Misunderstood? Out of place? Ahead of the pack? For the Parabis Group, one thing is certain: it has set itself apart from almost all of its peer group, to which, arguably, it only belongs on account of its revenues.

For volume insurance-focused firms, there is a huge amount of pressure to articulate a clear business case. For Parabis and its subsidiaries, the answer has been to take on private capital and pursue an alternative ownership model.

Parabis, which handles claimant and defendant insurance work, reinvented itself in 2012 when it received private equity backing in its conversion to become an alternative business structure (ABS). Its management team has said this puts the firm in prime position to survive a fast-changing sector.

"There has been more change in legal services in the past year alone than over the past 10 years – the impact of regulatory and competitive change continues to accelerate," says Parabis commercial director Tim Roberts. "Expectations on and opportunities for law firms will evolve as a consequence.

"We are responding to these challenges and want to be seen as leading and influencing these. We want to be seen as being in the vanguard of change for the profession."

Roberts, along with chief operating officer Jason Powell (pictured L-R), are co-heading Parabis after taking up the reins from former CEO Tim Oliver in June, who drove the business' conversion into an ABS and has since taken a back seat as the group's deputy chairman.

After a hectic year in which Oliver oversaw the launch of Parabis' ABS venture with Direct Line Group in March and a similar partnership with insurer Saga in January, the insurance litigation group is now considering further routes for expansion, starting with proposals to target clients in the corporate market.

The management team, which is considering methods of branching out into corporate work, through either acquisitions, associations or mergers, says it draws inspiration from services offered by alternative legal providers such as Axiom Law and Obelisk Legal Support, which in Axiom's case include secondments with large financial institutions.

The firm's rapid expansion has mainly been achieved through tie-ups or joint ventures, recently underlined by the merger between Plexus Law, a defendant insurance firm in the group, and disputes outfit Greenwoods Solicitors last May, which formed a £90m business with more than 1,200 staff. The move contributed to group-wide revenue of £114.3m for 2013-14, putting it just outside Legal Week's top 30 rankings.

In terms of physical expansion, Parabis is seeking to consolidate its three London offices into a single, more attractive City base, and is aiming to locate a site before the end of next year when the lease on its Monument Street headquarters runs out. It forms part of a wider move to channel its offering through fewer and larger sites.

Unsurprisingly, not all of Parabis' offices have been left unscathed by this decision. The Bristol and Colchester satellite offices face potential closure, with the firm now partway through a consultation affecting all 41 fee earners and staff stationed at the outposts.

"We have been asking ourselves how we can create a law firm best placed to respond to challenges in the market, and we found there was a need to simplify our structure, have clear leadership and consolidate how we invest in our talent," says Powell. "This can be achieved by having fewer, bigger centres of excellence through a property and technology strategy that ensures we stay agile."

As part of this strategy the firm has this year set aside spend of £11m on IT and technology.

The firm's investment priorities in the short to medium term also stretch overseas. Roberts has outlined a push to invest heavily in its offshore operations in South Africa, where Parabis has a base in Pretoria staffed by 120 employees, who handle pre-litigation claims.

The firm is also looking to open an additional base in Cape Town or Johannesburg after selecting an outsourcing company as a preferred supplier. Both Parabis and the company are working through due diligence on a formal contract before reverting to the SRA for approval. The management team is not looking to execute this plan until next year, by which time it hopes to have all stakeholders on board.

By taking these strides to refocus and reposition the firm, management are keen to ensure its outward shifts go hand in hand with an internal step-change.

"This year marks a dramatic change for our people," says Roberts. "What I think you'll see is more significant investment in the people working here, in terms of improving their leadership skills and bringing in a more commercially-minded approach. We also have a big brand project at the moment working out how to simplify communication of our brand and core values."

The firm has introduced the role of a group head of business development with the hire of Brian Gribben from consulting business Mercer, as well as a new group HR director, Tanya Garrett, from Experian.

A key role for Gribben will be to help communicate Parabis' offering, internally as well as externally.

"Our humble objective is that the business is understood in its entirety," comments Roberts. "If we've been guilty of anything it has been down to our attitude towards communication until this year."