Meet the Founders
Ever wondered about the faces behind the JustBeagle brand ? Well wonder no more, meet our founders Kate, Pam and Sharon and find out what drives them
Founded by the team behind LegalBeagles, JustBeagle is the first all-of-market independent search and legal comparison site to directly connect consumers and SMEs to over 10,000 law firms across England and Wales and address the persistent problem of people being unable to access good quality legal help when they really need it. JustBeagle was co-founded by CEO and respected consumer rights advocate Kate Briscoe, Chief Operating Officer Pamela Austen and Chief Compliance Officer Sharon Coleman. JustBeagle’s first easy-to-compare site demystifies a traditional process and makes it simpler for law firms to attract and engage consumers looking to find the right lawyer online. Meet the founders and learn more about what drives them below.
Kate CEO:
As a Consumer Rights advocate and a consumer litigator, with over 10 years experience at firms including QS Howlett Clarke. For too long, the process of accessing information about legal providers has been complicated, costly and out of touch with the way connected consumers want to find legal services. Over the last 10 years I have seen increased demand from people looking for impartial help searching for a lawyer while using our free legal information platform, LegalBeagles. It was clear to me there was significant pent up demand which was not being met for consumers and equally law firms have not had access to a neutral platform to showcase and benchmark their services cleanly and openly.
“My passion is to accelerate transparency and reform across legal services to address the persistent problem of people being unable to access good quality legal help when they need it.”
In my role as CEO of JustBeagle, I’m responsible for the vision and leading the overall strategic direction of the business. Some days I’ll find myself called upon to advise politicians and governmental committees on consumer and financial policy, other days I’m in the office with the team reviewing regulatory changes and signing off on platform developments. Whatever task I'm undertaking at any given moment, I am always focused on ensuring it’s inline with our vision to accelerate transparency and reform across legal services.
Pam COO:
As a former Practice Director with over 14 years’ experience in the legal industry, I have witnessed first-hand the challenges law firms have been faced with in recent years. Regulatory changes, reduction in the legal aid services that law firms can provide, plus retaining and attracting new clients are constant challenges. In addition, the rapid growth of consumers searching online for legal services means that law firms are having to evolve at a rate never seen before in the legal sector.
“I am passionate about helping firms navigate this new space and in supporting them to see the opportunities which are becoming available to those firm’s willing to embrace today’s on-line environment as a way to not just access and retain new business, but also as a means to growth in an uncertain legal market. JustBeagle provides the ideal platform for me to do this.”
In my role at JustBeagle, I am responsible for strategic development of business operations, this includes business processes, sales, financial management and technical development and enhancement of the platform. My priority in all developments is to ensure that we continue to develop a platform that maintains the key balance between an easy to use platform, that provides the consumers with clear information regarding legal services, prices, where available and quality, whilst supporting the business needs of law firms to attract new clients, now and in the future.
Sharon Coleman CCO:
As the co-founder of LegalBeagles, I am a passionate consumer rights champion and have created the operational and technical infrastructure of the consumer forum, while at the same time providing information to thousands of people in need of legal direction. Throughout the ten year history of the site, which now reaches 1.7 million people annually, I have led the technical development of the platform to provide the best navigational path and user environment for those seeking legal help.
"I passionately believe in consumer rights and the rights of people to access clear and timely information in the easiest way possible, technology has allowed me to help create a platform in LegalBeagles which does just that. Now through the JustBeagle platform I am able to connect consumers with legal services, at the moment it matters most.”