Withers, the international law firm, has rolled out a consulting services group aimed at family offices and entrepreneurs, highlighting how this business area is increasingly important for such firms.

The new unit is to be called Withers Consulting Group, operating as an independent business, and launches on April 2, according to a statement from the firm.

It will provide consulting services to “family offices, complex family enterprises and entrepreneurs.”

As part of the roll-out, Withers has retained two consulting field experts, Kenneth McCracken and Amelia Renkert-Thomas. McCracken co-founded Family Business Solutions, a firm which has been a consultant to family enterprises for over 15 years. Renkert-Thomas and McCracken have been collaborating on international assignments since 2009. She is a former Withers partner and ran her family’s fifth-generation manufacturing firm from 1990-2002.

McCracken will be based in the UK and Renkert-Thomas in the US.

“From guiding entrepreneurs through the initial development of their business interests, to articulating a family’s shared purpose or developing a comprehensive governance design, WCG’s holistic approach addresses both the most important long-term challenges that arise for the stewards of family wealth and the critical shorter-term needs of entrepreneurs in the wealth creation phase,” the Withers statement said.

“WCG utilizes a sophisticated consulting framework that brings together governance, family dynamics, organizational development and business strategy,” it said.

“There is a significant need for a new kind of non-legal consultancy for families and WCG has been created to provide this on an international scale,” it said.