Buzz Legal works with the people who own and run businesses. We handle the legal jobs that come up while you are trying to trade, at a price agreed in writing before anything starts, and AD Solicitors carries out the work that is reserved by law to an authorised firm.
Andy is Chief Operating Officer of Buzz Legal and co-founder of Buzz Accounting. He builds and runs professional services businesses for people who own companies, and he runs Buzz Legal day to day.
New enquiries come to him first. He agrees the scope, the fixed price and the timetable with you in writing before any work starts, and he tells you at that point if any part of the matter belongs with AD Solicitors.
Robert is a solicitor and Head of Legal at AD Solicitors, and has run his own firm, RHF Solicitors, since 2001. He practises in commercial litigation and insolvency, and since 2006 has held Higher Rights of Audience in civil proceedings, which means he can argue a case in the High Court himself rather than briefing a barrister to do it.
He is the escalation point rather than the first person you speak to. When a matter crosses into work that only an authorised firm may carry out, or becomes contentious, Robert takes it through AD Solicitors at rates confirmed before that work starts. You are told which side of the line your matter falls on at the scoping stage, before you have spent anything, and the preparation already done goes across with it rather than being paid for twice.
Contracts and contract reviews, terms of trade, employment documents, staff handbooks and policies, privacy notices, shareholder agreements, company housekeeping, chasing unpaid invoices and getting a dispute organised before it becomes one. This is the large majority of what a business actually needs, and it is priced as ordinary work because that is what it is.
Six activities are reserved by law to authorised firms: running a court case, speaking in court, most conveyancing, probate, notarial work and administering oaths. We do none of them. Anything that is already contentious — solicitors instructed on the other side, or a claim threatened — goes across too, at rates confirmed before that work begins.
One fixed figure against a written scope: what is included, what is not, and what you will receive. Nothing begins until you have approved both.
There is no hourly meter running while you think, ask a follow-up question, or decide not to go ahead. A commercial solicitor is commonly £200 to £350 +VAT an hour; a contract review here is £249 for the whole job.
If the job turns out to be bigger than ordinary, we stop and give you a new figure rather than putting it on the invoice afterwards.
Two firms sit behind your matter, and they are regulated differently. Work carried out by AD Solicitors sits under full SRA regulation, with the compensation fund and the Legal Ombudsman behind it. Work we carry out ourselves does not, and we set that out before you instruct us.
Our own work does not carry the SRA compensation fund, and a complaint about it cannot be taken to the Legal Ombudsman. What you do get is a published complaints procedure — acknowledgement within five working days, a substantive response within twenty, and a review by a senior person who was not involved if that does not settle it. Anything carried out by AD Solicitors sits under full SRA regulation.
Legal professional privilege is a separate question from confidentiality, and it is not something we can assume applies to advice that does not come from a qualified lawyer. If privilege matters to your matter, say so at the outset and we will tell you how to protect it.
Where the stakes justify a regulated firm, we will say so — including when that means we do not get the work.
Buzz Legal Ltd, registered in England and Wales, company number 17078192. Registered office 16 Aylmer Parade, Aylmer Road, London N2 0PE. Email hello@buzzaccounting.co.uk.
Business Debt Recovery is our debt recovery service and a trading style of Buzz Legal Ltd, with its own published fees. Badger, at £39 a month, chases your overdue invoices before they get that far.
Buzz Legal is a legal services firm for business owners, and AD Solicitors is the authorised firm alongside it. The division follows the Legal Services Act 2007. Most of what a growing business needs is non-reserved work, which any competent provider may carry out: contracts, terms and conditions, employment documents, handbooks, privacy notices, shareholder agreements, debt chasing and dispute preparation. Six activities are reserved to authorised firms and we do none of them. Robert Festenstein is a qualified solicitor, but he acts through AD Solicitors, a separate authorised firm regulated by the SRA (no. 8011228). If you want a solicitor from the outset, say so and we will take you straight there.
