Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (BCLP) has sold its whole stake in flexible lawyering service LOD (Lawyers on Demand), to private equity firm Bowmark Capital.

The deal sees BCLP relinquish its 62.36% stake in the legacy BLP spinoff, with Bowmark becoming the majority shareholder.

Macfarlanes private equity partner Jessica Adam took the lead for BCLP on the deal as well as LOD's board, with Baker McKenzie private equity partner Alex Lewis acting for management shareholders within LOD. Terms of the deal are confidential.

Stephenson Harwood advised Bowmark with a team led by corporate partners Jonathan Pittal and Warren Allan.

LOD CEO Tom Hartley (pictured left) told Legal Week: "This started a year ago when the LOD board decided that we had the opportunity to grow a little faster than we were. It soon became clear that the level of expertise and investment were better suited from a new investor rather than a law firm.

"Bowmark has a track record of having taken businesses onto the next step, while the next stage of the growth is something that BCLP has not done before."

Hartley stressed that while BCLP no longer has a stake in the business, the relationship between the two would continue, with LOD continuing to supply BCLP's flexible lawyer needs.

Commenting on BCLP's decision to relinquish its majority stake, BCLP partner and LOD board member Neville Eisenberg said: "We believe that LOD is ideally placed for further growth and that this new investment by Bowmark will help facilitate LOD's ambitious plans. BCLP has committed to remain close to LOD, partnering with the business for its flexible lawyer needs, and we look forward to seeing the results of this exciting new chapter in LOD's development."

LOD co-founder and managing director Simon Harper (pictured right) told Legal Week that the decision to seek outside investment was part of a growth plan focused on geographical and service line expansion.

Harper said: "We are going to do what we do every day better through investing in the right technology to make our lawyers more efficient and supporting them better. We are also looking at geographic expansion; we are interested in North America and it will be interesting to explore that. We also want to grow our service line – we are increasingly seeing teams of lawyers being supported by LOD, so we want to invest more in that area."

LOD was founded in 2007 by Harper, who was then an equity partner at legacy BLP, and Jonathan Brenner, legacy BLP's then head of recruitment. It now has access to more than 600 lawyers and consultants worldwide.

In February, LOD launched in Germany with the establishment of a base in Munich, its 10th office globally. The launch followed the opening of LOD Dubai in July 2017, establishing the first flexible legal service in the Middle East.

LOD's last financial results for 2016-17 saw UK profits rise from £15,000 to £2m, owing to "exceptional costs" incurred in 2015-16, according to Harper.

The results came after LOD's first full year since it merged with its Australian firm AdventBalance in March 2016. The merger marked LOD's first expansion into the Asia-Pacific market and the first cross-continent union in the contract lawyer space.