Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 1

Education 2017

Legal Services

HR, Governance

Risk and Compliance

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 2

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 3

Contents

[Click to hyperlink to the page.]

Editorial: Supply & Demand

The Help That’s On Offer

People Risks

The Core Services

Ancillary Services

Property (& IP) Risks

Procurement Risks

Market Profile & Positioning

The Rating System

The Top Education Specialists: 5 Star Firms

The Four Star Firms

The Three Star Firms

The Two Star Firms

The Lone Star Firms

The Chasing Pack

Directory of Suppliers

Education Intermediaries

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 4

Supply and Demand The Legal Services transformation has come to the

Education sector in some style. There is plenty of choice.

Any school or college facing issues with establishment,

safeguarding, governance, risk or compliance now has an

abundance of specialists keen to help.

Back in the day the LEAs and public sector procurement frameworks identified the keenest

and most high profile suppliers. Now this involves comparing not just firms, but industries.

HR consultancies offer substitutable services to many law firms now, boutiques specialise in

education sectors, software teams empower traded services teams, financial and safety

specialists all pitch in too. The choice can be bewildering.

The legal services revolution has been driven by typically in-company professional lawyers

becoming very professional buyers of legal services. They specify precisely what is needed,

take some elements in-house to ensure the quality level they need, and expect the high value

people to focus only on the high value work. Law firms have to demonstrate competence in

technology, outsourcing, and service level agreements. Simply bringing the best people to

the table is no longer enough. Governance, risk and compliance (GRC) specialist teams,

often led by lawyers and usually employing them in-house to a significant degree are

transforming the legal services options. They typically have software embedded in their

solutions and service delivery, design the service around bursar or school leader specific

requirement sets and bring whatever components are required to make it happen. Many

such firms do so on fixed fee contracts, and expect to be able to build and maintain long-

term partnership arrangements with clients.

Law firms are still the go-to brands for many of the major transformation or establishment

projects where detailed knowledge of public sector or governmental contracting is rare and

essential. Even here, however, there are boutiques emerging who will work for either larger

law firms or clients direct to deliver this. The fact is the processes for conversion are now well

established and while not yet commoditised, certainly predictable. The smart law firms have

focused therefore on either niche specialisms or regional profiles. It takes something for a

private school not to go to Farrer & Co, a catholic school not to ask Winckworth, or a Russell

group team not to think of Mills Reeve first. There, however, strong alternatives everywhere.

The choice of good suppliers to help with this uniquely complex area has never been wider or

better. The Shortlist strips away the industry barriers.

Editor

David R Johnston LLB MBA

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 5

The Help That’s On Offer

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 6

Everybody claims to be the best, the biggest, the fastest

growing, the leading, the go-to, the thought leader, the

this or the that. Some even are. The reality of

differentiation among suppliers boils down to the mix

and emphasis chosen in the service components

delivered below. Sometimes simply being the best brain

is enough (rarely now) and sometimes there is a killer

component to the ‘app’ (but not often or for long).

Sustaining differentiation relies on the choice and

emphasis suppliers give to the following services. There

is, in essence, no winning play here; but some mixes are

stronger than others over the long term.

The 4 P’s of risk are People, Property (&IP), and

Procurement. Suppliers who have services in

employment law and HR, safety and premises

management, and procurement and contracting are all

captured here.

Some cover all of the bases, some specialise in only one

sector, so the option to take a best-of-breed approach

or look for the one-stop-shop is there. Best of breed is

currently the preferred approach, using suppliers for

what they are best at, but retaining services on a longer

than 1 year horizon.

People Risks

Payroll and HR services have traditionally been a core LA

or central services function. Historically the complexities

of public sector payroll alone made this an especially

complex technical issue where economies of scale made

sense. Autonomy for schools and massive improvements

in flexibility and design of payroll systems means that

payroll complexity is no longer the barrier to entry it

once was.

HR advice services range from the legally qualified, case

hardened and industrial relations specialists, to the

simpler personnel and administrative support teams.

Increasingly you’ll find law firms offering HR and HR

consultancies offering legal advice, and all points in

between.

Compensation and benefits remains a fairly rare skill set,

and while job evaluation and pay comparability clearly

…simply being the

best brain is rarely

enough now – even in

law…

…choosing best of

breed suppliers is

increasingly the

preferred solution

now…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 7

matter, there are ‘good enough’ solutions to it at school

level now, as well as for more complex or higher priced

roles.

An analysis of the people risk components that suppliers

here highlight or lead with shows the following top ten

hierarchy (in order of frequency that firms lead with this

service component):

Documentation; contracts, letters and policies

Employment Law and HR Advice

Training & eLearning/LMS

Case management & investigations

Absence and attendance management

Dedicated employment law advisors/solicitors

Payroll support, software and bureau services

HR information systems

Health & safety

Recruitment and induction support

Each of these will be explored further below and the

nuances explained, but there is also a range of ancillary

and incidental services here. Ancillary ones are services

you have to expect to build in to the service at some

stage – they are necessary subordinates. Incidental

services are those, which are loosely associated, or a by-

product of the core competencies that you may be able

to tackle if you so choose.

Ancillary Services:

DBS and permit to work searching

Immigration and qualification checking

Occupational Health

Pensions

Compensation & benefits

Governor support services

Incidental Services:

Mediation

EAP/Employee Assistance Programmes

Job evaluation

IIP and quality certifications

Recruitment advertising and & management

Qualification training

…the Top Ten services

offered to help you

manage people

risks…

…non-core services

range from discrete

specialisms to

promotional add-

ons…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 8

Leadership development/organisational

development (OD)

Interims and secondments

Outplacement

The vast majority of law firms lead with employment law

and HR as their core appeal, rather than commercial law

or conversion specialisms. Almost half of the law firms

focused on education also now offer specific HR services

(as opposed to pure employment law support). A handful

already offer branded HR specific suites of services (a

trend more widely seen among employment lawyers

generally too). Case management remains their focus,

however, with HR and health & safety a distant third to

their dispute resolution competence in core services.

Lawyers fall broadly into 2 types – transaction lawyers

and litigators. Transaction focused law firms will be more

open to the transition to offering HR suites of service,

while litigation and major project focused teams will

typically not prioritise it (or pay lip service only).

Look for the teams who have a significant investment in

qualified people here. Often law firms will have only one

or two HR specialists employed, and equally sometimes

HR teams employ only one or two qualified lawyers.

Increasingly specialist teams are building ratios of 1:1

between solicitors and HR specialists and this is a

significant investment on their part on ‘critical mass’ to

cover all the bases.

The Core Services

Documentation

All suppliers cover documentation to some degree from

statements of terms to contracts and policies/

procedures to settlement agreements. The issue is the

breadth or depth of the documentation, ie to what

extent it is genuinely Burgundy or Green book compliant

as well as specific to the increasing types of educational

establishment and their particular constraints.

…most law firms now

prioritise

employment law

issues for the

education sector…

…test both quality

and quantity when

looking at a suppliers’

database of

documents – less is

often more…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 9

It is not enough to simply tweak some generalist

employment or HR boilerplate contracts and policies.

Documentation, and good appropriate documentation is

now a cost of market entry.

The days when offering some free documents was a

mechanism for generating leads and prospects are long

gone. Suppliers must demonstrate their skill levels here,

not expect free templates to generate business.

Entry Level Service here is establishing a credible

precedent bank which can cover the various types of

contract required, not just for teaching staff but all the

ancillary roles as well. Keeping these up to date and

synchronised with Staff Handbooks or variants of the

Burgundy and Green books is the bare minimum.

Level 2 Service incorporates these documents into a

DMS (document management system). This is not just a

precedent bank, but a mechanism for ensuring all staff

are compliant and that the headache of who’s on what

versions (versioning) is automated. It should also ensure

that exceptions and atypical working issues are identified

and managed. These databases are often off-site or

accessible through supplier web portals increasingly, as

Cloud and secure storage is readily cost effective now.

Level 3 Services take the DMS a stage further with

increased autonomy for the school managers to

automatically create compliant documents themselves.

Law firms are familiar with complex drafting tools such as

Business Integrity/Contract Express or Exari (which are

often a sledgehammer to crack a nut here), but solutions

from the likes of Software Europe and Eledecks are much

more relevant. Form automation is now a mature

software niche with leaders like HotDocs.

Level 4 Services make the DMS and the automation

context and end user specific. Training and automated

support is built in to the systems, whereas in many cases

clients are simply expected to pick up the phone with

earlier versions.

The sheer number of free document offerings, and

flooding the market with ‘good-enough’ solutions means

there is no viable future here for the big publishing

…tweaking some

boilerplate is no

longer enough –

expect more…

…there is no need for

the paper chase

anymore – expect

compliance support

to minimise the

headaches here…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 10

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 11

teams, which is a shame. Teams like Croner in the past

would have brought a level of editorial integrity that is

often now missing. Instead buyers have to reply on the

software underpinning here. The who, what, where,

when and why now trump the what, typically. Law firms

incorporate documentation, often now to level 2 or 3.

