Working with Solicitors...

Making the most of our combined know-how
Winsec is the appointed representative of Blackstone Moregate Independent Financial Advisors, a City-based firm linked to a boutique firm of Chartered Accountants, Blackstone Franks. Blackstone Moregate are members of SIFA (Solicitors Independent Financial Advice) and are listed in the SIFA Directory of Professional Financial Advisers, which is endorsed by the Law Society and accessible via the Society’s web site. As a pre-condition of listing, firms must comply with SIFA’s due diligence criteria for the selection of IFAs, which has been approved by the Society’s Lexcel practice standards unit.

As is apparent from the SIFA Directory, we work with solicitors in all the main areas of cross-over between legal and financial work, namely:

• Trusts and estates (we have a STEP qualified adviser)
• Older client work (we have a long term care specialist)
• Relationship breakdown (we have a Resolution accredited adviser)
• Personal injury and Court of Protection investment
• Corporate
• Property
• Offshore
• Investment Portfolio management

As part of this service, we are pleased to provide Law Society CPD-accredited training for firms’ legal personnel and to provide material for client newsletters and to participate in client seminars.

The Legal Services Act
We are conscious that the Legal Services Act presents significant challenges to law firms, many of which are over-reliant on transactional business and lack the opportunity for regular client contact on which long-term loyalty is built. In this context, we are firm believers that there is great virtue in working closely with fee-based financial advisers such as ourselves, who share the culture of the legal profession and can complement and enhance solicitors’ work. Client referrals should in our view not be a one-way street, but a means of creating a mutually beneficial three-way relationship between law firm, client and financial adviser.

If you wish to discuss the possibility of working with us, please call 01621 890230 and ask to speak to either Richard Hopkins, Vijay Thakkar or Claude Brownlow. Alternatively, contact us in writing or by email, here.

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