Blue chips club together for ‘crowd funded’ Brexit advice

The Brexit Advisory Service (BASe) has been developed by law firm Pinsent Masons to provide an innovative solution to the legal and commercial challenges arising from the UK’s decision to leave the EU.

Subscribers to BASe gain access to an online portal where they can ask as many Brexit-related legal questions as they like receive an answer within 48 hours. Because the service is paid-for on a subscription basis the cost of the legal guidance is effectively shared by all subscribers.

Pinsent Masons said the service has been developed to respond to the weight of legal enquiries triggered by Brexit across the City, with many organisations facing common issues and challenges.

Alastair Morrison, head of client strategy at Pinsent Masons, said: “The next few months - and years - will be challenging for executive teams. They have to balance the need for a strategic response to Brexit against all the other pressures and priorities that existed before the UK voted to leave the EU. BASe is a recognition of and response to that pressure.

“By creating this service we can take away the pressure of dealing with the day-to-day enquiries, and help clients to surface what is happening within their own organisations and among their City peers. One of the benefits of taking a digital approach is that we can assess data across industry segments and see where the common issues are and present that insight back to the subscribers.

“The portal will also help shape the strategic thinking around what lies ahead by taking an in-depth look at some of the macro issues around areas like taxation, the supply of talent and so on. It’s a unique tool. Brexit is an unprecedented challenge that requires a new type of response. Simply providing legal services in the same traditional way would be selling clients short.”

The launch of BASe comes after Pinsent Masons announced in August that it would be launching a UK-wide Public Policy Unit, led by former Williams & Glynn communications executive Andrew Henderson, to help clients engage with government on the policy issues relevant to them ahead of exit negotiations.