Many will be (or certainly should be) using document

automation software and you should ask them to

disclose and explain how it underpins their service. Some

buyers will even specify it. All serious consultancies are

already building level 3-4 offerings too, typically on

bespoke platforms. That these services are not often

readily visible simply reflects the fact that it is a core

service component for their service delivery. Increasingly

it will become what is termed ‘distributed’, ie available

for buyers to use on site. The game has moved on from

the quality of the documents now to the compliant

(auto-) generation, variation and storage of them with

context sensitive help.

Level 5 solutions here are not yet common, but include

the contract lifecycle management (CLM) techniques

now common in procurement compliance systems.

Capturing all of the contracts and automating their

compliance in procurement is commonplace in many

industries; it will come to school information

management systems (SIMS) too sooner or later.

HR & Employment Law Advice

Competition between law firms and governance, risk and

compliance (GRC) consultancies here typically focuses on

their claim to offer a nominated solicitor or advisor

service; ie you speak to the same person each time (and

they are, eg a qualified solicitor). The gradations of

service are subtle however, and while almost everyone

claims to offer the solicitor on-call facility, other ‘hygiene’

factors are often more important in reality.

It is not as simple as saying that a lower grade of adviser

or a more call-centre style approach is necessarily poor

quality. For some levels of advice and support that may

be the most appropriate option (and the most

appropriate cost).

…some buyers now

specify that suppliers

have to use

document

automation in their

service delivery…

…advisory quality

levels run from

‘talking book’ to

industry thought-

leaders – and all

points in between…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 12

Increasingly it is more important now to have a supplier

who’s internal client relations management (CRM)

systems are top notch, and that they ensure the advisor

can quickly call up details of the clients and their

matter(s), latest advice sought and given, emails and

supporting documents. In this context speaking to the

same advisor as last time can become less important,

especially if the matters is one which needs escalating in

any event.

A CIPD qualified HR advisor on an advice line 8am-6pm is

fairly standard throughout the year (not just term times).

You should certainly expect that that advisor will usually

have come from within the education systems in an HR

role, and so know the nuances well. Cover out of hours

will usually be by call referrals, but callbacks are typically

instantaneous (or very close to) for HR teams. Some law

firms will still run the 1-2 day call backs on non-retainer

funded enquiries, but increasingly their triage processes

are now same day or quicker (while they assess if you

have a case and that they can handle it). Among GRC

consultancies 24/7/365 advisory cover is now the norm,

while expectations are clearly different at different times

of day. GRC teams also operate an all-you-can-eat

approach to advice, ie you can call as often and for as

long as you like.

Law firms will typically start with newly to 3-year post

qualification experience solicitors on retainer work.

These staff often have solid project/case experience in

education but they are not yet ‘dedicated’ experts in this

field (ie they will also cover NHS, charity, property or

employment work). The lead partners and ‘rain-makers’

will often secure business, but quickly retreat to a

supervisory role delegating to their team, and the issues

here are typically the degree of specialisation within the

team, and the level of post qualification experience

typically retained. Larger teams will have more scope for

depth of specialisation, and it is increasingly rare

nowadays to find advisors managing both claimant and

respondent work.

The trend in buying legal services is to no longer expect

to be charged for the training of the legal staff, so buyers

can and should specify the caliber and qualifications of

…CRM systems can be

more important than

nominated advisors…

…The GRC business

model favours and

all-you-can-eat

approach to advice…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 13

the advisors they expect. Law firms are typically much

more candid about this than GRC consultancies, but do

ask; they should all be happy to show the level of

qualifications behind their service.

Law firms prefer a retainer approach, as their work is

usually project based, issue specific and sporadic.

Typically, these are batches of hours of their time paid

for in advance. GRC consultancies will prefer an annual

subscription, which encourages clients to use the service

as often as possible. Law firms typically use retainers to

lock out competitors, reduce the fear of big bills, and

effectively keep tabs on issues at an early stage. GRC and

HR teams typically want to pre-empt issues arising that

could escalate into a contentious matter at all. When

offering a genuinely fixed fee solution, law firms typically

fear being called too often on low-grade issues; GRC/HR

teams see it as a way of embedding reliance and upping

compliance. This is known as the ‘fence at the top of the

cliff – versus the ambulance at the bottom’ conundrum.

Law firms make great ambulances. GRC teams build great

fences.

There is much professional rivalry between lawyers and

non-lawyers. Solicitors often consider commercial

barristers, paralegals, legal executives and especially HR

consultants a lower level of competence. They typically

lead with their protected client privilege as a core client

benefit. Litigators and transaction lawyers also see each

other differently, as do those coming from commercial

finance, property or employment law specialisms. Hourly

fee rates will typically be higher for commercial finance

and property specialists, but the experience levels

(typically measured by 3/5/10+ years post qualification

experience) matters just as much.

For HR consultancies, the issue is what the quality of the

advisors’ experience was in their roles within HR teams.

Some will see non-education blue chip experience as a

key benefit to refresh the team; others will focus on the

levels of compliance specialism undertaken. Experience

in industrial relations negotiation and compensation and

benefits competencies are highly prized in the HR

industry. They are rare and valuable, albeit not the

aspects that many in HR aspire to (recruitment and

…retainers are often

simply mechanisms

for buying batches of

hours in advance…

…retainers are often

simply mechanisms

for buying batches of

hours in advance…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 14

organisational development are often more sought after

outside compliance circles). A good IR (industrial

relations) specialist can be worth more than a 5 or even

10 year+ qualified solicitor in some cases.

It is a key strength of the legal profession that a

commercial property lawyer one day can become a

chaity adviser the next. In education, and espcially in

employment law, these specialisation are becoming

increasingly complex. Buyers should again take care that

they are not paying for the re-training of a commercial

lawyer into this specialism. A three year specialist can be

worth a lot more thana 10 year qualified generlist.

‘Softer’ HR skills such as training, recruitment and

organisation development are a lower priority for HR

consultancies here, although many still offer leadership

and other ‘soft HR’ skills as a complementary service. HR

support on this basis is typically sold on an interim-style

approach, ie clients pay for 1 day a week/month. The

compliance services are typically fixed fee, however, and

offered on a genuine ‘all-you-can-eat’ basis.

There is no ‘killer application’ here. An optimal mix of

some heavyweight industrial relations experience, a

comp & ben specialist, some good litigators, commercial

transaction specialists and a balance of CIPD and solicitor

advisors takes time to build and sustain. Finding the

majority of these people from within the education

sector is tough too. But on balance this is the preferred

approach by School Heads and bursars. Buyers want the

contentious issues gone, not just managed, and it is a

management systems approach backed by these

competencies that delivers this best. There remains room

for some law firms to stay on their gladiatorial high

ground, and in brand protecting litigation (especially

around safeguarding issues) they remain the preferred

choice for obvious reasons.

Training & eLearning/LMS

Techniques for making a service ‘tangible’ or visible are

in short supply and most suppliers see supplying training

as one of the best routes. It comes in many guises,

however.

…buyers of legal

services typically no

longer expect to pay

for the training of

staff within law

firms…

…the trick is to

minimise the

occurrence of

compliance events,

not simply manage

them…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 15

The number and quality of training interventions offered

by all types of supplier here is vast and typically ‘good-

enough’. Compliance training is too small a market

nationally for trainers (other than one man bands) to

specialise in; especially so since virtually every other

supplier offers training as part of their service range in

some form. Some local individuals do excel here, but the

business of such enterprising individuals is typically very

reliant on the individual and the locality.

Entry level approaches are typically high level updates

delivered at the trainers premises. What to you is a ‘free’

or nominal fee update, for them is a promotional

opportunity. As a buyer you will get to sample the

professionalism of the suppliers and see if you can get on

with their front line people. It is rare for buyers to abuse

these promotional contacts with aggressive post event

sales chasing, but any buyer should be aware that they

are putting their hand up as a key sales prospect by

attending A few firms have refreshed this approach with

TEDx venues, etc, and it remains a stalwart more actively

pursued by law firms now than GRC teams. Increasingly

now promotional training events are being offered jointly

with affinity groups or other commercial partners.

The more sophisticated approaches to compliance

training seek to embed training within client services.

This can range from offering substantial discounts on

courses for in-house managers ranging from 10% to 25%

and 50% to bespoke programmes. Buyers here typically

have to decide what they are trying to achieve. Do you

want to tool-up your in-house compliance specialists, or

do you want to get awareness of risks trained in to non-

specialists. The expensive way to do this is the old

fashioned route of sending staff on generic managing

safely or HR soft skills training public courses. This relies

on them managing the transfer of learning, and it is often

more of a CV tick than a genuine improvement of

compliance during the day job. Look for teams who will

train key individuals on the key issues for your site(s) and

built it in to a holistic compliance management system. It

should be a part of your normal HR appraisal outputs,

but it is specialist and needs to be (your) context specific.

