In a recent LinkedIn post, View Legal director Matthew Burgess confirmed that the two firms had “agreed to terminate the merged digital business unit and strategic legal services arrangements jointly announced in 2017”.
“No further comments will be made by either party in relation to the decision,” Mr Burgess said.
The partnership and merger was announced in April 2017 with the intention of providing NowInfinity customers in the accounting, SMSF, financial advice and legal space with “a whole new level of solutions”, according to NowInfinity chief executive Amreeta Abbott.
“View Legal’s team of lawyers, their processes and their non-traditional approach will also make legal advice more accessible to NowInfinity members and inspire them with the confidence to offer cradle-to-grave advice,” Ms Abbott said at the time.
Mr Burgess was also said to be optimistic about the partnership at the time, given the firms’ shared values and objectives.
The two firms had worked particularly closely on simplifying the estate planning process, with the partnership enabling View Legal to launch a digital estate planning solution through financial planning software provider myprosperity in 2018.
What does this mean for all of View Legal’s documents on the NowInfinity site – will they be supported, pulled or are they without legal sign off? That is the real story which is why I would now only ever build a document and strategy engine with a law firm attached – strategic partnerships create huge problems if the law firm walks away like View Legal. What other big document providers don’t have in-house lawyers?