GETTINGSTARTED
Name: Company name: Start up date: Website:
Sunil Rupasinha Kent Traffic Law 01 September 2014 www.kenttrafficlaw.co.uk
Q1: Tell us a bit about your business? I represent motorists and companies facing road traffic prosecution. I specialise in saving Driving Licenses by avoiding or minimising driving disqualifications. Q2: What gives your business ‘the x-factor’? I am a barrister with 25 years’ experience of advocacy at the criminal Bar. I have prosecuted and defended in the most famous courts in the land such as the Old Bailey and the Court of Appeal. I offer to bring this experience to bear for the benefit of the hard pressed motorist. Q3: What motivated you to set up the business? Relatively recent changes in the legal profession mean that the public can now access the expertise of a barrister without having to instruct a solicitor first. I wanted to offer the public an alternative to criminal defence solicitors who are used to monopolising direct access to the public in road traffic defence work.
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ThinkingBUSINESS February - March 2015
Q4: What do you like most about working for a start-up? I set my own goals and standards, organise my own diary and live my life the way I want. It is full-on but very rewarding. Q5: What has been your greatest business success to date? I defended a very successful businessman upon a Guilty plea.He had caused a headon crash requiring two people to be cut out of the wreckage of an oncoming car, left the scene and, when arrested, gave a reading 3.5 times the alcohol limit. I managed to keep this man out of prison to his, his family’s and his employees’ relief (some of whom would otherwise have been out of work). Q6: What has been your lowest moment? In the beginning I was uncertain as to whether the public would embrace the opportunity to instruct a barrister directly. I now realise it is simply a question of publicising the changes in the legal landscape.
Q7: In terms of business achievements, where do you want to be within the next 5 years? I would like to have built up my road traffic practice and then taken advantage of the liberalisation of the profession currently underway to leverage my business, perhaps by opening several outlets and employing other lawyers. Q8: What would be your top tip to someone thinking of starting up their own business? Be ambitious and maintain a positive mind-set. Whatever your skills and experiences remember they are unique and are probably more extensive, and therefore advantageous, than you yourself realise. Sunil has been invited by Paul Andrews to appear on the Business Bunker radio show on Channel Radio, www.kentbusinessradio.co.uk, on February 17, which runs from 1-3pm