Our experienced regulatory and compliance solicitors help you navigate the laws and regulations relevant to your industry, protecting your business from non-compliance risks.
Book a complimentary consultation
A short call with one of our founders about your business and your legal priorities. We reply within one business day.
Included in our subscription plans
Most compliance problems don’t start with a regulator’s letter. They start with a new product, a bigger customer’s questionnaire, or a rule nobody realised applied. These are the ones we see most weeks at Lawyerly.
Compliance questionnaires
Anti-bribery, modern slavery, cybersecurity, health and safety: we help you answer honestly, put the missing policies in place and give procurement what it needs to say yes.
Regulatory mapping
We map the regulations that actually bite on your sector, size and customers, tell you which ones matter now and which can wait, and turn the list into a plan.
Regulator enquiries
Whether it is an information request, an inspection or a complaint, we help you understand what is being asked, respond properly and fix the underlying issue before it becomes a penalty.
regulatory compliance solutions
Compliance is not a one-off project. Every new product, hire, market and supplier changes which rules apply to you and what a regulator would expect to see. We build a compliance position that fits the size of your business, then keep it current as you grow.
When something does go wrong, whether that is an inspection, a complaint or a customer audit, you already have a solicitor who knows your business and can act the same day.
Book a complimentary consultation
A short call with one of our founders about your business and your legal priorities. We reply within one business day.
We evaluate your operations against the regulations that apply to your sector, pinpoint the gaps and set them out in a plain, prioritised list with the steps to close each one.
Practical advice on how the rules apply to what you are doing now and what you plan next, from launching a product or entering a new market to taking on a regulated customer.
Health and safety, anti-bribery, modern slavery, cybersecurity and whistleblowing policies, drafted for how your business actually works, with the guidance your team needs to follow them.
With Lawyerly, it stops being a worry, and becomes an advantage.
We pair you with one of our qualified solicitors whose expertise and experience fits your business.
Work with your legal professional through our online Client Hub. Wherever you are, whenever you need us.
Pay a monthly subscription or a fixed fee for one-off work. The price is always agreed before we start.
Our commercial solicitors have worked at top-tier law firms and global legal departments, the kind of senior legal team most SMEs can't justify building in-house.
Legal Service Director
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Legal Service Director
SRA No. 634623
Patricia is a corporate and commercial solicitor whose practice centres on mergers and acquisitions, early-stage investment rounds (particularly angel and pre-seed), and the commercial agreements that underpin high-growth businesses. Trained at DLA Piper and seasoned through a range of in-house counsel roles, she has advised FTSE100 corporations, public bodies, and high-profile individuals.
As Senior Solicitor and Legal Services Director at Lawyerly, Patricia leads service delivery for a client base weighted toward tech and AI. She guides founders and investors through funding rounds, structures strategic acquisitions, and negotiates the subscription agreements, technology licences, and partnership arrangements that scale-ups depend on. Her fluency in data privacy, IP, and regulatory matters means she can drive the full range of workstreams that tech deals demand, keeping transactions moving and valuations protected.
Qualifications
LLB (Hons); LPC MSc in Law, Business and Management
Commercial Solicitor
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Commercial Solicitor
SRA No. 576972
James is a commercial and corporate solicitor whose practice centres on commercial contracts, technology and intellectual property, and disputes, sharpened by a keen commercial sense for how the law plays out in business reality. He has practised at Pinsent Masons, EY Law, and across a range of in-house roles, leading on SaaS and software licensing negotiations, M&A due diligence, and commercial litigation alongside international stakeholders on high-value, complex matters.
As Commercial Solicitor at Lawyerly, James brings that range to SMEs that need serious commercial advice without the complexity of a traditional firm relationship. He negotiates and manages contracts, advises on technology and IP, and helps clients pre-empt the disputes that derail growth. His particular fluency in contract management and technology law means he can tighten commercial frameworks and reduce legal risk as businesses scale.
Qualifications
LLB (Hons); LPC (Commendation)
Commercial Solicitor
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Commercial Solicitor
SRA No. 839517
Ashrelle is a commercial solicitor who built her practice at Browne Jacobson LLP, a leading UK national law firm, advising private and public sector clients on contracts, IP, and procurement. Her experience extends into real estate, clinical negligence, employment, and government infrastructure, giving her a breadth few solicitors at her level can offer.
As Commercial Solicitor at Lawyerly, Ashrelle focuses on practical commercial advice for growing businesses, building the long-term client relationships that turn legal counsel into trusted partnership. She is as comfortable reviewing a software agreement as steering a complex procurement, and her employment expertise lets her advise on the people-side issues that sit alongside the commercial ones, keeping clients covered across the full picture of their business as it scales.
Qualifications
LLB (Hons); LPC LLM
Co-Founder & Director
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Co-Founder & Director
Jackie has spent twenty years working on how legal services reach the people and businesses that need them. Before co-founding Lawyerly she built and led one of Africa's largest alternative legal organisations, growing it to more than 500 people serving 100,000 clients, and her work there was recognised in legal services, technology, innovation and dispute resolution. She holds a PhD, awarded with distinction, and has been named among the top five women in legal technology.