…face-to-face or

chalk-and-talk

training is on the

wane (and has been

for some time)…

…the importance of

training lies primarily

in its targeted

deployment within a

compliance

management

system…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 16

Delivery is increasingly dominated by eLearning in recent

years with permit-to-work style courses and quick

compliance event focused sessions proving the most

robust. Many Institutes and membership bodies have

developed their own suites now and offer both VC

enhancement and genuine compliance management

system deployment.

Timing can be more important than erudition here and

much of what is required, especially for non-compliance

professionals, is quite mundane. The provision of

appropriate targeted learning to avoid compliance events

is the key. Most standard learning management systems

get this wrong, as while personal ambitions and the

recording of who has been on trained on what by whom

and when matters, it is the compliance context that

suppliers here are now focusing on.

Be careful to know when the training is doing the

supplier more of a favour than you.

Case Management & Investigations

The aim should always be to not just get complaint, but

to stay compliant. Handling any given compliance event

(typically a dismissal or legal dispute) is only one instance

of this. Handling that is important, obviously, cost

effectively ensuring the incidence of it in the future drops

or is eliminated is the real goal.

The management system is the key, and both solicitor-

led and GRC based teams get this. Increasingly law firms

are partnering with HR consultancy teams, spawning

their own or occasionally breaking away to deliver a

hybrid approach. Buyers now need to ensure the

technology underpinning the supplier’s service is good

enough.

All GRC teams will have recording and client relations

management(CRM) systems which track the advice

required and given; most solicitors will too, although law

firms tend to focus more on case management systems

rather than advice recording. Good suppliers cover both

and should be very happy to explain what their systems

cover and how.

…be careful to know

when training is

doing the supplier

more of a favour than

you…

…the aim is not just

to get compliant, but

to stay compliant…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 17

Law firms now expect to have case management systems

specified as part of their service engagement, although

this is still quite rare with HR consultancies. GRC teams

with a legal expenses insurance background will have

these support systems in place too. Buyers can and

should specify them increasingly, with SIMS, document

and case management systems integration becoming

increasingly important.

The point is that these issues drive cost effectiveness and

speak directly to price. Buyers can reasonably expect

lower prices to be underpinned by such systems as they

remove waste and inconsistencies in the suppliers’

systems.

There are no ‘bad’ advisers here, but there can be

capacity and focus issues. Buyers will be worried that

advisers who are not exclusively focused on employment

law issues in schools are sufficiently up to speed

nowadays, every bit as much as they will worry about the

ability of a generalist HR team to cover the legal bases.

Independence and professionalism in investigations can

be a key point in retaining external advisors. It is a

genuine skill, and increasingly also an industry specialist

one. Backed by a compliance management system

approach it can make the likelihood of cases settling

much higher. Buyers should not just focus on COT3s or

settlement agreement prices, but explore this

competence in some detail. The price for compromise or

settlement agreements can be a barometer, but it can

also be very misleading where firms use it as a loss

leader.

Law firms with a ‘gladiatorial’ focus will over-engineer

compliance services typically. Some of the smarter ones

actually partner with GRC teams fully recognising this

and playing to their respective strengths. The winning

solution is the one that ensures the compliance

management procedures and systems in place mean the

future incidence of these issues is reduced, while

simultaneously making the evidence gathering process

quick and reliable.

…case management

is now a heavily

systematized process

– good suppliers will

be happy to show you

under the bonnet…

…look below headline

pricing issues such as

compromise

agreements,

especially where they

are offered as loss

leaders…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 18

Absence and Attendance Management

Absence is an issue compliance suppliers focus on as it is

often a precursor to employee relations issues arising. It

is potentially a very quick win for many consultancies

focused on ways to reduce the incidence of compliance

events, as there are solutions here which touch on HR,

safety and occupational health (OH).

A well established outsourcing approach is to offer an

externally managed calling point for absentees to use,

ensuring that honesty is introduced to the process. This

often reduces the incidence of ‘sickies’ in and of itself.

Some will offer nurse-led call centres to handle volume

here rather than simply HR call centre staff, and some

will have processes in place for intelligent escalation of

medical issues too.

These outsourcing services automatically notify (by text

or email) the staff involved in filling the gaps. Levels of

service here are typically technology enabled.

Compliance management systems will deliver good

management information with pattern recognition and

cost evaluation to identify where different levels of

remedial action are required (the Bradford Factor).

Some teams in the HR sector already have relationships

with full occupational health teams with case

management and return to work/fit for work programs in

place. The focus of a busy school, for example, is often on

the logistical headache of cover and supply teachers,

while the compliance back-ups can deal with the causes

of the problems and the options available.

Recent changes to NHS fit for work services have some

impact here, but there is a case still for especially senior

staff being managed back to work pro-actively. This is a

specific type of OH competence however, which is not a

core part of the competitive landscape here yet. (See

ancillary services below.)

Dedicated Employment Law Advisors/Solicitors

The days when the main fear in choosing an external

supplier was they’d simply prove to be a bucket shop

who sell well and don’t deliver are long gone. The access

to your own solicitor pitch is effectively an account

…professionally

handling ‘sickies’ can

reduce the incidence

of it quickly…

…professional

occupational health

back-up is an

increasingly valuable

facility…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 19

management guarantee and virtually all suppliers here

can and do offer it.

If anything now the law firms have to prove that you are

not going to get passed from pillar to post and deal with

someone who didn’t know your last case, while traded

services teams are more likely to be perceived (unfairly

often) as call centre approaches. Law firms are typically

better than accountancy practices, for example, in

service delivery by the second tier or ‘back-office), but do

ask who will be the real advisors should you proceed.

The ability to track and record every client interaction is

in reality a technology solution which GRC suppliers are

often very good at now. The issue has in reality moved

on. The systems, which track the call and advice given,

should now be able to deliver audit trails and evidential

records to court standards at the press of a button.

Typically when suppliers are saying you will have access

to adviser X or solicitor Y they are trying to deal with your

concerns that (a) you don’t have to keep re-explaining

issues, and (b) your talking to people of the right level

(not either overqualified and especially not

underqualified). The issue now is all about escalation. All

of the good teams will aim to ensure you do get through

to the named (1,2 or 3) advisors you know of, but they

are focused now on intelligent escalation. This means

their systems must show them the background to any

calls or cases; extant advice and documentation;

timescales. If they have this, the named advisor issue is

less important, but do ask them how they escalate

matters and what the IT back-up is.

Payroll Support

Pay scales, grades and increments can be very

complicated in education, but this Gordian knot has been

cut with increasing autonomy options. It is no surprise

that one of the key market leaders here came from a

payroll technology group background, as this is a classic

example of the technology catching up with an industry

requirement.

…solicitors make

much of the client

privilege issue; for

litigators it matters;

for transactional

issues it is less

important…

…payroll is no longer

the industrial scale

processing

technology issue it

used to be…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 20

Good-enough payroll solutions are now plentiful for the

growing band of autonomous schools and colleges. The

choice to manage it internally as a core competence

tends to only have one repercussion. Just as HR people

tend to underestimate the scope of safety services,

payroll people tend to underestimate HR compliance

nuances. They are happy to partner instead with law

firms and these partnerships seem to work well.

Services here need not also be comprehensive and in

many cases schools identify and sub-contract only their

atypical payrolls. Peripatetics, locums, hourly and

seasonal staff can be outsourced, and co-incidentally

these are the areas where often the largest avoidable

risks lie. Some HR teams run full payroll outsourcing

teams, some bureau work only, and owning the payroll

software competence is not a core requirement.

Making the records, payment and accuracy issues are at

the heart of the matter. Basic systems here often

outsource payroll to a bureau on a self- or fully managed

basis, and this was often the heart of the central LEA

service in reality. In an ‘apps’ world the expectation that

an HRIS or administration system can be all things to all

men is disappearing, and now applications that genuinely

‘talk’ to each other are becoming the norm. Potentially

in 2020 the Blockchain technology will make this

distributed ledger approach a reality (but timings are still

very fluid here).

It is entirely possible now to run a compliance

management system approach alongside a separate

payroll system or bureau. Most law firms and HR or GRC

teams will be able to link in to Sage, IRIS, Intuit or other

main brand payroll systems. They will happily run

alongside bureau offerings too. The issue to need to

focus on is to what extent they can extract or link data

there to their case management or compliance activities.

HR Information Systems

Do not confuse an HR administration system with a

compliance management system. HR administration

software delivers the former and the developers of them

are good at it. They will even have modules called case

management or employee relations, but these are not

…payroll people tend

to underestimate

employee relations

complexities just as

HR people tend to

underestimate safety

ones…

…technology linking

and intelligent

escalation are the key

issues to focus on…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 21

compliance management systems. HR software teams,

even ones with integrated payroll rarely have the legal

expertise behind these systems to keep them up to date

with the legal changes and when they have looked at

legal systems design they have typically again not been

willing or able to keep up to date with changes in it. The

two differ significantly and while no one wants to be

running multiple systems, which may or may not co-

operate trying to simply bolt on legal systems is usually a

world of pain. A compliance management system can

and should share data with a SIMS or any other payroll,

asset management, LMS, DMS or safety management

system. Its function is to ensure compliance and typically

covers people, property and asset risks seamlessly.

