Bolton Entrepreneur Launches Modern Clerking Agency to Help Businesses Access Specialist Barristers
A Bolton entrepreneur is aiming to modernise the way businesses and individuals instruct barristers with the launch of a new legal services business based in the town centre.
Clerk & Counsel, headquartered at Bark Street East in Bolton, has been created to simplify the process of finding and instructing specialist barristers across England and Wales, while also providing outsourced clerking and business support to self-employed barristers and smaller sets of chambers.
Founded by legal marketing professional, Stacey Horrocks, the business is designed to bridge the gap between clients, solicitors and the independent Bar using technology and modern business processes.
Unlike traditional barristers’ chambers, Clerk & Counsel is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice itself. Instead, it helps identify suitable barristers for each case, manages enquiries, coordinates instructions and provides ongoing clerking support. Every barrister instructed through the platform remains independently regulated by the Bar Standards Board and responsible for the legal advice they provide.
Stacey Horrocks, Director of Clerk & Counsel, said:
“Many people don’t realise they can instruct a barrister directly in a wide range of cases without first going to a solicitor. Equally, many excellent self-employed barristers spend valuable time dealing with administration, fee negotiations and marketing when they’d rather be focusing on their clients.
We created Clerk&Counsel to make both sides of that process easier. Businesses and individuals can come to one place to find the right barrister, while barristers receive professional clerking and business support that helps them grow their practice.”
The launch comes at a time when the legal profession continues to evolve, with more barristers accepting Direct Access instructions and clients increasingly searching online for specialist legal expertise. At the same time, many smaller practices are looking for more flexible alternatives to the traditional chambers model.
Clerk & Counsel’s services include helping businesses and individuals source specialist barristers for commercial disputes, construction matters, family law and other practice areas, as well as providing diary management, fee negotiation, client onboarding and business development support for barristers.
The company also plans to invest heavily in educational content to help businesses better understand when they can instruct a barrister directly and how the process works.
Based in Bolton, Clerk & Counsel hopes to demonstrate that innovative legal businesses do not need to be based in London to have a national impact.
“Bolton has a fantastic entrepreneurial community and a growing number of digital businesses,” Stacey added. “We’re proud to be building a specialist legal business here and supporting barristers and clients across England and Wales from our base in Greater Manchester.”
