sector

Education lawyers in London & Thames Valley

Schools and academies face ever-changing commercial and political challenges. Our lawyers are experienced in the legal issues that affect both the public and private education sector and will identify and support opportunities for development.

Expertise
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Sectors
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Education

We provide tailored, pragmatic and relevant support across a full range of legal services to the operators and managers of schools, colleges and universities. Our team has extensive experience of high-profile projects for higher and further education and are experienced at working closely with Headteachers, Bursars and Governors.

We can also offer:

Liaising with Charity Commission, advising clients on the Charities Act and setting up charitable trusts.
Regulatory documents such as student charters and formulating academic rules and regulations and handling data protection issues including requests for information.
Safeguarding legal responsibilities, staff discipline, involvement of police and whistleblowing matters.

“The education practice has extensive experience advising schools, higher education institutions and local authorities on the full spectrum of issues.”

Legal 500

Our comprehensive expertise includes:

Commercial real estate

Construction

Contractual and commercial arrangements

Employment

Immigration

Key contacts

Helen Beech

Partner

View profile

Email Helen

+44 118 960 4639

Antony Morris

Partner

View profile

Email Antony

+44 118 960 4646

Read, listen and watch our latest insights

08 June 2017
Commercial Real Estate

Break Clauses and Alienation: Leasing Business Premises

A large percentage of modern leases of business premises include break clauses and virtually all will include provisions restricting the assignment and underletting of the lease. A landlord will generally seek to control the exercise of a tenant’s break and the tenant’s right to assign or underlet its premises as far as possible without damaging any future rent review on the grounds that the lease contains onerous conditions.

08 June 2017
Commercial Real Estate

1954 Act Protection – Is it worthwhile?

Members of the Real Estate Team at Clarkslegal are often asked by clients whether a lease that has the protection of the Landlord & Tenant Act 1954 is more valuable than a lease which does not have the benefit of such protection.

02 June 2017
Employment

“Mini” strike exposes major pension issues

In April workers at BMW’s UK plants started a wave of one day strikes, halting the output of the iconic Mini. This is the first ever walkout by staff at these sites and the cause was BMW’s plan to close a defined-benefit pension scheme and replace it with a contribution-based scheme, a move the Unite union believe will cost workers up to £160,000 in lost income.

02 June 2017
Employment

Supreme Court determines pay deduction rate for employees on strike

In Hartley v King Edward VI College, the Claimants were teachers who participated in a full day of lawful strike action. Their employment contracts permitted pay to be deducted for any days on lawful strikes but did not specify the calculation to be applied. The employer deducted 1/260 of their annual pay, basing the calculation on working days in a year rather than calendar days.

02 June 2017
Employment

Employer’s belief disclosure was not protected was not relevant

It is automatically unfair to dismiss an employee on the basis that he or she has made a protected disclosure, more commonly known as ‘whistleblowing’. The Court of Appeal, in Beatt v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust, has made clear that an employer’s belief that a disclosure was not protected is irrelevant in such dismissals.

02 June 2017

Managing Partner joins India-Commonwealth SME Trade Summit

On the 30th and 31st May, Clarkslegal Managing Partner Monica Atwal attended the first India-Commonwealth SME Trade Summit in India, along with other business leaders and high-level policymakers. Among the topics discussed were Brexit, deepening intra-Commonwealth trade, trade facilitation in services and cross-border e-commerce.

“Excellent support for decades, including innovative and groundbreaking projects. We are always grateful for their straightforward commercial advice, their real commitment to understanding our objectives and values and their desire to ensure a close working relationship with us as a client.”

University of Reading

“Clarkslegal have always provided a highly professional legal service to CfBT. The team are highly skilled and able to cut to the ‘heart of the problem’ very quickly. Their written work is of a consistently high standard and all the team are a pleasure to work with.”

Hilary Isham, Head of HR and Facilities – Education Development Trust

Contact Helen

+44 118 958 5321 helen.beech@clarkslegal.com