Early compliance management systems here were often

simply dairy management based ones via a client portal

with the free document templates alongside. Version 2

systems added risk assessments, more documents and

some eLearning for good measure. Version 3 was in

some cases a full HR administration system as well,

usually over-engineered and rarely plugged in. Version 4

is the cloud based, smart phone integrated system with

apps for absence, payroll, holidays, EAP benefits,

appraisals, etc all built in and proactively managing

compliance events (and risks) at an individual level. Not

many are there yet, but the days when these cost

millions to develop are long gone. Expect suppliers to be

able to offer full HR administration systems through a

partner now if need be, but frankly for most smaller sites

payroll bureau and compliance issues are the key risks

and much of the fuller enterprise or HR management

systems functionality will be unused.

Law firms and ex-LA teams will be familiar more with

case management and document management systems.

Teams like IKEN demonstrate how far business process

management software developers have taken even local

authority based solutions. Initially focused on tracking

time & billing systems, these legal sector specialists all

included powerful case and matter management systems

now alongside the email and document management

systems. Good ones increasingly offer client visibility too

on a real time basis. If the law firm suppliers are not keen

…do not confuse HR

admin or enterprise

management systems

with compliance

management ones…

…mobile friendly

systems are already

becoming the norm…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 22

to show you how these systems underpin what they do,

ask why. Some buyers even specify a shortlist of key

software suppliers here. Look out for names such as

Eclipse, Iken, Peppermint, among others. Law firm shave

no shortage of very solid software support. You should

be the beneficiary of it in reduced time, increased

efficiency and support.

Suppliers who have no such systems on offer are now

looking more like the farriers than the cars of the future.

Deployment of technology is no longer a mechanism for

charging a premium. It is a mechanism for delivering

consistent quality at lower prices.

Health & Safety

The entry-level health & safety service is one that covers

slips, trips and accidents support, basic risk assessment

practices and the reporting formalities that come with

these. The range of specialist risks beyond that, however,

are legion, and while the above come as standard for

most GRC service offerings and some law firms too now,

there are a whole range of specialist safety risks which

fall under the Property risk category below.

Covering anything other than basic fire safety is a

specialist property risk (doors, alerts systems, design,

testing, etc), catering and food safety is an occupational

hygiene specialism and an industry in its own right, as are

asbestos and construction safety issues.

School safety requires specialist understanding of the

nature of the building legacy (and asbestos usually rears

its ugly head), while security, vacant premises and

oddities such as chemical storage and explosives can all

crop up. It is important for suppliers not to over promise

here. While they like to squeeze as many specialisms into

their van as they can, in reality few do more than 2 or 3

core services well.

First base is covering the basic avoidable ‘slips, trips and

accidents’. Experience with playgrounds, recreation fields

and the machinery and practices around maintaining and

enjoying them is now established well, so look for

suppliers with genuine credibility here. As with the

documentation and advisory issues above, the skill sets

…tech delivers lower

prices and service

consistency – don’t

fall for the ‘premium’

investment

arguments every

time…

…start with the

simple slips, trips and

accidents avoidance

work to remove the

biggest source of

wasted management

time…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 23

here are IoSHH and NEBOSH based. While environmental

issues are high profile, they are relatively low impact

compared to the much more mundane safety issues of

fire safety, food safety and Riddor reporting.

Law firms are typically behind the pace here, as are pure

HR consultancies and the myriad of safety specialists still

lead in service depth and delivery. Automated risk

assessments, diary based compliance management

systems here are commonplace now, and as with DMS

and CMS approaches, suppliers you should increasingly

expect them to prove their competence now in

technology driven management systems here.

Some people outsource highly complex compliance

issues because they cannot afford it in-house and it is

non-core to their business. More often firms outsource

routine or mundane risks (ie simple slips, trips and

accident risk/cover) as it is not worth covering

professionally in house. In schools, issues such as, eg

grounds maintenance can be low priority and readily

covered by outsourcers, while some esoteric chemical or

food safety risk have to be managed in-house. The choice

is yours.

The latest safety systems are increasingly focused on

both qualification and certification approaches.

Professional procurement is highly developed in this

sector now and for schools as any other area, buyers can

and should specify the levels of service support in ever

more detail. A key service of the frameworks was to

marshal this paper chase of qualifications among

suppliers and remove some of the administration burden

here. A best of breed approach in safety especially means

many will not volunteer for these buying approaches,

seeing them as price sensitive and costly processes. It is a

challenge for the frameworks, but if you can, go direct to

find best of breed suppliers here. They are typically not

linked to law firms, HR or GRC teams, although many GRC

teams now manage their own safety specialists in house

quite well.

Recruitment and Induction Support

The compliance aspects of recruitment are rarely well

covered by recruitment agencies and external firms

…the government

register of safety

practitioners is not

much use as a

qualitative approach

to assessing how

good safety

specialists are…

…safety services very

quickly get very

specialist – adopt a

best of breed

approach…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 24

focused on finding the individuals on commissions.

Permits to work, immigration, DBS, pre-employment

medicals, safeguarding and qualification compatibility

checks are all now increasingly common, however, and

HR and GRC teams especially are now building this is to

their service range well.

Ensuring induction and issues such as pre-employment

medicals are covered properly is the usual first step. See

below under ancillary services for the rest. The trend is

very much towards integrating more of these services

into core packages however, but there are (albeit

modest) cost barriers to doing so.

Ancillary Services DBS and permit to work searching are increasingly

commoditised services and being an umbrella body for

criminal records searching, for example, is now quite

common among GRC teams. Covering this again for

atypical staff and contracts is common too, and it works

best when backed with the compliance management

systems traffic lighting compliance status. Some firms will

offer batched low price bundles for DBS searches if you

ask.

Immigration and qualification checking is likely to

become a higher profile issue in the coming years. In

most cases this is not an in-house specialism but an

outsourced one for the suppliers. Most law firms will

have access to immigration specialists in house, but

increasingly GRC teams are also developing this.

Occupational Health is a massive field in its own right and

the key issues here of return to work and long-term

sickness case management are again usually soured

through best of breed partners. Schools will not typically

have a preference here and will value referred or vetted

partners.

Pensions have been a high profile issue for some time

now and there are especial constraints applicable here

where competence in the National LGPS technicalities

…not many

recruitment agencies

do compliance that

well – use the

specialists to support

the recruitment

process…

…occupational health

is a technical area

undergoing much

change currently;

look for best of breed

partners…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 25

are a pre-condition. Competence in this sector is assured

through a national procurement framework.

Compensation & benefits generally are often managed as

a special partner consultancy and this technical

specialism within HR is now both rare and expensive

typically. The benchmarks relevant to discrimination

issues are vital, but running a credible database internally

is rare.

Employee assistance programs and additional benefits

offered to staff are also typically best offered through

insurance-based specialist partners. This is typically a

very price sensitive area where the usual insurance

procurement skepticism should apply.

Governor support services are increasingly available, not

just from traded services or ex-LEA teams now. The logic

behind using this channel to demonstrate compliance

competence is obvious and teams like Browne Jacobson

have built the relationship with the NGA accordingly.

Clerking services require an ability to be on-site

regionally and at odd hours cost effectively, but there is

much more than can be offered as Judicium’s Governor

Advisory Service or The Key’s School Governors service

demonstrates. Historically only LEA teams were able to

do this, and some of the independents here have used

this well in their client prospecting. For now, this is a

service offering packaged by some premium players but

it could well become a more important service area for

all serious suppliers going forward and a core service

barrier to market entry as it requires credible local

presences nationwide.

…competition among

leading suppliers is

now increasingly

looking at ways of

managing governor

support…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 26

Property (& Intellectual Property) Risks

For law firms the number of firms citing employment law

as a key competence is very closely followed by their

claims to expertise in property law. In particular public

sector property finance and PFI/ PPP/PF2/BSF expertise

is top of the list, but also construction, major projects

and all other aspects of property from sub-letting school

property to further education student accommodation

projects.

Law firms are the clear leaders here and are likely to

remain largely unchallenged on these core major projects

by any except the larger accountancy firms migrating into

legal services. The rivalry here currently comes from

other law firms with Third Sector or Public Sector

expertise seeking to diversify, and there is no shortage of

those. Accordingly, the pressure on these property teams

to embed themselves further with this sector is high and

likely to grow. This is good for buyers as not only is the

frequency of major project dropping but the eagerness of

law firms to compete for them is rising.

The majority of the remaining services related to

property risks fall under the category of Health & Safety

and Environment. The ‘4th P’ of ‘Intellectual Property’ is

important too, but very much a particular legal

specialism. ICT and computer risk issues generally are a

major concern for all schools and some of the GRC teams

actively cover both of these risk areas. In particular some

safety and GRC teams are looking already at ways of

incorporating data security support services. When

buying these services be sure to ask not just for

guarantees that the services will not in any sense

jeopardise the security of the establishment, but see

what other services are in development here.

