A new-model law firm which received funding from the Welsh government said today it will be unaffected by its parent company going in to administration. Carbon Law Partners, which provides a hosted platform for self-employed lawyers, is going from strength to strength amid the solvent restructuring of its parent, chief executive Michael Burne told the Gazette. 

Flourish Holdings Limited, which in 2018 acquired 100% of Carbon Law Partners, appointed administrators last month. A statement of administrator's proposal is due to be published at Companies House in the next few days. 

Carbon Law Partners was co-founded by City lawyer Burne and banking director Owain Saunders-Jones in 2014. The commercial firm's model is designed to appeal to lawyers who want more freedom and control over how they build their practices than is possible in a traditional partnership. The Gazette understands that more than 30 lawyers have joined, in Bristol, Cardiff, Birmingham and London. 

In 2015 Carbon Law Partners received a £325,000 grant from the Welsh government to establish its UK headquarters in Cardiff. The funding was part of a drive to attract the legal sector to Wales. At the time, the business said it would create 25 jobs in Cardiff.

Flourish Holdings, incorporated in April 2018 as a private limited company, acquired Carbon Law Partners in the same month. Following the deal, 2% of the shareholding was gifted to staff. Its last accounts, for the year ending 31 March 2019, show it had two employees and an operating loss of £10,025. Current assets stood at £1.37m.

Non-executive chairman Geoffrey Miller resigned on 6 December after barely six months in post, along with director Anthony Cherry, a former senior partner with DAC Beachcroft.

Burne said that further details of the restructuring would be released shortly.