Public sector

Our public sector group works with public sector bodies and agencies to confront and resolve complex legal issues. Our clients include central and local government, ports, publicly funded bodies, public/private partnerships and NDPBs/public sector agencies. We also apply our experience to advise private sector suppliers on their arrangements with the public sector.

Our lawyers are recognised as subject matter experts, who understand the statutory and regulatory frameworks within which the public sector operates and the challenges it faces. We provide strategic and detailed advice capable of practical application.

Public sector

We provide a full range of legal services to clients who are active in the public sector. These include advising on:

• Public law matters such as judicial review claims, governance and vires issues
• Regulatory issues, dealing with the regulation that is specific to the public sector, including freedom of information requests, Equality Act and human rights issues, and Local Government Act and best value considerations
• EU law matters including the public procurement regime, the application of the state aid rules and making state aid complaints
• Corporate structuring and partnering arrangements, including joint ventures, public/public partnerships, industrial and provident societies, limited liability partnerships, local asset backed vehicles and tri-sector partnering structures
• Public sector projects, including funding arrangements, structures, contractual arrangements, construction,real estate issues, tax, concessions, operations and maintenance
• Regeneration projects, particularly in the arena of large, complex town centre schemes
• Planning, including CPO and section 106 agreements
• Social housing, such as regeneration schemes, LSVTs, ALMOs, and landlord and tenant matters
• Commercial arrangements, including public sector outsourcing in areas such as back office, benefits, IT, and leisure and culture, and commercial contracts advice
  Employment and pensions matters

Public sector

Acted for a number of local authorities, including South Tyneside Council, Bournemouth Borough Council and Peterborough City Council, in carrying out feasibility studies for leisure and cultural services and advising on the subsequent outsourcing of those services to charitable trusts

Acted on some of the most significant competitive dialogue processes since the introduction of the procedure – including the first UK competitive dialogue (advising a bidder in connection with the London Borough of Croydon's outsourcing of its leisure services) and one of the most complex (advising the London Borough of Hounslow on its outsourcing of its cultural and heritage services)

Advised Wipro Ltd on their bid to be appointed by the Cabinet Office to take a 40% stake in My Civil Service Pension, the first major Government mutual, which is sponsored by the Cabinet Office

Advised a non-departmental public body in connection with issues concerning its status as a statutory corporation; the impact of devolution on its activities; matters affecting the exercise of its statutory duties and functions; and its subsequent merger with six organisations to form a new NDPB

For a central government department, conducted an efficiency review of its legal services function with a focus on structure, operations and headcount

Advised clients on the employment law, human resources and employee relations aspects of most of the major transfers and reorganisations in the public sector over the last 15 years including:

The Financial Services Authority
The Financial Ombudsman Scheme
The Financial Services Compensation Scheme
The Office of Communications
Natural England
Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission
National Policing Improvement Agency
The Commission for Equality and Human Rights
The Legal Services Board
The Office for Legal Complaints

Acted for the British Government on the merger and subsequent privatisation of national bodies operating in the field of international certification to form the new United Kingdom Accreditation Service, which involved the creation of a corporate structure geared to meet the potentially competing demands of stakeholders and international standards applicable to certification bodies;

Represented a non-departmental public body in connection with issues concerning its status as a statutory corporation; the impact of devolution on its activities; its ability to raise money by means of a statutory levy and, generally, matters affecting the exercise of its statutory duties and functions

Acted for the British Government in relation to the privatisation of the Crown Agents, including issues concerning the application of British banking legislation to the Crown Agents' business

Advised the Meat and Livestock Commission on its transfer to the LBUK and consequential redundancies

Advised the DWP on the implications under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006 (TUPE) as a result of the reorganisation of Business Link and the Chambers of Commerce

Advised the London Development Agency on a number of regeneration projects

Advised The Bristol Port Company on obtaining permission for the development of a deep sea port at Bristol

Acted for and continuing to act for over 150 local authorities in England and Wales on regeneration and outsourcing projects, and associated matters such as planning, real estate, public procurement, State aid and pensions

Advised a number of NDPBs including NESTA, English Heritage and the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board on public procurement issues.

Testimonials