Group Overview

Keystone is an award-winning innovative tech enabled full service law firm, providing a conventional legal services through its scalable and proven business model operating in an addressable market of over £10bn.

OUR MODEL

Keystone has a strongly differentiated business model which offers lawyers freedom, flexibility and autonomy. We recruit high quality, experienced lawyers from mid-market law firms. Our lawyers are self-employed and they determine how, when and where they work, being fully responsive to the client’s demands. They earn up to 75% of the fees they bill: 60% for doing the work and 15% for introducing the client. In return, Keystone offers a full suite of resources, providing them with infrastructure and support via the central office, a bespoke user-friendly proprietary IT platform, and access to an extensive network of highly experienced colleagues, as well as a programme of events and initiatives focused on helping them to maximise their potential.

The remuneration model is simple, transparent and the same for everyone. Lawyers are paid once the clients have paid for the services. This structure has two core benefits: typically, lawyers earn more money for the same work than they would in a conventional firm, and Keystone is resilient and highly cash generative.

OUR CULTURE

Keystone has a supportive and collaborative culture, which is one of the reasons why lawyers are attracted to the business and remain with us. We treat our lawyers like clients, and the absence of a hierarchical structure is beneficial in many ways – our lawyers are freed from office politics and unwanted managerial responsibilities and are able to focus exclusively on what they enjoy and do best: being a lawyer. For many lawyers, this is life changing. We have always believed that Keystone is one of, if not the, happiest law firm in the country. This belief was validated by Roll on Friday naming Keystone Firm of the Year 2021^(1).

Whilst the model provides our lawyers with independence, it also provides a strong network and sense of collaboration within Keystone, which we consciously and consistently encourage and promote. We commit substantial time, effort and resources to bring our lawyers together so that they meet, know, and trust each other. We recognise that internal networks offer both the professional and personal support our lawyers need to flourish. An important part of our lawyers’ success is access to the extensive knowledge and experience of their colleagues. More than 30% of work at Keystone is a result of cross-referrals, demonstrating the multi-faceted requirements of clients and the inter-connectivity and collaboration that is built into the DNA of Keystone.

OUR SCALABLE GROWTH STRATEGY

Keystone grows organically by recruiting high calibre, senior lawyers from across the UK legal mid-market who bring with them their client relationships and contacts. Our addressable market is large (accounting for over £10bn in annual fee income) and is ripe for disruption as increasing numbers of lawyers seek to gain greater control over how they develop their practice, achieve an improved work-life balance, and earn more for the work they do.

Keystone’s model means that there are neither physical nor working capital constraints on the rate of growth or the size to which the business can grow, with most areas of law within the mid-market being addressable by our model.

Furthermore, the way in which the Principal lawyers contract with Keystone means that they in turn can recruit other lawyers into their “Pods”. To ensure the calibre is maintained, all recruits are approved by Keystone. Lawyers, who so wish, can use this structure to build a larger practice than would otherwise be possible, and thereby better leverage the value of their client relationships. For those who either do not wish to take this approach, or for whom the need for support is less substantial, there is always the ability to cross refer work to other Keystone Principals. Alternatively, junior support can be delivered by one of the junior lawyers employed by the central office to support all our senior lawyers.

OUR SERVICES

Keystone delivers high calibre legal advice across the full range of legal services demanded by our clients. The Keystone model enables our lawyers to focus exclusively on the development and delivery of client legal work, ensuring that the service delivered is exemplary. Our client base, comprising predominantly SME businesses as well as high and ultra-high net worth individuals, operates across a broad range of sectors. Our growth strategy ensures that we continually extend both our client base and our service offering as new lawyers bring both the expertise and their client relationships with them to Keystone.

OPPORTUNITY FOR KEYSTONE LAW

The Keystone model is now well-recognised and accepted within the mainstream of the UK legal mid-market, a market in which the traditional model continues to face long-term structural challenges. The nature of the traditional model and the way in which traditional firms have responded to these challenges ensures that there continues to be a sizeable pool of talented lawyers across the UK mid-market who wish to benefit from the advantages offered by the Keystone model.

The effect of Covid-19 lockdowns on the working world has absolutely validated the concept of remote working within the legal industry, and this change in attitude will have served to further enlarge the pool of lawyers wishing to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the Keystone model in the near-term. Whilst, the generational shift in attitude, highlighted in the LexisNexis survey 2024, towards a financially rewarding career which provides the opportunity for a good work-life balance suggests that the opportunity will continue to grow into the mid-term.

The Directors believe that, as a result of these trends, the UK legal services mid-market offers significant opportunity for Keystone far into the future.