A tie-up between a so-called ‘challenger’ online bank and a digital legal service platform has come to an end after the firm behind the platform was closed down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
The arrangement, announced in March last year, enabled business customers of Cashplus Bank to obtain online legal support from LawBite, a subscription service set up in 2014 by barrister Clive Rich.
LawBite is an online service which promises to ‘democratise’ legal advice for small businesses. Rich had its partner relationship with Cashplus Bank - which was set up in 2021 by fintech pioneer Advanced Payment Solutions - would be able to offer businesses in the banks customer base ‘with high quality legal advice that may have previously been beyond their budget’.
Nick Biggam, commercial and business development director at Cashplus Bank, said at the time that the partnership would provide ‘vital legal support for small businesses’.
Last month it was announced that Lawbit Ltd, the company behind LawBite, had appointed administrators from Antony Batty & Co LLP on 24 September.
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A spokesperson for CashBank, which is now Zempler Bank, said on that day that the tie-up continued, stating ‘Zempler has a partner relationship with Lawbite in that it offers its services to Zempler customers through our marketplace.’
Subsequent to that statement, the Solicitors Regulation Authority moved on 8 October to close down LawBriefs, the firm through which LawBite provided legal services to its customers.
Yesterday a spokesperson for Zempler told the Gazette: ‘We can confirm that Lawbite is no longer available for customers on our marketplace.’
The LawBriefs website was still active yesterday (Wednesday), though any user who clicks on the SRA’s clickable logo is taken to a page which reads ‘website verification failed’.
Rich has been contacted for comment.
