How can we help?
To access legal support from just £149 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
8
Office Locations
Birmingham, Cambridge, Cardiff, 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
Very responsive. Rapid initial account setup and activation.
Iain Miller
CEO and Director,
Iain David Miller
Fast and efficient communication. Easy to communicate instructions and timely turnarounds. Good value for money alongside good communication with explanation of path taken.
Daniel Lawrence
MD and Co-Founder,
Bots For That
Thorough, insightful and practical, glad I've got Jas and Wajiha on my team. I got the support and guidance I needed, when I needed it, without fuss or time wasting!
Shaun Robertson
CEO,
MiDx Ltd
Thank you for all your support, guidance, and great advice through our EOT, and especially being up for the pressure of the year-end deadline race. It’s business as usual for you, but it’s been a real learning curve for us, and now it marks the start of a new chapter. It’s been a pleasure for us working with you.
Pete Knight
Director,
Zircom Data Communications
I have worked with HJ for the past five years primarily on employment matters, including immigration/visas. The employment team are always readily available and responsive and have worked with us on some very challenging matters through to conclusion. Myself and my team always appreciate Simon, Ella and Shaun's pragmatic approach to situations that align with the best strategic outcomes. A sense of humour is always very welcomed given the demanding nature that specific situations can generate.
Siobhan Wright
Chief People Officer,
Trust Payments
We have worked with Harper James for a number of years now and it works really well for us as a business in that we can access their diverse team easily depending on our requirement at that time. They are a great team and good to work with.
Sarah Booth
Commercial Director,
Caterers Choice
Very responsive. Rapid initial account setup and activation.
Iain Miller
CEO and Director,
Iain David Miller
Fast and efficient communication. Easy to communicate instructions and timely turnarounds. Good value for money alongside good communication with explanation of path taken.
Daniel Lawrence
MD and Co-Founder,
Bots For That
Thorough, insightful and practical, glad I've got Jas and Wajiha on my team. I got the support and guidance I needed, when I needed it, without fuss or time wasting!
Shaun Robertson
CEO,
MiDx Ltd
Thank you for all your support, guidance, and great advice through our EOT, and especially being up for the pressure of the year-end deadline race. It’s business as usual for you, but it’s been a real learning curve for us, and now it marks the start of a new chapter. It’s been a pleasure for us working with you.
Pete Knight
Director,
Zircom Data Communications
I have worked with HJ for the past five years primarily on employment matters, including immigration/visas. The employment team are always readily available and responsive and have worked with us on some very challenging matters through to conclusion. Myself and my team always appreciate Simon, Ella and Shaun's pragmatic approach to situations that align with the best strategic outcomes. A sense of humour is always very welcomed given the demanding nature that specific situations can generate.
Siobhan Wright
Chief People Officer,
Trust Payments
We have worked with Harper James for a number of years now and it works really well for us as a business in that we can access their diverse team easily depending on our requirement at that time. They are a great team and good to work with.
Sarah Booth
Commercial Director,
Caterers Choice