Where GRC teams compete with law firms here, they do

so on packaged solutions for:

Health & Safety & Health and safety IT

ICT Support

SIMS Support

Attendance/Security Issues

…law firms are

chasing fewer major

projects and fighting

harder to get them…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 27

Construction/CDM

Web and CRM

Health & Safety and HSE Technology

The market for safety software systems is well developed

in the UK and currently undergoing something of a

bubble in demand terms. Essentially compliance

modules for enterprise software systems, the core diary

management functions are driven by asset registers and

risk assessment milestones.

Document management systems and automated risk

assessment and audit facilities are typical, with bespoke

reporting and management information alerting often

now in real time. Seamless regulator reporting for

compliance events is taken for granted now, and a heavy

document and eLearning base is commonplace.

Special school risks around asbestos are well known and

this is a competence few generalist safety teams will

have (or want). Partnering here is common and a good

choice of partners exists with school experience in place.

Food safety is another specialist sector and an industry in

its own right heavily controlled through procurement

frameworks and institutional certifications. Developing

these levels of certification competence organically takes

a long time, and again good partners are available.

Watch out for some real niche specialisms

which will be required in many cases,

notably working at height regulation

compliance, WEEE regulations, CoSHH,

powered perimeter gates, etc. There is established

support here to a significant degree already and guidance

from CLEAPSS explains the areas involved in some detail.

The majority of ICT risks are dealt with more than

adequately by the wide range of school IT specialist

support teams. Overlaps with RSI and DSE regulations are

easily accommodated in most HSIT systems. Where GRC

support overlaps it typically does so in integration of

eLearning and LMS systems and integration of asset

management or payroll systems with compliance

systems.

…safety teams still

hinge around an on-

site assessment

capability…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 28

As with HR and employment law, construction issues

range from the brand threatening big ticket projects to

the mundane and the routine. CDM issues arise on a

regular basis and are typically better dealt with by GRC

support teams than law firms.

High profile efforts to help schools with web pages and

brand identity come around on a regular basis. There is

clearly a demand for this, but it is rarely sustained for

long. Teams such as 3BM lead here, but the link to

supporting other compliance led efforts is typically

tenuous, and it tends to work better as an extra string to

the bow of a lively development team rather than a core

service for compliance.

Procurement Risks

Competition here is typically between accountancy firms,

financial software teams and law firms, usually along

fairly traditional lines for these industry boundaries.

Since the school business manager role migrated away

from its traditional bursar core, however, a wider range

of services have been offered and supported by the

education sector.

For law firms, the key services here are advice on

contracts and procurement, and they have practically

cornered the market in legal services frameworks for

supplying advice and services to local government buyers

and public sector certified sources. There are as yet very

few GRC frameworks where the service specifications

range beyond the reserved specialisms of law firms, but

we expect this to change progressively, or for private

sector certifications to increasingly come in to play here

as they do in other markets.

Law firms also embed their services here with the project

work on corporate status and transitions into different

statuses. This is the overlap with the Third and Voluntary

sector expertise which historically has been theirs alone.

To what extent accountancy firms’ legal teams will seek

to migrate into this specific sector remains to be seen,

however. Accountancy practices largely treat schools as

they do any other industry and it is more from software

teams such as HCSS that innovation is being driven here.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 29

Well over half of the GRC teams who do corporate law

and procurement advice do offer, for example, academy

conversion project management, while they also offer

financial support and even budgetary and audit support

for bursars on financial issues. This is a lucrative sector in

its own right, albeit significantly smaller on an ongoing

basis than the HR or Property risks sectors.

Frameworks

While the maintained sector diminishes progressively,

the need for Frameworks in procurement could be

expected to diminish, but we feel this is unlikely. First,

the next few years should see frameworks expand to

cover more than ‘legal services’ or HR consultancy’

narrowly defined, but expand to include GRC support

services. Secondly, while the public sector beneficiaries

of these frameworks see savings in pricing and processes,

the informal certification or approval of suppliers that

these frameworks confer will still have relevance to both

maintained and autonomous schools and colleges.

Thirdly, the private sector is no stranger to certification

processes which enhance tendering processes and

supplier qualification. Such schemes may arise of their

own accord; or existing private sector teams may move

in to support the autonomous heads. This service is

designed to facilitate that very process.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 30

Summary

You cannot buy barristers like biros, or solicitors like

stationery. It really isn’t all about price either. You have

to differentiate between making stress purchases on high

profile issues and projects and establishing long term

partnerships on often quite mundane and routine issues.

Hammer down prices on advice lines, for example, and

you’ll get talking book level service, when you might

need more. Equally skimp on litigation support and you

may pay twice elsewhere.

The key to buying compliance partners is to treat it like a

recruitment experience, not a supermarket one. Find the

skill levels you are comfortable with and pay the best you

can afford for a tightly specified service level.

Pricing

Fixed fees and retainers. Everyone in legal services is

talking about fixed fee work and offering price certainty

and budget ease for buyers. In reality many law firms are

still simply batching hours and offering up-front

payment. Knowing when an issue escalates is the key

thing, ie when the more expensive ‘clocks’ kick in.

Many HR consultancies, HR teams within law firms and

all of the regulatory consultancies offer genuine ‘all-you-

can-eat’ arrangement whereby you will still have access

to solicitors and qualified HR staff, but they are backing

this with the implementation of a compliance

management system and accordingly back this up with a

promise that you can call as often as you like for as long

as you like. This is the closest model to the old in-house

or central services model, but it is usually backed by a

legal expenses insurance approach rather than a regional

focus. The insurance backing is usually run as a captive

element of the service and the escalation discussion here

are all around the issue of the likelihood of success at a

hearing and the closeness with which any advice was

sought or followed.

The key distinction is the management systems

approach, however, not the ability of a firm to simply

…treat compliance

and legal

procurement like a

recruitment, not a

supermarket

shopping exercise…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 31

offer refreshed or bespoke documentation. Especially in

safety services this is key. The suppliers will be genuinely

able to offer you reduced prices if you are prepared to

meet them half way and fix the procedures and policies

you deploy.

Retainers: Pricing by law firms is typically on a batched

hourly rate, and the stronger brands will be pitching at

the £200 per hour level or more. Packages will usually

seek to open at the £200 per month as a minimum and

are more usually £5-6k pa for established law firm

brands. Case management will be in addition to this, and

at the higher prices you can expect 3-4 on-site

consultations or training events as a minimum included

in the package. Most firms enhance packages with 10-

20% discounts on hourly rates for major work and

elective training. HR consultancies will open with rates

from £70 per hour, but can and do overlap with the law

firms to a significant degree.

The RPA: The Risk Protection Arrangement run by the

DfE for Academy Trusts currently works at a benchmark

rate of £20 per pupil per year to deliver insurance cover

from Willis (and a claims handling company). Essentially

this insurance is deducted automatically from the general

annual grant by the EFA. Cover is provided on a claims

occurring basis (ie you can claim outside a covered year if

the incident arose during cover), but this is essentially a

pure insurance product. It relies on academies having

put a compliance management system in place. The

terms are here. The legal expenses cover at £20 per pupil

is a hidden but significant cost of this to even quite

modest schools in now significant. Over 7% of academies

opt out and at these rates we suspect more will.

We analysed the ex-traded services teams in

Hertfordshire, Newham and Manchester to test this £20

benchmark. In those regions the full cost of services

offered from payroll, training, employee relations, HR

support, learning and curricular support and more came

to between £102 to £131 per pupil per year (inner cities

are more costly). In this context the safety and legal

expenses cover under the RPA appears costly. We advise

bursars and head to start with the £20 per pupil cost

…don’t confuse

batched hours

retainers with

genuine fixed fee

agreements…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 32

level and see which suppliers can offer you the biggest

savings in delivering compliance service support.

Regulatory Consultancies: these firms and their HR

consulting sister companies typically charge on a

percentage of payroll basis. Entry level fees for a site per

year often start at around £1200-1800 pa, but escalate

according to the size of the payroll. Some flex this also by

the number of locations (common in safety services) and

the number of ‘heads’ or a mechanism to reflect the

number of atypical workers. Some firms will charge more

in year one than year 2 or 3 and some will seek to tie you

in for 5 years or more. There is no need for this. Safety

service suppliers rarely if ever seek to tie you in to long

contracts, and it is becoming less common now for the

long tie in contracts to be required even among

regulatory consultancies. Many do expect automatic

renewal procedures to apply, however, on shorter

contract periods. Annual contracting is now common for

both employment and safety services.

For a small school of say 100 pupils, the RPA will be

costing the school £2k pa. This will typically be a small

single site with c8 staff. Regulatory consultancies will

open their pricing for an establishing of this size at a

similar price point, but you will get higher quality

advisers available 24/7, better bespoke documentation

and a typically on-line management system, dedicated

professional support, and often the employment and

safety cover integrated as well. It is not hard to see why

even at this level the regulatory consultancies are making

strong progress now. It is forcing the law firms to adopt

similar approaches, often with in-house HR teams

operating on similar bases, and increasingly even now

also offering HR software packages in support also.

