Educate. IM Educate. Education Legal Services

Transcription

1 Educate IM Educate Education Legal Services

2 Education Legal Services

3 About Irwin Mitchell We are a full service, national law firm, with 11 offices across the UK. We are the 4th largest law firm in the UK, employing over 2,100 people, led by a close knit partnership of 209 experienced partners. Our internal values are built around ensuring that we always put clients at the heart of what we do, Our education clients are advised by a team who understand the education sector and the issues which commonly arise within it. Together, our size and depth of expertise enable us to deliver an excellent and cost effective service for the education sector on the full range of legal issues. Glasgow Newcastle Middlesbrough* Leeds Manchester Sheffield Birmingham Cambridge Bristol London Southampton *Consulting office

4 Our services to the education sector We serve as a single point of reference for the education sector, providing access to the expertise of our lawyers in the Education Legal Services team. Together, we have sector specific knowledge and experience and work nationally with nurseries, schools, academies, free schools, colleges and universities. This includes experience of advising Church of England and Catholic schools. Our Education Legal Services team works with senior leaders and board members on the full range of legal and HR issues. Our aim is to empower our clients decision making and help them to find effective solutions to their legal issues. In doing so, we help our education clients to achieve their education vision with successful outcomes in their governance, leadership and management. We are proud of the services we provide to the education sector which are highly regarded for giving value for money in both financial and qualitative terms. Education Legal Services

5 Education expertise The Education Legal Services team supports education clients on the full range of legal issues including: HR and Employment Law support Land and property matters Academy conversions Special Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination Charity regulation and governance Admissions and Exclusions Funding and School Governance Procurement Access to education Freedom of Information Judicial Reviews Data Protection Commercial contracts Immigration Resolution of disputes Sector partners We are proud to work closely with partners who also operate in the sector, enabling us to connect our clients with services that complement and support their overall needs. Examples include finance, HR operations, payroll administration, occupational health and facilities management. Together, we can support our education clients in all areas, providing a full service. We are preferred suppliers of legal advice to a number of organisations who work in the sector, including Birmingham Church of England Diocese which has over 370 schools in the Diocese of Birmingham and Lichfield.

6 Our service promise We are committed to delivering a high level of service to our clients so that they know they are in safe hands and to becoming a trusted long term partner of our clients in the matters they need our support on. We have won awards in recognition of our commitment to deliver excellent client service and boast a high client retention rate as a result. As part of this commitment, we will deliver: Solutions focused and pragmatic advice We take pride in providing practical advice and always focusing on giving solutions. We see our role as working with our clients to empower them in their decision making and enable them to manage their legal and HR issues as efficiently and effectively as possible. Accessible and responsive service Our clients have a dedicated lawyer for each of their matters including direct contact details for their lawyer and their team. We keep our clients regularly updated on the matters we are dealing with and will respond to your queries quickly. Cost certainty and budgetary control We appreciate that there is no one size fits all approach to cost. We offer a variety of fee options for range of services which include fixed fee options. At competitive rates, they give our clients the flexibility to choose the level of support that is needed and to keep control on legal costs. Added value We are committed to delivering more than just great legal advice. We provide our clients with additional support to help them achieve success and share common issues many at no additional cost. These include: Regular newsletters for case law developments and relevant legal updates Specialist training and networking events for HR managers, business managers, head teachers, SENCOs and governors/trustees Regular reporting we will help to identify repeat issues or trends and offer bespoke training for members Bespoke workshop training to groups of clients with common concerns. Education Legal Services

