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‘On-demand lawyer’ firm Johnson Hana raises €3.5m

‘On-demand lawyer’ business Johnson Hana International  has raised €3.5 million to fund future growth in Ireland and to support expansion to the UK and the US.

The managed legal solutions consultancy has raised the money through a combination of equity and debt (€3m in equity and €0.5m in debt). 

Specialist investment fund BVP led the round, with equity participation from:

• Existing shareholders Dan and Linda Kiely (founders of outsourcing business Voxpro), 
• John Ryan (partner with PWC in Hong Kong),
• Leading UK software entrepreneur Finlay Ross and Tom Hickey (former CFO at Tullow Oil & Cartrawler respectively).  

The debt was provided by Ulster Bank.

Expansion

Founder and chief executive Dan Fox said that the firm would use the monies raised to support the growing business in Ireland and expansion to the UK and US markets with a particular focus on growing its team of subject matter experts in litigation, contracts, property and privacy.

Fees charged to clients are up to 50% lower than traditional law firms or large consultancy businesses. 

The firm’s clients include Bank of Ireland, Ryanair, ESB, Twitter, Airbnb, and Tesco.

During 2020, Johnson Hana signed multiyear framework deals with government agencies such as Ervia (five-year legal process outsourcing contract) and Coillte.

Further investment will be used to scale its legal technology offerings and forensics unit. 

Dan Fox said: “In Ireland we’ve had to create an entirely new market for alternative legal delivery from scratch whereas in markets like the UK and US the sector is already there which will make it easier for us to establish a presence."

Momentum

“We’ve seen good momentum through the year to-date and we recently secured framework deals with both Coillte and Ervia.”  

He said that since remote and flexible working is already at the core of their work, COVID disruption has been minimal.

He commented that clients are more value-conscious than ever and they want a high quality and cost-effective solution.

Barrister founder 

Johnson Hana was established in 2016 by then 29-year old barrister Dan Fox. 

In 2017 the company raised €1m from investors including Dan and Linda Kiely and Enterprise Ireland.

The firm has a network of over 1,000 qualified lawyers, state of the art legal tech and project managers which it uses to manage large legal, complaints and compliance related data projects for corporates and law firms. 

Johnson Hana also “in-sources” lawyers on variable length contracts for the legal departments of companies and state agencies, in response to fluctuating demands for legal work.

Johnson Hana also offers lawyers flexible and family-friendly working conditions.