A better way to find your place in law

If you're a legal professional thinking about your next step, the options can feel limited. You can scroll through job boards, update your LinkedIn and wait, or register with agencies and hope the right call comes. All of those routes have value, but none of them give you a single place to research firms properly, understand the market, and reach out on your own terms.

For firms, attracting the right people is just as hard. Advertising a role and hoping the right person sees it is a gamble. And there's no easy way to know which legal professionals are already interested in your firm before a vacancy even opens.

LawBoard starts with data. We've built a searchable directory of every SRA-regulated law firm in England and Wales, covering over 7,800 firms, using verified data from the Solicitors Register. Every firm has a profile showing their practice areas, office locations, regulatory status, and structure. This is public, free, and available to anyone.

On top of that directory, candidates build a structured career profile. Practice areas, experience level, qualifications, location preferences, salary expectations, and working pattern. All the things that matter when considering a move. Candidates control exactly who can see their profile, with a protected firms list that guarantees invisibility from specific employers.

When a candidate finds a firm they're interested in, they can send their profile directly. The firm receives an anonymised introduction. If the firm is interested, the candidate decides whether to share their full details. Every interaction is tracked, referenced, and transparent.

LawBoard works alongside recruiters and traditional hiring channels. It adds a new route for candidates and firms to connect directly, while keeping candidates in control of the process.

LawBoard was founded by Ben Holtom, a legal recruitment professional based in Hampshire. After years of placing solicitors, paralegals, and legal professionals across the South Coast, he saw the same challenges from both sides: candidates with no single place to research firms discreetly, and firms with no way to know who was genuinely interested in working for them.

LawBoard is the platform he wished existed. It started as a side project and grew into something real, built in weeks using modern tools, funded by conviction rather than investors, and designed to serve the people who actually use it.

The firm directory is free and always will be. Candidate accounts are free and always will be. Firms pay to access full candidate details and post roles. That's the model. Simple, honest, and aligned.

LawBoard launched in April 2026. The directory and candidate platform are live. Firms are beginning to claim their profiles and engage with candidates who've expressed interest. We're working with Solent University to bring LawBoard to law students as a career research and planning tool.

What's next: more salary data, deeper firm insights, candidate matching, and tools that help legal professionals make better career decisions with better information. If you have ideas, feedback, or want to get involved, email hello@lawboard.co.uk.