A conveyancing firm effectively hibernating for 18 months has been revived and relaunched by its parent holding company.

AIIC Group, which also owns the south east firm Taylor Rose, will operate FDR Law as a property-focused legal services consultancy.

FDR Law paused trading in late 2022 to undergo an IT overhaul, during which times its clients and around 30 staff were transferred to Taylor Rose. The business, previously known as Forshaws Davies Ridgway, had been bought by AIIC in June 2021.

Having received Solicitors Regulation Authority approval last year to switch to a limited company rather than a partnership, FDR Law has relaunched with new cloud-based case management system Nebulaw.

Gina Padmore, formerly FDR’s head of residential property and previously head of legal at Taylor Rose, has been named as the company’s new chief executive.

Padmore said: ‘We’ve taken a lot of care to ensure that when we relaunched, we were technologically ready to give our consultants the best possible experience.

‘We’ve worked hard to ensure that everything that a property lawyer requires is viewed under one pane of glass so there is no need for disparate systems for finance, searches, ID checks, property registrations or document management.’

Under the business model, self-employed consultants can benefit from a central service platform, marketing support, PII cover and SRA supervision, and can keep an average 70% of their billings.

Adrian Jaggard, chief executive of AIIC Group, added: ‘We know the factors that are key to driving excellence and fast-growth with a consultancy-based business, and the team have been working hard behind the scenes to put the right building blocks in place to support FDR’s relaunch.’

Meanwhile, Taylor Rose has dropped the MW part of its name – more than four years after it had joined forces with high street firm McMIllan Williams. The firm said the decision to lose the MW ‘reflects the company’s success in unifying businesses it has merged with over its history’.

As part of the modification, the company will also change its limited company name from Taylor Rose TTKW to Taylor Rose Limited and move its registered office from London Bridge to its flagship Carter Lane address. No office closures are planned.

Jaggard said: ‘Taylor Rose has been on a transformative journey over the last 15 years, growing into a global law firm and serving clients across several key legal services.

‘Our new simplified name better reflects the unity of the entire company as we continue to adapt and drive growth in our key areas of focus.’

 

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