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The West Australian: Lavan Legal in financial advice foray

September 1, 2016

The fracturing of the traditional business model employed by legal firms has spurred Lavan Legal to expand into corporate financial advice.

A group of Lavan’s partners, including managing partner Dean Hely, will today formally launch business banking advisory firm Quadrant Advisory.

Led by former banker Paul O’Farrell, Quadrant will position itself as an independent adviser between business owners and financial institutions.

Mr Hely said the decision to set up Quadrant stemmed from a shift in what clients expected from the legal profession.

“The legal industry is being eaten away at the margins where other organisations can now practice in different areas — you see accounting firms doing work that traditionally law firms have done,” he said.

“A lot of things have been commoditised, computerised or gone offshore, so the area of practice has shrunk in some respects. However, business is extremely complex and there are areas that lawyers are working in that they move into. We see an opportunity for us to offer complementary services through another entity not only to our own clients but to the broader community.”

Mr O’Farrell, who has worked for PwC, NAB and Bankwest, said Quadrant would target mid-level businesses. “That market with debt facilities of $10 million to $50 million is the sweet spot of size of offering, across all industries,” he said.

He said Quadrant would sit between the Big Four accounting firms and finance brokers, acting independently of banks.

The business is modelled on Queensland firm McCullough Robertson, which runs financial advice group Allegiant FS.

“We saw that model was very successful in Queensland, so we established a similar type of business over here,” Mr Hely said.

Source - https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/32501204/lavan-legal-in-financial-advice-foray/#page 1