Octopus Legacy, a bereavement service owned by Octopus Group, has acquired a private client team from UK-based law firm NewLaw Solicitors.
The legal arm of the company, Octopus Legal Services, has taken on a team of 50 legal professionals in what it describes as “a significant expansion into the full set of legal issues families face after a death.”
The acquisition is part of a broader push to deploy artificial intelligence across administrative tasks within the newly expanded team.
“At the heart of the expansion is a deliberate use of artificial intelligence to fix the parts of the system that slow everything down,” Octopus Legacy said.
The company said it is hiring the team to use AI to “unlock more human-to-human support, shorten timelines and provide a more joined-up experience for families,” rather than replacing client-facing staff with chatbots.
Octopus Legacy, which joined Octopus Group in 2022, offers probate services that help families manage legal processes after a loved one dies.
The company expects the rollout to “increase its probate work tenfold within 12 months” and grow headcount in its legal arm by a third.
Octopus Legacy also said the expansion would “significantly increase Octopus Legacy’s share of the probate and estate administration market.”
Chief executive Sam Grice said the approach would allow the company to “take responsibility for the whole experience, not pass people between services but own it from start to finish.”
“It [the AI] takes on the admin that slows everything down, so our team can spend more time with families, and every family can deal directly with a person at the point of death,” Grice said.
Grice drew a parallel with another part of the wider group, saying: “At Octopus Energy, we saw what happens when a service is rebuilt around the customer rather than the system.”
“The bereavement sector is at that same moment now, where a more joined-up model can replace one that no longer works,” he added.
Octopus Group also owns Octopus Energy, which was co-founded by chief executive Simon Rogerson in 2000 and sits at the centre of the group.
Alongside the energy provider, the group operates an investment fund management service, a divorce platform, a financial planning service, and an education and care provider.