When a UK law firm handles a £5M M&A completion or a multi-party litigation settlement, someone has to hold the money, verify the parties, and distribute the funds — traditionally the firm itself, using a client account that creates regulatory risk and ties up staff time. Shieldpay is an FCA-regulated payments platform that provides digital escrow, Third Party Managed Accounts (TPMAs), and paying agent services specifically for UK law firms. Founded 2016 in London. Well-funded: £41.3M raised across 4 rounds (latest Series A May 2025, investors include Marqeta, Elliott Investment Management). Parent company is SPG Technologies, which also owns Paycast. Claims to work with Top 100 UK law firms, confirmed partnership with KPMG Law (Jun 2024). Processed over £8 billion in transactions. Three core capabilities: Verify (KYC/KYB checks), Hold (funds safeguarded in tier 1 banks), Disburse (digital release). FCA authorised (firm reference 770210) under Payment Services Regulations 2017. SRA Accounts Rules compliant (Rule 2.5 — TPMAs as alternative to holding client money). HMRC registered for AML purposes. Primary use cases: M&A deal completions/escrow, litigation settlement distribution, real estate conveyancing completions. This is a UK-focused product — no US/international equivalent found. The SRA consultation on whether law firms should continue holding client money (Feb 2025) is a tailwind for TPMA providers like Shieldpay. Competitors include dospay, Transpact, Cashfac, and traditional bank escrow (Barclays Corporate Escrow). Trustpilot 4.5/5 (695 reviews). ‘Shieldpay scam’ brand keyword exists (10 searches/mo) — likely from consumers unfamiliar with B2B escrow services, not a genuine fraud signal.
Company Info
- Founded: 2016
- Team size: 51-200 employees
- Funding: $50.4M
- HQ: United Kingdom
- Sector: Transactions
What We Haven’t Verified
This page was assembled from publicly available information. Feature claims and workflow mappings are based on what the vendor and third-party listings publish — not hands-on testing or practitioner feedback.
Workflows
Based on practitioner evidence, Shieldpay is used in these workflows:
What practitioners struggle with
Real frustrations from legal professionals — the problems Shieldpay addresses (or should address). Sourced from practitioner reviews, Reddit threads, and case studies.
Class action settlement awarded $42M to 500,000 claimants but distributing the money takes 6 months of paper checks, returned mail, and manual identity verification — by the time half the checks arrive, a third have been lost, returned, or never cashed, and the remaining funds sit in escrow while the court demands status reports on why distribution isn't complete
Law firm completing a £50M M&A deal needs to hold completion funds in escrow, but using the firm's own client account means regulatory risk, staff time reconciling, and the SRA breathing down their neck about client money handling
Conveyancing firm handles 500 property completions a month and each one requires receiving, holding, and disbursing client money on the same day — one error means a family can't move into their new home and the firm faces an SRA complaint
Where it fits in your workflow
Before Shieldpay
Deal/matter reaches completion stage → funds need to be received, held, verified, and distributed → Shieldpay initiated as payment agent/escrow
After Shieldpay
Funds disbursed to parties → completion confirmed → matter can close → accounts reconciliation simplified
Integrations & hand-offs
Shieldpay sits at the completion/settlement stage of any transactional or litigation workflow. It replaces the firm's client account for holding and distributing funds. The key handoff is between the fee earner (who structures the deal) and the finance/accounts team (who process the payments). Shieldpay's API could potentially integrate with practice management systems but this is not documented.
Community Data
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