Laurence Relton, a corporate and commercial solicitor with Lawyers Direct, revels in having been described as “very, very funny” by The Times.

Fortunately, it was not his capabilities as a lawyer that drew this comment, but a performance by The Ornate Johnsons, the comedic quintet of which he is a member. “A hugely talented sketch act,” concluded Dominic Maxwell, the newspaper’s theatre critic.

Relton, 38, met the other four members of the group while studying law and Italian at Sussex University. They took their name from a character in a play that one had written.

Life as comedian was, however, initially sidelined by Relton in favour of a legal career. He joined Withers, worked for two American law firms and spent a total of 10 years in conventional legal practice, most recently with Watson Farley Williams, whom he left to join Lawyers Direct in May 2005.

For those unacquainted with it, Lawyers Direct is a revolutionary law firm whose lawyers – all with City backgrounds – work from home. The removal of the traditional law firm’s overheads makes for competitive rates and the flexibility for its employees to pursue other projects.

For Relton, joining Lawyers Direct was “the best thing I’ve ever done”. Prior to joining the firm he had completed a film script, and admits to feeling “desperate to get out of the City”.

He explains: “It wasn’t the law firm – they were great, and always treated me very fairly – it was just that I wasn’t suited to life as a lawyer in the stereotypical sense.”

Relton was anxious that he might be committing “career suicide”, but now has a work-life balance that would be the envy of many.

“In a busy month, I’ll work 60 hours through Lawyers Direct,” he says, “but there is so much flexibility in the system that some months I can focus 100 per cent on my writing. On average I work 20 hours a month in the law.”

That leaves ample time for touring with The Ornate Johnsons, and working on film scripts. Relton had no formal training in script writing, but has already acquired agency representation in both the UK (through ICM) and Hollywood (with William Morris) for his rom-com Perfect Scents.

“I had a bit of a Hollywood moment last year, with Tom Hanks among other big names showing a lot of interest in the script. It didn’t happen in the end, but just getting known there has led to more work.”

When not providing legal advice or honing film scripts, Relton will be rehearsing or touring with the comedy group that he co-formed all those years ago. The Ornate Johnsons have met with plaudits everywhere they go, winning the Brighton Festival Comedy Award last year and selling out the Soho Theatre for a 12-night run recently.

The group’s next gig is in Canterbury at the Gulbenkian on December 5, and the chances are that audiences will warm to their fast-paced, surreal sketches — which see corruption on the bridge of the Star Trek Enterprise, and Lord Battenburg getting in a frenzy over the eponymous cake — as much as Jerry Sadowitz. The master comic-cum-magician is unstinting in his praise, calling The Ornate Johnsons “the best sketch group since Monty Python”. As Relton says, that’s a comparison to be proud of.

See www.ornatejohnsons.com for more information

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