Everything outside the six reserved activities. In practice: reviewing a contract before you sign it and marking up the clauses worth arguing about; drafting client, supplier and consultancy agreements and NDAs; writing terms and conditions that actually bind because they are put in front of the customer at order stage; employment contracts, written statements of particulars, handbooks and disciplinary and grievance procedures; privacy notices and data processing agreements that describe what your systems genuinely do; shareholder and founder agreements including deadlock and leaver provisions; and chasing unpaid invoices, including statutory interest and letters before action. That is the majority of the legal work a growing business ever needs, and none of it requires a regulated firm.
We tell you at the scoping stage, before you have spent anything, and hand it to AD Solicitors. The trigger is usually one of three things: the matter is reserved, such as a court claim, conveyancing or probate; it is already contentious, with solicitors instructed on the other side or proceedings threatened; or a document needs a solicitor's involvement to work at all — a settlement agreement only waives statutory claims once the employee has taken advice from a relevant independent adviser. Because AD Solicitors is already connected to Buzz Legal, the handover is not a cold referral: whoever picks up the reserved side has seen the file, and any preparation goes with it rather than being repeated.
Two things sit behind the work. Anything carried out by AD Solicitors has the full protection that applies to an SRA-regulated firm, including the compensation fund and the Legal Ombudsman. For work we carry out ourselves, we publish a complaints procedure: acknowledgement within five working days, a substantive response within twenty working days, and a review by a senior person who was not involved if that response does not settle it. Data complaints can go to the ICO at any time on 0303 123 1113. Work carried out by AD Solicitors carries the full protection that applies to a regulated firm.
Robert is a solicitor and Head of Legal at AD Solicitors, a recognised body authorised and regulated by the SRA under number 8011228, and it is through that firm that he carries out the reserved legal work for Buzz Legal clients. He has also run his own firm, RHF Solicitors, since 2001. He is the escalation point rather than the first person you speak to. The distinction matters: when he acts on a reserved matter he does so as a solicitor at a regulated firm, with the regulatory protections that carries, rather than as part of Buzz Legal Ltd. The practical effect is that everyday work stays fast and inexpensive, and if a matter becomes a court claim or a tribunal, the solicitor picking it up has already seen the file rather than being found in a hurry once the deadline is running.
You should not simply take our word for it, so here is what to test. Ask who is doing the work and under whose regulation, and expect a straight answer. Ask for the scope and the price in writing before anything starts — you get both, and nothing begins until you have approved them. Ask what would move your matter to a solicitor, and expect that to be named before you spend money rather than discovered halfway through. Read the regulatory position above and our complaints procedure, both of which say plainly what you do not get. If a provider is vague on any of that, that is your answer, regulated or not.
Yes. Enquiry details, documents and correspondence are handled under UK GDPR: general enquiries are kept for up to 12 months, prospective client records for up to 24 months, and client files for typically six years after the relationship ends. Data is shared only where there is a real reason — our own team and advisers, our IT and hosting providers, and AD Solicitors or another authorised firm where a matter is handed over. This site uses Google Analytics only if you accept the cookie banner, and we run no advertising cookies at all. One point to be aware of: legal professional privilege is a separate question from confidentiality and is not something we can assume applies to advice that does not come from a qualified lawyer, so if privilege matters, raise it at the outset.
If you are already in a fight — solicitors instructed on the other side, a claim issued, a tribunal date — start with a solicitor rather than with us. If you want the reassurance of the SRA compensation fund and the Legal Ombudsman across everything, use a regulated firm, because we cannot give you that on our own work. If your matter is conveyancing, probate, immigration, criminal or personal rather than business, we are not the right place. And if what you actually want is the cheapest possible document with nobody standing behind it, a template site will beat us on price, and we would rather say so than sell you something you will not value.
Tell us what has happened and what you want to happen about it. We will come back with what the job involves, who carries it out and what it costs, in writing, before you commit to anything.
