Matthew Strain

What I actually do

Most of my week is commercial work for businesses without a legal team of their own. Contracts drafted, reviewed and negotiated. Terms of business rebuilt when they have stopped matching how the business runs. Disputes, usually at the stage where somebody wants an honest view on whether the fight is worth having. Share schemes, EMI in particular. Due diligence on both sides of a sale.

The other part is Silva AI, which is consultancy for law firms and legal teams putting AI into real practice rather than into a pilot. Training, readiness work, implementation. I use these tools on live matters, which is the only reason I am willing to teach them.

Silva is not a law firm, and that is deliberate. It means I cannot do reserved legal activities, and when a matter needs a regulated firm or a barrister I say so and help you get there. It also means no hourly meter by default, no layers of associates, and a fee agreed before the work starts. For a business which needs a lawyer's judgment more often than it needs a law firm's machinery, that is a better trade.

Qualifications

Both branches of the profession - called to the Bar in 2007, admitted as a solicitor in 2010 - which is less common than it sounds and more useful than it looks. A barrister is trained to argue a case and a solicitor to run a matter, and most commercial problems need a bit of both - someone who can see how an argument would actually land, and who can also get the thing done.

1. 2000 - 2005 LLB, Newcastle University
2. 2005 - 2006 LLM, international contracts, Newcastle University Which is more or less what I have spent the two decades since doing.
3. 2007 Called to the Bar
4. April 2010 Admitted as a solicitor
5. 2024 Trained as a mediator This one has changed how I handle disputes more than I expected. Most commercial arguments turn out to be a negotiation with a legal problem attached rather than the other way round, and running the negotiation well is often worth more to a client than winning the point.

One thing worth being clear about. Those qualifications are mine, personally. Silva Lex Ltd is a legal advisory and consultancy business, not a law firm - it is not regulated by the SRA and it does not carry out reserved legal activities, whoever happens to be doing the work. That distinction is deliberate and it is set out in full on what we cannot help with. What the qualifications buy you is the judgment behind the advice, not a different regulatory status.

Background

I have worked in-house, in private practice, and as an adviser to businesses at very different stages - which is where most of the useful judgment comes from. In-house teaches you what a commercial person actually needs from legal advice. Private practice teaches you how to be right. The two are not the same skill, and the gap between them is roughly what I built Silva to close.

I founded Silva Lex Ltd to offer the thing I kept wishing existed: senior legal help, priced and structured for the businesses which need it most and can least justify a law firm's rate card.

How I work

1. The answer first. You get the view, then the reasoning. If the answer is "this is fine, do not spend money on it", you get that too, and it is the cheapest advice I give.
2. Plain English before the legal label. I will tell you what is actually happening, then name it if the name matters. Most of the time it does not.
3. A price before the work. Fixed fees where the scope allows, and a retainer where the work is steady. You should never be surprised by an invoice.
4. My limits, said out loud. Where something is outside what I can do - reserved work, tax, financial regulation - I say so early and point you at the right person. Nobody is served by me having a go.

Writing

I write most of what is on this site. The guides walk a whole subject end to end, the Insights answer one question at a time, and the checks ask about your situation and tell you where the gaps are. If you want a sense of how I think before you speak to me, that is the fastest way to get it.

1. Guides - long-form, one subject each. Commercial contracts, disputes, due diligence, selling a business, shareholder disputes.
2. Insights - shorter answers to specific questions, and the glossary.
3. Checks - a few questions about your own position, and an honest read on it.

Frequently asked questions