7 Our service options The Premium Employment Law Package Fixed fee annual retainer Direct and unlimited access on all aspects of HR and employment law support, including attendance at meetings Dedicated Employment lawyer at Irwin Mitchell Access to our online portal which hosts a suite of precedent templates and documents. Our templates will guide a school/ academy/college through any process, whether this is to dismiss an employee or deal with a long term absence issue Optional Employment Tribunal insurance. The Standard Employment Law Package Fixed fee annual retainer Provides a sounding board service Limited access to dedicated lawyer - maximum of 20 minute call per matter Access to our online portal which hosts a suite of precedent templates and documents. Our templates will guide a school/ academy/college through any process, whether this is to dismiss an employee or deal with a long term absence issue Bank of hours can be purchased for additional support Optional Employment Tribunal insurance. The Education Legal Support Retainer Fixed fee annual retainer Provides a sounding board service and telephone advice from a dedicated solicitor on many education law issues such as special educational needs, disability discrimination, admissions and exclusions which can be resolved in 30 minutes Bank of hours can be purchased for additional support. The Complete Package Education Legal Support Retainer and Standard Employment Law Package Fixed fee annual retainer Provides a sounding board service and telephone advice from a dedicated solicitor on many education law issues such as special educational needs, disability discrimination, admissions and exclusions which can be resolved in 30 minutes Bank of hours can be purchased for additional support. The Flexible Service Allows you to purchase a bank of hours at a reduced hourly rate for any area of law covered within The Standard Employment Law and The Education Legal Support Retainer packages Optional Employment Tribunal insurance.

8 Education Legal Services

9 Employment Tribunal Insurance For each of our Employment law /HR support services, we offer a comprehensive insurance policy, provided through AXA. This unique policy empowers you to make decisions on how to manage and defend Tribunal claims, safe in the knowledge that your organisation is financially protected. In the event of an Employment Tribunal the policy: Pays any defence legal costs and any compensation award, including settlements Covers a range of indemnity limits from 250,000 to 2 million for any one claim The insurers do not dictate what you should do. This supports our view that this important decision is often so much more than a financial one There is no prospect of success test, no cap on the number of claims covered There is no excess (providing our advice is followed) You get consistency of advice with your own employment lawyer providing continued support throughout the litigation process. Many other insurance policies do not permit this, so, requiring policy holders to use a panel solicitor and/or dictating how the case should be managed and whether it should be settled or not. The policy we provide does not have this restriction.

10 The Education Legal Services team and services Surinder Dhillon Head of Education Legal Services Team (Midlands and South) Employment T: +44 (0) E: Jenny Arrowsmith Head of Education Legal Services Team (North) Employment T: +44(0) E: Polly Sweeney Specialist Education Law Solicitor T: +44(0) E: Education Legal Services

11 We consider the support at Irwin Mitchell to be good value for money in a sector which is facing tough financial challenges. The speed of response is excellent and the lawyers have a good understanding and working knowledge of our sector and the issues we face. We have had a few legal challenges in the last few months which have been dealt with proactively and effectively, exceeding our expectations. - Warwickshire College Irwin Mitchell has been a trusted partner of our school for a few years now. In that time, they have always provided pragmatic advice which is focused on helping our school meet its objectives. The team ensure that we find effective solutions to the issues we face without unnecessary delay and have supported us in taking pre-emptive action before issues develop. Taking their advice, we have achieved mutually beneficial outcomes for the school and staff which has in turn saved the school money. - Sandbach High School and Sixth Form College Education is currently going through a revolution, with challenges to poor performance, freedom to introduce performance related pay and a greater expectation for all students. The employment team at Irwin Mitchell have steered the Academy through these choppy waters. Having a dedicated point of contact on hand always results in us receiving a quick response and as they have got to know the team, and how we like to work, they provide the solution that works best for us. Our relationship with Irwin Mitchell has been a major contribution to us achieving a good judgement from Ofsted in a short period of time something that every school/academy strives for. In addition to this, we feel that the cost certainty aspect of IM Educate is invaluable. - George Dixon Academy Irwin Mitchell provided us with an outstanding lawyer who gave strong support, expertise and professionalism to myself and the staff at St Edmund Campion School during a number of complex employment situations. Their extensive knowledge of employment law and the education sector make the services and insights unique. - St Edmund Campion School

12 For a list of our offices visit our website To see a list of our offices please visit our website. Irwin Mitchell LLP is authorised and regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority. BLS-IME-0001-B