, you do not need to pay anything. If you win, your opponent will pay your legal fees and we will take a success fee for the work we have done in getting you the result you deserve.’

Shaw was admitted to the roll in 2010 and completed her training at Liverpool firm Silverbeck Rymer, which would become part of the Quindell group. She became head of operations at Silverbeck Rymer at the age of 29, managing 300 employees.

On her LinkedIn page, she says: ‘I have now focussed my extensive but broad skill set and experience, to acquiring First Legal Solicitors, a firm with a 7-year trading history, initially investing in housing disrepair cases to build a strong and stable foundation for future growth and diversification.’

Pure Legal was one of the legal sector’s biggest failures, with unsecured creditor claims already coming to more than £40m and administration costs surging past £7m. There is no prospect of any divided being paid to unsecured creditors and increasing uncertainty whether funders and lenders owed more than £10m will receive any payment.

Administrators from insolvency firm Kroll said in their latest update that investigations into Pure Legal’s affairs remain ongoing, with ‘several’ lines of enquiry open.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has an ongoing investigation into Pure Legal alongside that involving SSB Legal, which bought thousands of Pure claims but went into administration earlier this year.,

The regulator’s investigation includes, among other issues, concerns about clients being unexpectedly pursued for defendants' adverse costs after claims being handled by Pure Legal either failed or were discontinued. This investigation is expected to be concluded later this year.