As Nicholas & Co continues its growth journey, Practice Director Gwen Philippou has a clear mandate: build systems that work not just for today’s firm, but for the larger, more complex business Nicholas & Co is becoming.

“Everything we do has to scale,” Gwen explains. “We’re growing, so we need processes that remain fit for purpose as that happens.”

The Challenge: Good processes but limited visibility and control

Before adopting Legl, Nicholas & Co’s risk assessments were completed using Word documents as part of the firm’s file-opening process. The content itself was sound, capturing the information the team needed - but the format made it hard to control or evidence how each risk assessment was being completed.

“We felt our form was pretty good,” says Gwen. “The issue wasn’t really the quality or consistency of risk decisions - it was that the completion was often delegated, there was too much copying and pasting and we lacked oversight of who was doing what.”

Managing this process manually made it an unpopular exercise for fee-earners. The resulting pushback made it harder to enforce accountability or keep track of high-risk matters. 

It was clear that while the firm was managing its risks effectively, there were friction points in the process which would become increasingly challenging as the firm grew.

Choosing Legl: One platform to connect onboarding, compliance and risk management

Nicholas & Co was already using Legl for client onboarding and payments, so when the team looked for a better way to manage risk assessments, expanding within the same platform was the natural next step. Gwen was looking for one fluid, joined up process that wouldn’t require the team to jump between different systems. 

“I’m a big fan of keeping everything in one place,” says Gwen. “Avoiding multiple logins and separate systems just makes life simpler. Legl is constantly improving and responsive to what we need. Having everything in one platform is important to us.”

The Solution: Engaging fee-earners and enhancing control

Since moving risk assessments into Legl, Gwen has seen a clear cultural shift. Fee-earners are now completing assessments themselves, rather than delegating them and accountability for who does what is visible across the team.

“It’s solved the problem of making sure fee-earners are engaged and taking responsibility,” Gwen explains. “It’s fast to complete the form - under two minutes - and being able to instantly see high-risk elements is excellent for oversight.”

Gwen also remarks that the transition to Legl has been seamless - even for team members who don’t naturally warm to using technology: 

“It’s made our team more open to technology — they’re logging in and engaging directly.”

The impact: Better data, stronger decisions

Using Legl’s ability to show high risk or incomplete risk assessment in a click and fully audit who started, completed and updated each risk assessment, the firm’s data quality and visibility have improved. Gwen says there is a much better sense across the team of how each element of client and company information collected during due diligence contributes to overall risk.

“People now have a better grasp of the information we hold,” Gwen says. “It’s improving the quality of our data and helping everyone across the firm understand how the information in company reports fits into risk management.”

Responsive partnership that paves the way for future growth

Gwen finally praises Legl’s responsiveness to feedback and appreciates the direct dialogue she has had with the Legl team to factor her firm’s needs in as the risk assessments product continues to evolve.

“Our partners said it best in our recent meeting — everything is simple and accurate and if you need something else from Legl, they’re always responsive to what we need.”

As Nicholas & Co continues to expand, Legl provides a foundation that scales — keeping risk oversight clear, consistent and embedded across every client and matter.

If you are looking to evolve your Risk Assessments to something more modern, digital and efficient, Legl can offer you a solution which connects client due diligence and data driven risk assessment that is built around your policy, all in one unified platform. Get in touch today and a member of our team will explore how we can create a Risk Assessment that's tailored to you and built for your way of working.

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