About the practice

Legal consultancy and advisory services

Matthew C. Sharp Legal Services provides legal consultancy, advisory and dispute resolution services to individuals, families and businesses. Our work covers three key areas: dispute resolution, agribusiness and rural matters, and crime and regulatory issues.

We work on a non-reserved basis. That allows us to offer focused, practical advice at a sensible cost, while being clear about the work we are not permitted to carry out.

How we work

Scope agreed up front: Before work begins we agree in writing what we are doing, how we will charge for it and any estimate or quotation.
Plain English: You should be able to understand your position and your options without a legal dictionary.
Kept informed: We keep you updated on progress and tell you promptly if anything material changes.
Open about limits: If your matter needs a reserved legal activity or a regulated solicitor, we will say so and point you in the right direction.

We aim to be responsive and accessible in everything we do. This website and your client portal are designed to work on any device and to meet recognised accessibility standards, and we will make reasonable adjustments to how we work with you on request — including providing information in a different format, in larger print or in plain English.

Regulatory status

Matthew C. Sharp Legal Services is not authorised or regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) and is not a firm of solicitors. We provide non-reserved legal services on an unregulated basis, within the scope permitted by the Legal Services Act 2007.

We do not undertake reserved legal activities — including conducting litigation, exercising rights of audience where these constitute reserved activities, preparing or executing reserved instruments, reserved probate activities, acting as a notary or administering oaths — unless expressly stated and lawfully authorised.

The regulatory protections that apply to an SRA-authorised firm therefore do not apply to us. Professional indemnity insurance is held voluntarily, and details of the cover are available on reasonable request.

We will always tell you plainly what we can and cannot do, and where your matter would be better handled by an SRA-authorised solicitor or another regulated professional.

Nothing on this website or in our correspondence should be read as suggesting that Matthew C. Sharp Legal Services is authorised or regulated by the SRA or any other legal services regulator.

Concerns and complaints

If you are unhappy with any aspect of our service, please tell us as soon as possible so that we can look into it. A copy of our complaints procedure is available on request. As we are not an SRA-regulated firm, complaints are not dealt with under the SRA complaints procedure, and the Legal Ombudsman may not have jurisdiction over our services.

Would you like to talk something through?

Tell us about your matter and we will let you know whether we can help, and what it is likely to involve.