Matthew Howgate
Consultant
Role and Background
Matthew is an exceptional and sought-after compliance and organisational development consultant.
He is a non-practising solicitor and, after several years as a lawyer in private practice, he joined the Legal Services Commission where he was Senior Legal Adviser and Head of Continuous Improvement. He was also appointed as Legal Standards Principal at the Co-operative Legal Services Ltd.
Matthew has considerable experience in regulatory issues and advising on complex issues of compliance and ethics. He is also an expert in data protection, GDPR and on the civil legal aid scheme.
His clients include the Law Society, the Legal Aid Practitioners Group, the Law Centres Network, the London Legal Support Trust, as well as dozens of law firms and advice agencies. He has also acted for local authorities, think tanks and major funders. He sits on the risk and compliance committees of two significant law firms.
In addition to his compliance portfolio, Matthew works on a number of business development and turnaround projects. He has helped set-up a number of law firms (and advice charities) and has helped dozens more with restructuring and increased profitability projects. He is an experienced manager and change manager.
He has a significant expertise in public sector commissioning, working with local authorities and those bidding for public sector contracts.
Matthew is a lead trainer on and co-developed the LAPG Certificate in Practice Management (a training programme for legal managers and law firm owners) as well as regularly providing training on legal aid Supervision; costs maximisation; data protection and security; and on general SRA compliance. He was even asked to train MP’s and their staff on the legal aid scheme. In addition to face to face training, he also develops and produces online training modules and speaks regularly at conferences.
What Clients Say
Matthew’s encyclopaedic knowledge of regulatory matters, coupled with a down to earth, pragmatic approach to communicating his advice, have made him indispensable to us. Whether for urgent reassurance or help considering next steps, we feel in very safe hands.
Jenny Beck
Director at Beck Fitzgerald Solicitors
Matt Howgate offered us invaluable support as we took our think tank through a major restructure. He was thoughtful, generous and amazingly insightful at every step of the way. It felt as if he instantly understood our values and purpose and he designed organisational solutions that helped us redesign fundamental aspects of our governance while also building as wide support from staff and trustees as possible. We couldn’t have changed without him.
Marc Stears
CEO, New Economics Foundation
I cannot recommend Matt Howgate highly enough. Matt has an unparalleled breadth and depth of knowledge across the entire legal services sector. He has a quick grasp of the key challenges impacting organisations and he takes the time to understand the specific context affecting your area of business. Moreover, his strategic and operational expertise are second to none ensuring that he is a significant asset as a consultant.
Kirsty Thomson
Partner / Director, JustRight Scotland
Contact us
To discover more about how we can help your firm with compliance issues, please either call 01509 214 999 or send us an email.
