Drafting and bundles
First drafts of standard documents, witness statements, chronologies, court bundles and disclosure lists, prepared to your precedents.
Dedicated legal capacity for firms that cannot hire fast enough.
Northbound Legal provides law firms in England and Wales with named, qualified South African legal practitioners and supervised paralegal support, working to your hours, under your direction and as an extension of your team, from our delivery centre in South Africa. Fixed monthly pricing. Easy cancellation. Documentation ready before you need it.
Supervised deliveryOur team does the work. You retain the final review and sign-off.
UK GDPR and IDTAWritten data processing terms with the International Data Transfer Addendum for transfers to South Africa.
English law contractsYou contract with a company registered in England and Wales, on English law terms.
Dedicated legal professionalsNamed individuals aligned to your firm, trained on your precedents and familiar with your way of working, for continuity rather than anonymous, task-based support.
£15/hr
effective rate for a dedicated full-time paralegal
2 weeks
from pilot task to a fully onboarded seat
30 days
cancellation notice, on every plan, always
Services
The work that takes time. Done properly.
We take on the document-heavy and process-driven work that consumes valuable fee-earner time. Your firm retains supervision and all client contact throughout.
Case progression
File opening, ID and source-of-funds checks, form filling, portal submissions and deadline tracking for conveyancing, personal injury and immigration caseloads.
Review and research
Document review, contract comparison against your playbook, and legal research memoranda with sources cited, ready for your team to check.
How it works
Live within two weeks
Pilot task
Send us one real, non-urgent task, up to six hours on a single matter. We complete it within five business days for a fixed fee of £250, credited in full against your first month if you take a seat within 30 days.
Get your dedicated person
We assign a named legal professional to your firm, trained on your precedents, systems and way of working. The same person works with your team every day, according to your hours.
One predictable monthly fee
One fixed monthly invoice. No timesheets, hourly-rate negotiations or unexpected costs. Scale up, scale down or cancel with thirty days' notice.
Pricing
Fixed fees, published in full
All fees are fixed and exclusive of VAT. Every plan carries thirty-day cancellation. The pilot fee is payable by card; monthly seats are invoiced and payable by bank transfer or direct debit.
Pilot task
£250
one-off, credited if you take a seat within 30 days
- One task, up to six hours
- Back within five business days
- No further obligation
Part-time paralegal
£1,400
per month, 20 hours per week
- One named paralegal or admitted attorney
- Supervised, reviewed output
- 30-day cancellation
Full-time paralegal
£2,600
per month, 40 hours per week
- One dedicated paralegal or admitted attorney
- Trained on your precedents
- Cover during leave
- 30-day cancellation
Qualified practitioner
£4,200
per month, 40 hours per week
- SA-qualified attorney or advocate
- Complex drafting and due diligence
- Negotiation support
- 30-day cancellation
A note on qualifications. Paralegal seats are filled by paralegals holding law degrees or equivalent qualifications, and by South African admitted attorneys. Practitioner seats are filled by admitted attorneys or advocates. Nobody on our team is a solicitor of England and Wales, and all work, whoever does it, is delivered for review and sign-off by your designated supervisor.
Work priced by the task. Not every firm wants a seat. Where a piece of work is discrete and well defined, we are happy to price the task itself rather than the hours, agreed in writing before anything begins so the cost is known in advance. Fees depend on the scope, so they are quoted on request: tell us what the work involves and we will come back with a figure.
The arithmetic. A full-time hire on a £30,000 salary costs closer to £40,000 a year once employer's National Insurance, pension, recruitment fees, software and absence cover are counted. A dedicated Northbound Legal paralegal or admitted attorney is £2,600 per month, roughly £15 per hour, recovered many times over at any realistic charge-out rate.
Compliance
Written for your COLP
Outsourcing decisions in regulated firms fail on confidentiality and supervision, so we answer both before you ask.
- Your regulatory position remains unchanged
- Your firm retains responsibility for client relationships and final sign-off. All work is prepared for review and approval by you. We support your firm; we do not act for your clients, and we do not undertake reserved legal activities.
- Data protection, documented
- We process personal data as your processor under a written data processing agreement incorporating the UK International Data Transfer Addendum for transfers to South Africa. Our delivery team additionally operates under South Africa's Protection of Personal Information Act. Full details are in our privacy and data processing notice.
- Confidentiality by contract and by design
- Every team member signs firm-specific confidentiality undertakings. Access is limited to the matters you assign, on systems you control where preferred.
- Continuity and supervision
- Every seat has a named deputy for continuity during planned or unexpected absence. Work is supervised by a qualified practitioner within our team before it reaches yours, providing an additional layer of quality control. Our standard terms, including our complaints procedure, are published in full here.
Questions
Asked by every firm, answered once
Who is responsible for the work product?
Your firm. Everything we deliver is prepared for review and sign-off by your supervising solicitor, which is how SRA outsourcing expectations are met. We are a support function, not a law firm, and we do not act for your clients.
Where does client data live, and who can see it?
Wherever you prefer. Most firms grant scoped access to their own case management system, so data never leaves systems they control. Where work is done on our systems, it is processed under our data processing agreement, encrypted in transit and at rest, and limited to the individuals assigned to your firm. Transfers to South Africa are covered by the UK International Data Transfer Addendum.
Who employs the delivery team?
Our South African delivery partner employs the team and bears all employment obligations, with confidentiality and intellectual property undertakings flowing through to you. Your contract is with our company registered in England and Wales, under English law.
What are your people's qualifications?
Paralegals hold law degrees or equivalent legal qualifications and are trained on your precedents before going live. Qualified practitioner seats are filled by legal practitioners qualified in South Africa, a common law jurisdiction, whether admitted attorneys or advocates, and are suited to complex drafting and due diligence. None of our team are solicitors of England and Wales, and we say so wherever it is relevant.
What if it does not work out?
Every plan cancels on thirty days' written notice, with no minimum term beyond that. If a named person is not the right fit, we replace them. The pilot task exists so you can judge us on real work for £250 before any commitment at all.
Send us one task
The fastest way to evaluate us is to give us something real to do.