Michael Buckworth, founder of Buckworths
Founder-led legal commentary and business PR
Buckworths is a UK law firm specialising in legal support for start-ups and growing businesses. Its founder, Michael Buckworth, had the professional experience to explain difficult questions about running a company, commercial obligations and consumer rights.
We worked with Michael over six months of PR support. The opportunity was to make his expertise relevant to journalists already reporting on business, technology and everyday legal issues, rather than relying on announcements about the firm. Our wider archived published-press records contain 15 distinct linked articles associated with Buckworths, demonstrating the range of subjects to which Michael and the firm could contribute.
The client
Buckworths is an SRA-regulated law firm with a particular focus on start-ups, entrepreneurs and growth-stage businesses. Its work covers matters such as company structure, commercial agreements, investment and intellectual property. Michael's role as a founder and solicitor allowed him to approach entrepreneurial questions as both a professional adviser and someone familiar with the practical realities of business.
That knowledge was the useful media asset. The firm's own developments were not the main reason readers would be interested. Readers needed clear explanations of rights, risks and practical business decisions.
The objective
The aim of the six-month PR engagement was to create relevant opportunities for Michael to contribute useful legal and business commentary. Rather than pitch Buckworths as a company on every occasion, we looked for questions that fell within his real expertise and had an editorial reason to be answered.
That meant considering different audiences: start-up founders managing their businesses, consumers affected by news, and specialist readers following commercial, regulatory or technology-law matters. The story needed to fit the reader and the specialist, not simply mention the client.
The strategy: put the question before the firm
A good legal source can explain what a law or business development means without making the article sound like legal marketing. We identified subjects where Michael could offer a clear, credible answer, then presented those answers in a form journalists could use.
This opened more than one editorial route. Small-business publications wanted practical founder advice. National consumer reporters needed understandable explanations of rights when events affected ordinary people. Specialist trade outlets needed more technical observations about risk, regulations or corporate decisions.
The aim was not to imply that any one lawyer should comment on every subject. The strongest opportunities were those matched to Michael's own knowledge.
Practical start-up advice for business readers
One useful example came from Startups.co.uk, which examined how a small company might protect itself from an unwanted takeover. Michael contributed guidance about shareholder rights, voting arrangements and contractual provisions that can affect control of a business.
The value was not publicity for a legal service. It was a relevant expert explaining a problem that matters to business owners and investors. The article is recorded in PubPB as a Buckworths placement.
Read the Startups.co.uk coverage.
Our archived record also includes coverage concerning the pressures faced by start-ups and the wider economy. These subjects gave us reasons to approach editors covering entrepreneurship without manufacturing artificial 'news' about the firm itself.
Making legal rights accessible to a national audience
A separate media strand concerned the public's immediate questions during major news events.
When the fashion retailer Missguided entered administration, i Paper covered the rights of customers seeking refunds and returns. Michael was a useful legal contributor because the story was about what people could do and what protections might apply.
Read i Paper on Missguided refunds and returns.
The wider archive includes a Mirror article about employment rights following the P&O Ferries dismissals and a Daily Express article discussing laws relevant to countryside walks. These were different reader problems, but each was an occasion to make legal expertise easier to understand.
The relevance of the expert to the particular question was more important than whether the subject sounded like traditional legal-sector PR.
Specialist commercial, technology and regulatory coverage
Not every useful publication has a general consumer audience. Specialist readers may be just as valuable to a professional-services firm.
Recorded Buckworths coverage includes IT Pro reporting on an intellectual-property lawsuit, Compliance Week on commercial or regulatory developments and Law360 on corporate matters. Those subjects require careful, domain-specific explanation and a source whose experience actually fits the question.
The range illustrates why we consider different types of editor and publication. A start-up story, a regulatory briefing and a consumer-rights article do not need the same pitch or the same degree of detail.
Michael's feedback
Michael's original client testimonial, already included in Fair PR's existing canonical Reviews copy, described the team's input:
“I was very impressed. The team provided relevant, high-quality PR opportunities, advised us on how to approach journalists and supported us with campaigns. As a result, our comments were regularly published in the press. They were far more engaged, efficient and cost-effective than the big-name traditional PR firm we had previously used.”
- Michael Buckworth, Buckworths
The results
Across the available historic PubPB records, there are 15 distinct linked published-press items associated with Buckworths. The archive includes entries for Startups.co.uk, i, the Mirror, Daily Express, IT Pro, Compliance Week and Law360, alongside other business and specialist outlets.
The archive demonstrates the variety of credible editorial contexts in which the firm’s legal expertise appeared. It is a count of distinct linked articles, not necessarily separately pitched original stories, and it does not establish an increase in enquiries, revenue or search rankings.
| Date | Publication | Article | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tech Round | Tips for managing cash flow as a startup | Read article | |
| The Mirror | What are my rights and can I be sacked - as P&O fires 800 staff in 'potentially unlawful' move | Read article | |
| BCL Legal | The pandemic thrust issues of employee mental health and wellbeing into the spotlight. The Brief has spoken to a selection of law firms to find out how they have responded. | Read article | |
| Mirror | Money Talk: ‘My car got damaged in a supermarket car park - who has to pay?‘ | Read article | |
| Startups.co.uk | How can you protect your small business from a takeover? | Read article | |
| Compliance Week | EU energy firms weighing bypassing Russian sanctions to secure gas | Read article | |
| i | Missguided returns and refunds: Your rights explained when a company goes into administration | Read article | |
| Startups.co.uk | Small businesses hail Platinum Jubilee weekend for ‘much-needed positivity’ boost | Read article | |
| Daily Express | ‘What could go wrong?’ Six surprising laws you could be breaking on country walks | Read article | |
| Essex Magazine | How to recession-proof your business: 13 industry experts reveal their top tips to surviving a recession | Read article | |
| Startups.co.uk | Sunak vs. Truss: who is best for small businesses? | Read article | |
| IT Pro | Splunk alleges rival Cribl stole its source code for profit, files lawsuit | Read article | |
| Compliance Week | U.S., U.K. improve anti-corruption coordination with data access agreement | Read article | |
| Law360 | World's 1st Green Steel Plant Secures An Additional $68.5M | Read article | |
| Law360 | Shell Launches $4B Share Buyback Program Ending Feb. 2 | Read article |
The outcome
Buckworths shows how a founder's technical knowledge can create publicity opportunities beyond ordinary company news. Michael was relevant because journalists could call upon his experience to help explain business risks and matters affecting consumers.
For another professional-services founder, the lesson is to begin with what they genuinely understand, identify who needs that information and communicate it in useful, plain language. Coverage and commercial results depend on editors and audiences; they are not guaranteed.
Results at a glance
| Result | Details |
|---|---|
| Campaign | Founder-led legal expert commentary and business PR |
| Campaign length | 6 months |
| Expert(s) | Michael Buckworth, founder of Buckworths |
| Primary objective | Position the founder’s legal and business expertise as a useful source for relevant journalists |
| PR approach | Expert commentary and timely business, consumer, technology and commercial legal angles |
| Published media opportunities | 15 distinct archived articles; public sharing and article URLs subject to final verification |
| Publication titles | 10 distinct media brands recorded, subject to publisher attribution checks |
| Selected publications | Startups.co.uk, i, the Mirror, Daily Express, IT Pro, Compliance Week and Law360 |
| Campaign focus | Start-ups, business law, consumer rights, intellectual property and regulatory developments |
Could your professional expertise be useful to journalists?
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Explore our Professional Services PR and our Expert Commentary PR, or get in touch to discuss your own media potential. Publication cannot be guaranteed.
