Fiona Martin and Cate Searle – directors behind Brighton and Sussex-based Martin Searle Solicitors – have revealed their firm will become 100% employee owned on 1 April 2026.
But don’t let the date fool you. This is far from a joke with the firm making the announcement at its twenty-first birthday bash attended by employees, friends, family, and business contacts and clients.
The move will ensure sustainable business growth in advances of Fiona and Cate’s planned retirement.
“As a campaigning and purpose driven law firm, employee ownership is the perfect model for us,” says Fiona.
"We want to ensure an ethically driven long-term future for the business and one that will share the business’ success with the team. This includes everyone receiving an annual tax free bonus.
“We are going against the grain as large firms swallow and amalgamate with each other, but we want to remain ‘the human face of law’.
“This means maintaining our personal legal services and rewarding our talented colleagues with ownership of our business.”
A New Era
From April 2026, Martin Searle Solicitors will be held by an employee ownership trust (EOT) and all employees will have an equal share in the business, regardless of role or status.
Employees will have access to the company accounts and can vote for Employee Representatives who’ll make key contributions to company and staffing decisions.
“Our clients and community have always been our priority and, having created such an ethically driven culture, it is essential for us that this can continue long after we retire,” said Cate.
“We will mentor the new board of employee owners so that when they are ready, we can retire.
“And by handing the business over to our incredible team of employees and empowering them through an employee ownership trust succession plan, we are confident that our business will continue to thrive.”
A Growing Paradigm
The Law Society has estimated that there are only twenty to thirty employee owned legal practices in England out of 9,000 law firms. That’s 0.33% in total.
But things are rapidly evolving and we’re seeing an increasing number of transitions taking place in the sector as more firms following early pioneers and make the move.
In fact, we published a blog last year all about this new paradigm.
Image credit: Matthew Andrews