Kent and 21 law firms named on national higher education legal panel

Kent County Council Legal Services, which will next month become alternative business structure Invicta Law, has been appointed alongside 21 law firms to a new national legal services framework agreement for the higher education sector worth potentially £70m a year.

The framework agreement is the result of a collaborative exercise of the English and Welsh higher education sector procurement consortia:

  • North Eastern Universities Purchasing Consortium.
  • North Western Universities Purchasing Consortium.
  • Southern Universities Purchasing Consortium.
  • London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC).
  • Higher Education Purchasing Consortium, Wales.

Members of the consortia include universities, research organisations, museums and other cultural organisations.

LUPC, which carried out the procurement exercise, previously said that while it could not guarantee volumes, it was estimated that higher education institutions in England currently spend circa £70m per annum on legal services.

The framework agreement has six specialist lots and a one-stop-shop lot. “Suppliers were awarded a maximum of three lots each, with the intention of having a variety of suppliers on the panel, including regional firms,” a statement issued on behalf of the consortia said.

The call-off options are direct award, desktop award and mini competition, and the agreement will run from 18 May 2017 to 17 May 2020.

The providers appointed to the one-stop shop as follows:

One-stop-shop:

  • Veale Wasbrough Vizards
  • Bates Wells Braithwaite
  • Shakespeare Martineau
  • Muckle
  • Weightmans
  • CMS Cameron McKenna
  • Bond Dickinson
  • Mills & Reeve
  • Eversheds Sutherland
  • Burges Salmon

The results for the one-stop shop are currently [26 May] as follows but could be subject to further updating. An up-to-date list can be found here under the Professional Services section.

Lot 1: Property (Estates)

  • Kent County Council Legal Services
  • Michelmores
  • Mills & Reeve
  • Muckle
  • Shakespeare Martineau
  • TLT
  • Veale Wasbrough Vizards

Lot 2: Human Resources (Employment)

  • Eversheds Sutherland
  • Kent County Council Legal Services
  • Penningtons Manches
  • Shakespeare Martineau
  • Veale Wasbrough Vizards
  • Weightmans

Lot 3: Dispute Resolution

  • BLM (Berrymans Lace Mawer)
  • Capital Law
  • Clarkslegal
  • Hill Dickinson
  • Michelmores
  • Turner Parkinson

Lot 4: Governance (constitutional, charity, higher education, academic registry)

  • Bond Dickinson
  • Capital Law
  • Eversheds Sutherland
  • JG Poole
  • Penningtons Manches
  • TLT

Lot 5: Commercial

  • Bond Dickinson
  • Clarkslegal
  • DAC Beachcroft
  • JG Poole
  • Mills & Reeve
  • Muckle

Lot 6 Student Matters

  • BLM (Berrymans Lace Mawer)
  • Capital Law
  • CMS Cameron McKenna
  • Hill Dickinson
  • JG Poole
  • Penningtons Manches