Midlands university names five firms to £600k legal services agreement

The University of Derby has named five law firms to a legal services contract worth an estimated £600,000 over four years.

The framework agreement was divided into the following lots:

1. Commercial (predominantly review and drafting of commercial contracts).
2. Real estate (to include transfer of freehold interests, grant and taking of leasehold interests, planning, construction and disputes).
3. Human resources (to include employment disputes and general advice).
4. Commercial and student disputes (to include all disputes apart from employment disputes).
5. Research and innovation activities (to include reviewing and drafting of contracts, commercialisation of research and advice on the protection of the university’s research derived IP portfolio).
6. Governance (to include advice on organisational governance, charity, higher education and academic registry).
7. Lending (to include advice regarding the university’s Invest to Grow programme (for example, drafting and negotiating loan documentation for lending below £500,000 and the registration of security).

The successful firms were:

• Capital Law (Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7);
• Flint Bishop (7);
• Penningtons Manches Cooper (1, 4);
• Shakespeare Martineau (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7);
• VWV (2, 3, 5, 6).

The contract was awarded on the basis of quality (weighting: 70) and price (weighting: 30).

The agreement is for an initial 12-month period with options to extend on an annual basis for an additional three years.