At higher price points, the case becomes even more

compelling. At £1m school payroll levels, the RPA cost is

probably north of £7.5k while regulatory consultancy

pricing will open at£5.6-5.8k (and be negotiable

downwards from there depending on complexity,

number of sites etc. Shop around.

…there are clear

examples of

opportunities to both

improve quality of

service and reduce

price…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 33

Market Profile & Positioning

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 34

The Rating System

The NED rating system is quite simply a distillation of the financial due

diligence buyers of legal and GRC services use. It is not a credit rating

system; those cannot show you market positioning and competitive intensity

(just old profitability histories). It is not a peer ranking system, as frankly

there are no bad suppliers in this market, and how firms differ in what they

do and how they do it is much more important than how close they are to

their peers nowadays. It is not a simple directory or listing, as we analyse

decades of financial and operational data on every supplier. It’s not secret,

but it is clever. We aim to track what firms do, not just what they say they

do. It is also live and dynamic; we track this data long term backwards and

project performance forward for 3-5 years as well. It is the peace of mind

you need when choosing a partner for a long-term commercial relationship,

based on sound economic evidence and independent expert assessments.

Disruptive Innovation

Suppliers now come from a wide range of industries. Increasingly they can

and do offer a wide range of overlapping (and substitutable) services.

Disruptive innovation typically comes from adjacent or different industries.

Law firms know how to compete with law firms, LEA teams know how to

compete with breakaway ones, and GRC consultancies know how to

compete with insurers, software and other teams as well. Here we have

software application developers empowering established industry insiders,

entrepreneurial ex-bursars and Heads innovating, law firms migrating from

project to sector specialisms, consultancies and advisory teams specialising

in GRC solutions, trainers, recruiters, and safety specialists.

The Challenge

It is not as simple as saying that one part of the education compliance

industry is dying or outmoded and the new energy from disruptors inevitably

will win out. Harvard’s Professor Christensen identifies a conundrum,

however, that very often the people (and more usually the culture,

leadership and the paradigms) involved are uniquely ill equipped to manage

the innovations required to survive. Public sector compliance teams and

their long-standing law firm ‘long stops’ are undoubtedly being disrupted

here. For the law firms, the comfort factors of some large project work mean

many of the biggest firms simply don’t feel any urgency to diversify. It is a

big leap for an LEA advisory team to make a success of traded services, let

alone go independent. In doing so they typically also have to take the

pension liabilities with them (which can be very significant). To transform a

public sector team while carrying the legacy of the decades of public sector

management takes leadership of a special quality and persistence.

…frankly, there

are no bad

suppliers in this

market…

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 35

Apples and Pears

So yes, it is comparing apples and pears to some extent in choosing ‘overall

winners’ here. Some will always prefer industry insiders; others will rely only

on law firm brands; some (indeed many here) will actively seek out fresh

providers. We remove the industry prejudices here, however and look at

commercial factors.

Key Factors

Buyers typically prize the following factors and we have applied the same

attributes of each to every supplier, be they a law firm, a software house, or

a consultancy.

Critical Mass: A proven scale helps. The threshold is lower than you might

think, but having £2-5m of business in a sector shows commitment and

capability. It would be wrong to dismiss firms smaller than this, especially in

some specialised niches, however, so we balance this with ‘focus’ too below.

A £100m law firm with a £1m team trying to cover all the bases may not be

as good a bet as a £1m boutique consultancy, which does that one thing

brilliantly.

Focus: Many can dabble, few genuinely specialise, and being a small after

thought or ‘partner’s pet’ is very different from being a core business line.

Buyers want to know that a supplier is committed to investing in their

education services, and that ideally it will be top of the list for their

developments next year and the year after too. One of the strengths of a

lawyer is their ability to diversify; here it can be a drawback, and at a firm

level, a positive disadvantage over the medium term. The distinguishing

characteristic of the 40 GRC consultancies is that most genuinely specialise

here, whereas of the 80 law firms only a handful could say that education is

a core constituent of their brand (although more will do so, we believe). It

matters; you want to know that they’re going to stay the course.

Growth: Growth long term (compound annual growth rates over longer than

one business cycle) usually confirms that a team is doing something that

clients genuinely value and want. Taking more than a 1-3-year perspective is

important.

Profitability: Doing the right thing for the right people at the right cost are

important. While some teams will deliberately ‘invest’, ie lose money on

start-up or repositioning, in this market that is rare and not economically

mandated. Market leaders will be more profitable than followers, but as

explained above, adjusting law firm profitability for partners ‘drawings’ is

required to compare these firms with their commercial equivalents. Law

firms are typically not inherently that much more profitable than compliance

specialists any more.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 36

Net New Sales: A firm’s capacity to accommodate new business matters.

No-one wants to over-extend a firm, and often firms ‘step’ this growth over

time as they staff up to anticipate it (rather than struggle to accommodate

it). CAGR (compound annual growth rates) tells you that a firm can handle

this long term; NNS (net new sales pa) tells you by how much.

Investment Capacity: The ability of a firm to invest in the future of the

business and this industry in particular is key. This is a function of

profitability and focus, but is probably the most important capability buyers

seeking long-term relationships will look for. It’s not just ‘big is beautiful’,

however; targeting spend matters more.

Project Capacity: For some the requirement is simply to manage a major

project, which may or may not have a long tail. The ability to call in a

sizeable team of specialists is historically the capability which law firms have

been best known for, but it is important to see it as only one of a set of

capabilities. For some projects only full service law firms will have the

necessary scope and depth. It gives law firms a unique appeal; but it is also

no longer the dominant characteristic when clients are seeking a long-term

partner. Some law firms are very comfortable with this, preferring to stay on

the project scale business model. This explains why firms such as Clifford

Chance, Allen & Overy, Linklaters, Freshfields, and Norton Rose can

undoubtedly pull a team together to tackle an education sector project if

needs must; it’s just that they seem to have bigger fish to fry elsewhere.

VFM: Last but never least is ‘value for money’. An indicative measure here is

sales per employee (SPE), the only readily available cross-industry

operational metric. In disruptive competition, however, it is a price/margin

indicator for suppliers and a key decision point for buyers. Value is elastic;

the lowest price is not always the best ‘value’ and in choosing lawyers, for

example, when it comes to brand critical litigation, high hourly rates can be

reassuringly expensive. Thankfully now the VFM metric no longer means

always taking the lowest quote, or even justifying why the lowest price is not

where you start. In service procurement it is never that simple. It is a

misconception that sales per employee rates for law firms, for example, are

much higher than normal commercial firms. In industry terms the highest

SPE ratios usually come major enterprise software firms, not consultancies.

Here, firms investing in service development and migrating away from the

old law firm models will demonstrate the same benchmarks as the

equivalent GRC consultancies. SPE ranges from £75-100k may seem modest

to some, but are normal here.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 37

The Top Education Specialists: 5 Star Firms The top firms here are major businesses with well over £5-

10m+ in sales in education services. These are teams of 100+

employee businesses or divisions who spend all of their time

100% on education projects and client support. Not to be

confused with teams who can tackle major transformation

projects, many of them multi-million pounds in scope, these

team grow through repeat business. Ten years ago this would

have been a list of law firms. Now the top rank is all specialists

from software, HR, finance and ex-LEA backgrounds. This trend

is notable and accelerating currently, although it would be

wrong to assume law firms are simply losing out. The most

engaged law firms are typically focusing on key high value

niches or competing head to head with the GRC teams

increasingly, although very few choose to do both. It is notable

also that the lion’s share of work now comes from schools, not

FE and HE colleges. That is still dominated by the law firms and

the public sector procurement frameworks, but has simply

been outstripped in terms of value by the newly autonomous

school budget holders and their spend on legal risk

management and compliance.

A strategic shift in procurement is clearly to favour a best of

breed approach. The newly independent purses like a wide

service range, but plainly prefer depth in core service

competencies, typically payroll, HR, finance and ICT. Legal

competence has always been highly prized and will continue to

be so, but it is no longer as highly prized as these GRC

specialisms. Where the GRC teams can incorporate aspects of

the legal service competencies, they are warmly encouraged to

do so, typically. Law firms can and do react well to this, but

there remains some cynicism that they can offer the GRC

services as cost effectively as the specialists do. In many cases

this cynicism is unjustified. The acid test is the degree of

autonomy the law firm allows its GRC and HR teams, as where

this is low the pricing and commercial approach is likely to be

compromised. Law firms have won a battle they did not care to

win, and won it handsomely; namely the provision of legal and

regulatory content to school leaders is comprehensively

covered by them. They now regularly package such efforts, but

these are still some way short of the full GRC services that are

winning the day. This will change.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 38

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 39

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 40

The Firms

Strictly Education (ESS)

Strictly Education can justifiably claim leadership in the

market and they have diversified from a payroll core with

a range of financial support services very effectively.

Covering all the bases of GRC support including HR,

finance, ICT, facilities and property support, there is

typically an informational solution initially with software

and services added as investment timings allow.

Formerly part of a VC led HR software agglomeration,

they are now independent following an mbo and in a

position to stretch their lead if they so choose.

