How can we help?
To access legal support from just £145 per hour arrange your no-obligation initial consultation to discuss your business requirements.
Our founding story
Creating a commercial law firm with a difference
Toby Harper established Harper James in 2014 as the start-up law firm built for start-ups and entrepreneurial businesses. Toby trained and qualified into a boutique corporate law firm and worked in a Top 50 Midlands firm before joining a leading venture capital fund as their in-house counsel. His first-hand experience of the challenges new businesses faced while at the Venture Capital fund led him to think about legal support differently.
Toby knew he could solve those problems by operating like a start-up himself and offering start-ups access to affordable legal advice during their founding journey. The business was set up with a remote operating model, with solicitors focused on supporting businesses with legal advice, enabling Harper James as a virtual firm to pass on savings in rates to its clients. Borrowing the subscription model of paying a fee to access a service from the tech sector – in this case, legal advice – was at the heart of his concept.
Today, Harper James embodies the same entrepreneurial spirit as our founder and our clients. Many of our solicitors join us after leaving top 100 law firms, in-house positions and smaller businesses for the opportunity to support small and medium-sized ambitious businesses in their journey to success.
Now a team of over 100 people, we have supported over 4.400 clients, many of which are technology or technology enabled businesses, and we have consistently achieved 40%+ year on year revenue growth in recent years. We are on track to reach £13m turnover this financial year and £20m by the end of fiscal year 2026.
In 2020, we were the only law firm to make the respected Startups 100 Index and in 2024, we won the Best SME Award at the WM People Top Employer Awards.
Our people
48:52
Male to female ratio
71
Talented lawyers
17
Years average PQE
44%
Average YoY growth for the last 3 years
7
Office Locations
Birmingham, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Oxford, Sheffield, Southampton
13
Practice Areas
48
Business and legal support staff
Discover the personal insights, experiences, and thoughts on the vibrant culture that defines our firm as shared by team members in our ‘life and culture’ video series.
We are committed to being a responsible and sustainable business that delivers positive impact for our employees, clients, profession, environment and the communities we live and work in. Harper James is a people oriented firm with a strong culture and values and we are determined to provide opportunities for everyone to succeed regardless of their race, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation or disability.
View a summary of the Harper James diversity profile 2023.
Testimonials
What our clients say
In my experience, solicitors speak a completely different language than anybody else, which can be confusing – especially if the matter at hand is a stressful topic. Simon and the team’s advice has been invaluable. They are solution-driven and didn’t quote the law at us but took the time to deliver advice clearly and concisely, making the legal position easy to understand.
Petra Felgen
UK & Ireland’s Managing Director,
CEWE
For any small business looking for the right law firm to guide you through an acquisition I would highly recommend Harper James. My personal experience was with Matt Shakesheff who looked after my sale and passed me over to their team who looked over my new contract of employment as I was staying with my buyer for a 2 year handover. They delivered on budget and on time.
Richard William Turbutt
Director,
CorroGuard
First class every step of the way. You did exactly what I expected and met my deadline.
Richard William Turbutt
Director,
CorroGuard
I find Harper James to be responsive, with relevant experts to help us on the topics we are dealing with, enabling us to receive effective legal advice.
Simon Bloomfield
Head of imarket,
Polaris U.K. Limited
Harper James is always very efficient and responsive and has helped us complete projects in a timely manner. Their advice and support are always commercially astute and rooted in the practical.
Ben Furlong
Director,
EstateSure Limited
As always, the Harper James team is responsive and thorough. Always a joy to work with. In addition to your diverse and high-quality expertise, we appreciate the quality of the communication and management around dates and deliverables. It helps us manage expectations and plan accordingly. You seamlessly operate as a natural extension of our team.
Larisa Sheckler
Head of Global Operations,
Whisk at Foodient Ltd
In my experience, solicitors speak a completely different language than anybody else, which can be confusing – especially if the matter at hand is a stressful topic. Simon and the team’s advice has been invaluable. They are solution-driven and didn’t quote the law at us but took the time to deliver advice clearly and concisely, making the legal position easy to understand.
Petra Felgen
UK & Ireland’s Managing Director,
CEWE
For any small business looking for the right law firm to guide you through an acquisition I would highly recommend Harper James. My personal experience was with Matt Shakesheff who looked after my sale and passed me over to their team who looked over my new contract of employment as I was staying with my buyer for a 2 year handover. They delivered on budget and on time.
Richard William Turbutt
Director,
CorroGuard
First class every step of the way. You did exactly what I expected and met my deadline.
Richard William Turbutt
Director,
CorroGuard
I find Harper James to be responsive, with relevant experts to help us on the topics we are dealing with, enabling us to receive effective legal advice.
Simon Bloomfield
Head of imarket,
Polaris U.K. Limited
Harper James is always very efficient and responsive and has helped us complete projects in a timely manner. Their advice and support are always commercially astute and rooted in the practical.
Ben Furlong
Director,
EstateSure Limited
As always, the Harper James team is responsive and thorough. Always a joy to work with. In addition to your diverse and high-quality expertise, we appreciate the quality of the communication and management around dates and deliverables. It helps us manage expectations and plan accordingly. You seamlessly operate as a natural extension of our team.
Larisa Sheckler
Head of Global Operations,
Whisk at Foodient Ltd