Name

Bates Wells & Braithwaite Solicitors

Legal name

Bates Wells & Braithwaite

Website

https://bates-wells.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1960

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Services – Private Client Solicitors

NAICS

Trusts, Estates, and Agency Accounts (52592)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Family & Private Client (Trusts & Estates) Law (BPAHAAAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Guardianship & Conservatorship Services (FSAAANAG), Guardianship, Conservatorship & Special Needs Trust Services (FSAEAKAG)

Keywords

• Private client law
• Family law services
• Wills and probate
• Conveyancing services
• Personal injury claims

Headquarters

HQ city

Ipswich

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Legal Services - Professional Fees: Traditional solicitors' firm charging professional fees for legal services including fixed fees for wills and probate services, hourly rates for ongoing matters, and contingency/no-win-no-fee arrangements for appropriate personal injury cases.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Bates Wells & Braithwaite is a traditional private-client solicitors firm based in Ipswich delivering legal services to individuals and families across Suffolk and surrounding counties. Its core offering spans wills, trusts and probate; family law (divorce, children, mediation); residential conveyancing; personal injury and clinical negligence claims; and dispute resolution. The firm focuses exclusively on individual clients rather than commercial work, with services delivered via face-to-face consultations at offices, a pop-up clinic at Hadleigh Library, and remote video or home-visit arrangements.

Product overview

Bates Wells & Braithwaite Solicitors is a traditional law firm providing legal services to private individuals. The firm operates as a single, unified practice offering a range of legal services organized under four main areas: Individuals (including wills, trusts, probate, powers of attorney, and Court of Protection), Family Law (including relationship breakdown, children matters, and family mediation), Property/Conveyancing, and Disputes (including personal injury, clinical negligence, dispute resolution, consumer disputes, and contested wills). Services are delivered directly to clients through face-to-face consultations at their Ipswich and Hadleigh offices, video conferencing, and home visits. The firm does not offer a software product or technology platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Wills, Trusts & Probate Legal services for drafting wills, establishing trusts, and administering estates including obtaining grants of probate and distributing assets. Fixed-fee wills from £390 + VAT (single basic will) and full probate administration from £1,770 to £14,750 + VAT at £295/hour.
• Powers of Attorney Assistance with creating Lasting Powers of Attorney (LPAs) for property and financial affairs and for health and welfare decisions. For individuals wanting to plan for loss of capacity.
• Court of Protection and Deputyships Representation and guidance for individuals lacking mental capacity to manage their own affairs, including deputyship applications and statutory wills.
• Family Law Comprehensive family law services covering divorce, relationship breakdown, financial settlements, children matters, and family mediation. Practice recognised in Legal 500 and Chambers UK 2024 for East Anglia.
• Residential Property / Conveyancing Legal services for buying, selling, and remortgaging residential properties, including lease extensions and property disputes. Delivered under the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation.
• Personal Injury Legal representation for personal injury claims including industrial accidents, road traffic accidents, sporting injuries, and criminal injury compensation. No-win-no-fee arrangements available for qualifying cases.
• Clinical Negligence Legal claims for compensation arising from medical treatments, surgical operations, or professional negligence by healthcare providers. Handled by Senior Associate Christopher Mason.
• Dispute Resolution Civil litigation services for resolving disputes including debt recovery, contract disputes, building disputes, boundary disputes, and consumer claims under the Consumer Rights Act 2015.

Quantifiable outcome

• Recognized in Legal 500 and Chambers UK rankings for Family Law in East Anglia
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Hadleigh LibraryminorOthersPop-up clinic arrangement at Hadleigh Library operating every Tuesday and Friday. Provides free 30-minute legal advice sessions to the local community. Part of firm's community engagement strategy rather than formal partnership.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Emerging players

• Farewill: Online will-writing and probate provider offering low-cost digital alternatives to traditional solicitors. Comparable overlap in wills and probate services and a direct disruptive threat to traditional fixed-fee will and estate work.

Direct peers

• Mills & Reeve: Leading East Anglian law firm with strong Cambridge and Norwich presence and a dedicated private client practice. Comparable for regional private client work, though larger and more diversified into commercial law — relevant competitor for high-net-worth wills, probate, and family matters.
• Prettys Solicitors: Long-established Ipswich solicitors firm with a dedicated private client team covering family law, wills and probate, residential property, and dispute resolution. Direct local competitor with a comparable service mix and customer base in the Ipswich/Suffolk market.
• Gotelee Solicitors: Ipswich-based law firm offering wills, probate, family law, residential conveyancing, and dispute resolution services to individuals. Closely comparable as another local private-client-focused firm in the same competitive set as Bates Wells & Braithwaite.
• Birketts LLP: Largest full-service law firm in East Anglia, headquartered in Ipswich with offices across Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire. Directly comparable as another long-established private client and family law practice serving the same Ipswich catchment with overlapping wills, probate, family, and conveyancing services.
• Ashtons Legal: Ipswich-based law firm providing wills, probate, family law, residential property, and Court of Protection services to private clients across East Anglia. Comparable regional competitor with overlapping private client offering and similar geographic focus.

Broad incumbents

• Slater and Gordon: National UK consumer-facing law firm with strong personal injury, family law, and wills/probate offerings. Comparable service overlap, particularly in PI and family, and a competitive alternative for clients in the East Anglia region.
• Irwin Mitchell: Large national UK law firm with a substantial private client, family law, and personal injury practice. Comparable service overlap (wills, family, PI, clinical negligence) but at much greater scale and geographic reach — represents the type of consolidator that could acquire regional firms like BW&B.
• Co-op Legal Services: National alternative legal services provider offering wills, probate, family law, and personal injury services at scale via online and telephone channels. Represents the digital/national competitive pressure on traditional regional wills, probate, and family practices.

Regional players

• Howard Kennedy: London-based full-service law firm with a strong private client practice covering family law, wills and probate, and residential property. Relevant comparator for high-net-worth private client work — BW&B notes clients occasionally travel from London for its services.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/Bateswellsandbraithwaite
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bates-wells-braithwaite-solicitors

Compliance6 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bates Wells & Braithwaite Solicitors