International law firm Pinsent Masons acquires minority stake in Leeds-based legal startup

International law firm Pinsent Masons has acquired a minority stake in the Leeds-based legal startup business, Yuzu.

Established by Robin Saphra and Reinhard Schu, Yuzu is based at the 1 Park Row offices in the city centre.

Robin, who until last year was General Counsel of Colt Group SA, together with his co-founder Reinhard. Colt was a FTSE 250 listed technology business up to 2015, and is now wholly-owned by Fidelity.

Yuzu is creating a legal services proposition for business that lies between in-house, traditional private practice and managed legal service models.

The startup will offer clients the opportunity to transfer parts of their legal function out of the business, but retain features of an in-house service.

Pinsent Masons is incubating Yuzu by providing seed funding and strategic support during Yuzu’s startup phase in return for a minority shareholding.

Alastair Morrison, head of client strategy at Pinsent Masons, said: “I am delighted to have the opportunity to work with Robin and Reinhard, both of whom enjoy stellar reputations as innovators in the field of legal services.

“We think deeply, expansively and radically about responding to the challenges our clients face so see a role for us in helping to bring solutions like Yuzu to market.”

Robin Saphra, CEO of Yuzu, commented: “Pinsent Masons has a longstanding reputation for innovation and the courage to do things differently, so their investment feels like a very good fit for us as we bring our in-house experience to the legal services market.

“Yuzu embraces the opportunity to deliver efficiencies and transformation in a way which traditional private practice or other outsourcers cannot. We are a solution for GCs, designed and delivered by GCs.”

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