Able to partner with some of the premium brands in legal

service specialisms such as Winckworth, they have no

pretensions to cover the top legal competencies, but

span most aspects of the governance risk and compliance

ones. Now bigger than the largest of the independent ex-

LEA teams, they currently have the strongest vote of

confidence from buyers in the market in that they top

the charts in both investment capacity and net new sales

growth delivered.

Coming from a payroll group background they are a value

for money proposition essentially, and in that sense they

complement the premium niche legal brands well, and

rarely offer substitutable services to them. A dedicated

services team hitherto semi-autonomous within an ill-

fated HR software agglomeration, we expect them to

continue to flourish as an autonomous brand. A top

decile firm in terms of investment capacity and delivery.

One Education

Formerly Manchester’s traded services team, this now

independent group offer HR, payroll, finance, governance

and ICT support and you will have to look a long way to

find a demonstration of the fullest range of services

presentable. Their school business management service

includes governor support and clerking services.

Retaining a collegiate style and approach to

comprehensivity of services means they offer a wide

range for tight budgets. Not currently leading the ranks

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 41

in terms of growth or profitability that is due to ancestry

more than quality and they can match the top rank

teams here in terms of investment capacity.

NPW (Newham Partnership)

Newham Partnership Working is a partnership approach

to ICT, HR, and governor support and school

management support services. A commercial approach in

a mutual framework, their service range is extensive, and

covers ICT in some depth. For a comprehensive approach

to school management support, they are impressive with

services ranging from health & safety to radiation

protection, manager networks and first aid. Three years

into their new incarnation, they have shown growth

consistently, diversifying beyond regional boundaries.

Another value for money approach investing significantly

and being rewarded for it.

School Business Services

Cloud based budget management software for schools

lies at the heart of the SBS offering, and the team cover

finance, MIS and ICT services for schools. Based in the

south east their reach and appeal is growing strongly.

Finance and business packages are offered on annual

contracts, and they shrewdly partner with Place Group

and School Buyers Club to extend their service range into

procurement and legal areas. This is a team that cover off

the main worry list items for bursars brilliantly. Getting to

the point where genuine national coverage is feasible

they are investing well and growing more strongly than

most top tier firms with spend by bursars placing them

above average in net new sales for the top rank and a

quality proposition to boot.

Education Personnel Management

One of the original innovators in delivering HR and school

compliance services, the range of service supplied

through portals in HR, payroll and DBS checking from

their Cambridgeshire base is backed by some of the most

experienced advisors in the sector. EPM have one of the

longest standing and best developed recruitment portals

for the education sector as well. Recruitment is often a

particular specialism that shares little with core industrial

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 42

and employee relations skill sets, but here it fits well. A

strong value for money proposition they are prized for

their depth of HR focus and bringing quite rare depth of

industrial relations expertise to the table cost effectively.

A strong best of breed choice.

HCSS (Access)

A financial software team, their depth of experience in

education is impressive and they have just joined the VC

led Access Group, a strong mid-market enterprise

software group. Their depth of support in core bursarial

service is impressive. They partner with Capita SIMS on

school information management services and RM for ICT

support. A top quartile firm in terms of new sales growth,

they have the highest growth rate of the top tier

currently and commensurate strong investment capacity.

Another strong best of breed choice.

Service Design

In terms of sheer scale, the ex-traded services or LEA

teams feature more prominently than most with

Manchester’s One Education and Newham’s NPW

topping the charts. Large (ex-) metropolitan teams are by

their very nature going to be substantial businesses when

they become independent. Their service range is typically

very highly developed and coming from a non-profit

background their culture will often be very different from

the self-started teams. They usually have larger teams to

deploy and comparatively lower reliance on internally

developed software to drive service delivery (although

this is changing).

An imponderable is whether the former traded services

teams are able to trade out of declines in their core

services and region while replacing it with new business.

Time will tell, but starting with a captive audience has

enabled them to have a flying start. Most of these teams

are still staff heavy compared to their GRC consultancy

competitors which shows confidence in their future.

SBS is a team coming from the finance and ICT services

sector and doing especially well; branching out now also

into MIS support and HR and payroll. At present the

fuller range of HR services is a stretch for ICT and

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 43

finance/payroll based teams, while for employment

law/HR based teams the same is true in that they find

building finance and especially ICT support something of

a stretch. This is a cultural issue as much as a commercial

one, but we expect the larger GRC teams to manage the

stretch better in time. While some global law firm brands

are seeing competition from the major accountancy and

management consultancy brands (ie EYLaw), this is not a

sector where this level of competition is likely to make an

impact for some time (if ever).

The established independents, Strictly Education and

EPM have solid positions and the technology players are

also making their mark (see HCSS, The Key and

Frontline/SLA). Technology competence no longer

means having the ability to offer ICT support for schools

and colleges as this is a particular (and often low margin)

business line in nits own right. The cost effective delivery

of outsourced legal services and compliance services

increasingly now relies on suppliers having demonstrable

competence in diarised document management, learning

management, case and inspection;/certification

management systems. Looking 3-5 years out these teams

should be thinking about the legal services issues around

distributed ledger technology (Blockchain) and to a

degree artificial intelligence, while the majority should

already be delivering digital solutions support on SaaS

(‘software as a service’; and ideally built in to existing

fixed fees) and Cloud platforms. There is a replatforming

for professional service firm technology coming in 3-5

years and pricing structures must accommodate this. The

top rank teams are the most likely to offer the guarantee

that the changes will not require revising the agreements

and revising prices but be subsumed within normal terms

of business.

Leaders here have to sustain an ability to be best of

breed in their industry for sales and marketing. The

industry competition means even (and perhaps

especially) premium Law Firms are losing out to GRC

consultancies on general business, with software and

financial advisory teams making strong inroads through

traditional ERP major sales channels. The market is

polarising to some degree with the premium brands

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 44

investing more heavily in their price elastic specialisms,

while automatable processes go to those with business

structures designed to exploit them.

Education leaders are investing heavily in these leaders

currently. To keep pace with this top league means the

firms should be maintaining top line sales growth of over

20% pa. Generating £250k profits per year or 7.3%

profitability while investing heavily in service

development is not untypical. Perhaps above all growing

the client base by around half a million pounds a year is

the strongest evidence of buyer support, as this is the

scale of the growth the top firms are taking in their stride

now. This is not one off growth or project based either. It

is incremental and long term. For the law firms

benchmarked on other law firms the growth challenges

here are less pressing, but that law firms are typically

growing here at less than half the rate of the GRC teams

shows that education leadership is preferring to take its

spend elsewhere. This is partly the fact that the nature of

the work is changing (fewer major projects in the

pipeline and more day-to-day work required), partly

business models (law firms sticking to their knitting and

serial projects competence), but more to do with focus

and empathy with the sector (ie the willingness to

change how a firm does what it does to fit the changing

shape of client demand).

First rank firms typically deliver double-digit growth or

better if they are 100% focused on the sector (as most

are). The new business streams in the ex-LEA teams will

be delivering this on their new business teams, but the

attrition from the core services may in some cases wipe

this out when consolidated.

This is not a race that can’t be joined, and it is far too

early to say that these teams are stretching too much of

a lead, but the ability of these tams to capture significant

levels of new business from schools and colleges

consistently here is impressive. That leaders can do this

while also returning modest but solid profitability (post

investment) is a sign of how much the Education sector is

pushing cash the way of these innovators (always a good

sign). Strictly are setting the pace and it is entirely

possible that under new liberated ownership they will be

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 45

unfettered and harder to catch, rather than distracted

and slowed down.

Quick Comparators

Premium bands: School Business Services (SBS), Strictly Education

The firms expecting the highest returns from their rainmakers and top subject experts; ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Value for Money: NPW, Education Personnel Management (EPM), One Education

Firms delivering packaged and cost effective solutions especially for day to day legal and compliance support.

Investment Capacity: Strictly Education, HCSS, SBS

The firms with the deepest pockets who could make the biggest impacts here should they so choose.

Buyer’s Favourites: Strictly Education, HCSS

The firms with the strongest growth track records currently in terms of nett new business achieved.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 46

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 47

The Four Star Firms The law firms are well represented here and it is the teams

with a particular client focus and sector specialism who do well

especially. As with the first tier, best of breed in law firm

sector specialisms wins our over generalists increasingly. Most

of these law firms are also able to credibly operate nationally,

even on a sector specialist basis. The law firm business model

is hampering some of these teams as they still have to

compete within larger firms for investment in sectors, which

other partners may see as more lucrative; but on their own

terms, the key niche brands are very hard to beat.

Farrer & Co is still the go-to brand for private schools, for

example, and Winckworth Sherwood lead among faith

schools. Stone King may be a regionally based player, but they

focus heavily on the Education sector and are actively

developing services, which match and can exceed those of the

GRC consultancies. Veale Wasbrough Vizards are among the

teams successfully still mining the Frameworks and FE/HE

sectors as well as catering for independent schools. Mills &

Reeve remain a go-to brand for HE work and Eversheds

remains one of the largest teams, possibly despite rather than

because of the scales of the global brand and a go-to brand for

international work. Browne Jacobson may be better known

historically for their public sector approach but have tracked

the autonomous budgets well too and are stepping up to the

challenges in HR services too now.