At Lawyerly she is responsible for the firm's strategic direction. Her starting point has not changed in two decades: the law should work for the people who use it, rather than the other way round. That view shapes how Lawyerly is run, from how services are priced to how matters are staffed.
Qualifications
LLB; MPhil (Cum Laude); PhD (Top Achiever Award); Key Regulatory Compliance Certifications
Co-Founder
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Co-Founder
Willem co-founded Lawyerly after twenty years of running and advising businesses, most of which were spent as a client of law firms rather than a member of one. He had seen how legal advice tends to arrive: late, priced by the hour, and detached from the commercial decision that prompted it. Lawyerly grew out of a conviction that it could be done differently.
He read law and marketing at university and later completed MIT Sloan's executive programme in artificial intelligence and business strategy. His career before Lawyerly took in two advertising agencies, which he led through the industry's move to digital, several years in digital publishing, and a period in international development, working on programmes across South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
At Lawyerly he is responsible for growth and for the client experience, ensuring our clients receive the legal support they need.
Qualifications
BA Law; AI Business Strategy (MIT); Nomadic Marketing (UCT)
Director
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Director
Jan began his career in law before broadening into corporate strategy and technology. He holds a Master's in Corporate Law and an MBA, and later completed a Master's in Applied Data Science, driven by a conviction that the legal profession could do far more with the data it generates. That combination of legal, commercial, and analytical training has shaped a career spent rethinking how legal services are designed and delivered, with a particular focus on projects that use data and digital tools to improve legal processes.
As Director at Lawyerly, Jan brings data analytics, financial management, and strategy to the firm. His blend of legal grounding, commercial instinct, and technical fluency means Lawyerly's growth is guided by someone who understands the practice as deeply as the business behind it.
Qualifications
LLB; LLM; MBA; MSc
Answers to the questions we hear most often, on how the subscription works, what it covers and how we charge.
A review of the regulations that apply to your business, a prioritised plan to close the gaps, the policies and documents you need (health and safety, anti-bribery, modern slavery, cybersecurity, whistleblowing and website legal essentials among them), advice on how the rules apply to new products, markets and customers, and support when a regulator, insurer or customer asks questions. Data protection has its own service page. Subscribers also get ongoing advice as the rules and the business change.
Regulatory and compliance support is included in our subscription plans, or you can instruct us on a fixed fee for a one-off piece of work, such as a policy suite or a compliance review. The fee is always agreed before we start, so there is no hourly-rate surprise from us.
It depends on what you do, who you sell to and how many people you employ, but almost every business is caught by health and safety law, data protection, the Bribery Act, consumer law if you sell to individuals, and the rules of its own sector. Some obligations switch on at thresholds: a written health and safety policy at five employees, a modern slavery statement at £36 million turnover. We tell you which apply to you today and which you are approaching.
Some are legal requirements, others are what customers, insurers and regulators expect to see. A written health and safety policy is required once you have five or more employees, and adequate anti-bribery procedures are your only defence if someone acting for you pays a bribe. Beyond that, larger customers increasingly will not sign without seeing your policies, so a clear, short set is often a commercial necessity as much as a legal one.
Yes, and it is one of the most common requests we get. We go through the questionnaire with you, identify what you can already answer, draft the policies you are missing and help you present your position honestly. Most questionnaires are passable for a well-run small business within a few weeks.
More businesses are than realise it, and finding out is the useful part. We work out the exposure, prioritise what needs fixing first and get you compliant in a sensible order. Where a regulator is already involved, we help you respond and show the steps you are taking, which is what matters most to how a matter is treated.
A compliance question rarely arrives alone. These are the services our compliance clients use most.
Trade mark searches and applications, IP assignments from contractors and staff, licensing deals, and letters protecting your brand.
ExploreDisputes resolved through negotiation and pre-action steps, protecting the relationship and your cash flow without the courtroom.
ExploreLegal planning that gets ahead of problems, so decisions, growth and compliance are handled before they become urgent.
ExploreLearn how our services can benefit you by scheduling a call with one of our team members.
Book a complimentary consultation
A short call with one of our founders about your business and your legal priorities. We reply within one business day.
Willem van der Merwe
Co-Founder
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Co-Founder
Willem co-founded Lawyerly after twenty years of running and advising businesses, most of which were spent as a client of law firms rather than a member of one. He had seen how legal advice tends to arrive: late, priced by the hour, and detached from the commercial decision that prompted it. Lawyerly grew out of a conviction that it could be done differently.
He read law and marketing at university and later completed MIT Sloan's executive programme in artificial intelligence and business strategy. His career before Lawyerly took in two advertising agencies, which he led through the industry's move to digital, several years in digital publishing, and a period in international development, working on programmes across South East Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
At Lawyerly he is responsible for growth and for the client experience, ensuring our clients receive the legal support they need.
Qualifications
BA Law; AI Business Strategy (MIT); Nomadic Marketing (UCT)