Publishers and software teams make their mark too, and they

will typically be compatible with Law Firm offerings here,

rather than direct substitutes of them. There are several

constructive instances of ‘co-opetition’ in the market now, not

least Winckworth’s alliances with 3BM, CEFM, NPW and

Strictly. A (unintended) side effect of the sheer volume of

content marketing from law firms and professional advisors

has been the eradication of the traditional publishing industry

here. Brands like Croner have largely withdrawn from the

publishing sector now (to pursue better consulting based

options) given the sheer volume of free content marketing

sources from law firms and others, and web based,

governmental, free and advertising sponsored content is all

that remains.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 48

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 49

The Key was a government sponsored initiative to help

awareness among school and college leaders of compliance

issues and has creatively tackled the support of DIY compliance

management. The fact that they are the only major brand in

play from a publishing (non-advertising led) perspective is

instructive.

The Schools HR Co-operative is a team coming out of

Hillingdon’s LEA traded services team running on a not-for-

profit basis and focusing on the HR issues specifically. Whereas

corporate restructuring is the lead issue with law firms, in day-

to-day work it is usually HR, and here we can see that even HR

specialists can match or beat the full service law propositions

now long term on occasion.

Double first/Engage are a software specialist and while it is

early days we expect more creative software teams such as

this to increasingly make inroads into the top ranks. They are

unashamedly focused on the fee-paying sector and like School

Business Management and Strictly are in a sweet spot

currently for school business managers in particular.

The Firms

The Key/WB

Initially a content solution sponsored by Government, this

team have migrated to a full publishing solution with modular

support for School Leaders and School Governors providing

subscription Q&A content and toolkits. The WB addition

brought eLearning and CPD support to the mix. Now backed by

an experienced private VC, they know how to develop services.

Solid back-up for those tackling GRC issues on a DIY basis. In

common with many broadly based teams, they are already

offering considerable depth in governor support services, as

well as (alongside many of the financially experienced teams)

providing support for fundraising and extra income efforts.

Croner’s pricing for online services left the planet some time

ago and for these suites per user rates of c£50 to school wide

£500 packages are typical, and they already have over 30%

penetration of the sector. Bringing more services to the mix

will be required increasingly and this is likely to be in the field

of software toolkits and apps. Development opportunities for

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 50

publishers are typically limited in regulatory compliance now,

so whether they aim for this sector in more depth remains to

be seen.

Stone King

Undoubtedly a go-to brand in services for schools and colleges,

Stone King has made their education team a pivotal

department within their firm overall. Of all the law firms, their

Education team is the largest as a division compared to the rest

of the business. It matters; this team is committed to a future

in education. Based in the South West and with over 85 fee

earners their appeal is national. Running the NASBM and

FASNA helplines and legal advisory support functions gives

them a uniquely high profile among schools. Services are

available on project and retainer bases, and while ultimately a

cost effective solution provider, the depth of experience is

impressive. The fact that their core team may be smaller now

than some of the larger GRC teams belies the fact that they can

bring an impressive range of expertise to major projects should

it be so required. Among laws firms, they have been better

than most at converting project work into long term

relationship support. To some extent this will be due to their

extensive content marketing efforts, which is impressive. As

with VWV and Michelmores, this is a smaller law firm

compared to the large national brands, but able in their chosen

specialism to bring bigger guns to bear very effectively.

Veale Wasbrough Vizards (VWV)

A 200+ fee earner full service law firm, often firms of this scale

have teams who can come together for a sector, but VWV

genuinely target this sector as a core specialism. The sector

generates more than 10% of their overall revenues so, once

again, they are demonstrating their commitment. Represented

on four frameworks and four Institutes including the ISBA,

Local Government Lawyers Group and COBIS, their breadth of

appeal is clear and they are close on the heels of the other high

visibility law firms such as Stone King, Browne Jacobson, Mills

& Reeve, etc and ahead of some of the niche premium brands.

A strong ‘good people’ approach supported by good content

marketing and professional positioning. Historically aiming to

offer a one-stop-shop for education services, they have also

now launched a Compliance on-stream suite of services

addressing the compliance challenge in particular bringing

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 51

together all of their extensive content and support services. A

strong value for money approach, they are able to match most

top law firms in terms of the capacity they can deploy here.

Schools HR Co-operative

Formerly HIllingdon’s School HR service, independent since

2011 services include HR, payroll, recruitment and OH, with he

team being led by Mike and Bob Charlton. Expanding their

appeal beyond west London now, they are serving the Thames

Valley. An experienced HR team, they offer occupational health

support including a medical advisory helpline taking their

services beyond the scope of most pure HR specialists.

Farrer & Co

The premium brand specialising in private schools and fee-

paying independents, the team led by David Smellie are one of

the longest standing specialists here. They see the HE and

school sectors as almost entirely different specialisms now as

increasingly the cross-over between the two is diminishing and

they are offering colleges alternatives now to other HE

specialists. Major projects competence is established in the HE

sector and they recently joined the London University

purchasing consortium. Well known among AGBIS, BSA, GSA,

HMC, ISBA and ISC they have extensive experience from

safeguarding crises to international fundraising and are the

leading premium law firm brand in the independent school

sector led by the traditional ‘best-people’ approach. Do not be

misled by the dusty establishment credential, however. Lift the

bonnet here and you’ll see the Starship Enterprise driving

service delivery.

Mills & Reeve

A national law firm and one of the largest overall to maintain a

focus on the education sector, they have a strong team and a

high quality advisor pitch led by Gary Attle (South) and Richard

Sykes (North) and operate from five regional centres.

Genuinely able to offer a one-stop-shop, they are well

represented on many frameworks as well as partnering with

NASBM and NGA. Large firms tend to tackle too many

specialisms or sectors, but Mills Reeve are focused and

Education is one of 11 sectors. They have a significant capacity

for major projects and a strong if fairly traditional approach to

content marketing branded Fusion. A brand that can manage

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 52

both volume work and cover all the bases, they are a able to

command and sustain a reasonable premium brand position.

Winckworth Sherwood

A strong specialist brand well known among religious schools

in particular, WS are already actively partnering with many

other suppliers in the sector too, notably 3BM, CEFM, NPW

and Strictly. They do offer a brilliantly titled ‘dismissal green

light service’ as well as HR Policy back-up, and content support

through an S3 portal, although they prefer to hand this off to

their Strictly Education partners. The choice for premium brand

law firms to focus on this high value specialist legal work or to

develop the GRC revenue streams is comparatively easy for

these premium brands; opting for the high value niche

dominance is the straight forward choice. Developing services

here is essentially all about the quality of people, recruitment

and highly intricate network management, although they are

one of the first to address social impact bonds actively too. For

Catholic schools in particular Winckworth are unrivalled here,

but the rivalry between them and Farrer & Co offer a good

choice for buyers.

Double First-Engage

A good example of the school information management

systems sector, Engage includes a wide range of modules and

use institute and affinity group endorsements heavily. What is

becoming called EMM (Enterprise Mobility Management)

drives much of systems design and especially delivery

currently, and this is a great example of the smaller firms

delivering big solutions here. These databases and document

management systems are the core of school management MIS

platforming and increasingly the systems that compliance must

talk to and enhance. An independent school specialist, they are

endorsed by the ISA. Part of a wider ICT and telephony group

(duPre) they are committed specialists in finance and IT for

schools growing strongly from their south east base.

Eversheds

One of the three biggest UK’s biggest law brands to choose to

invest in the education sector, they have one of the largest

teams. With one of the most comprehensive marketing and

business development approaches deployed, they have almost

exhaustive coverage of the frameworks. No longer indisputably

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 53

the largest provider and matched by some of the other

specialists increasingly, their ability to deploy large teams with

depth of experience is still clear. They cover all the bases with a

very content rich approach to ongoing support. Led by Diane

Gilhooley. One of those brands that ‘nobody-gets-sacked-for-

using’, they are rarely playing on price, but the quality of their

people.

Browne Jacobson

Browne Jacobson offer a one stop shop for schools and

academies and a wide ranging service partnered with NGA,

FASNA, ASCL and NASBM. They have the largest capacity in the

field and a high profile and their own dedicated Education

conference. Bundled and fixed fee services include Academy

Conversion, Quickcall, and HR Services as they increasingly

seek to straddle both the legal specialties and the GRC

competencies. Their HR service offers on-site, dedicated HR

professional fixed fee services, including payroll, occupational

health, DBS checks and absence insurance from associate

suppliers. This is a strong initial pitch into the GRC services

arena from a team who see lawyers as able to underpin such

fixed fee suites, not stand off from them. Pricing for their

packages starts at a premium level for smaller schools

compared to the regulatory consultancies and rises at typically

£80 per employee. Within the core packages they have

embraced the unlimited calling aspect which is good to see,

albeit for off-site work predominantly; and rare still among law

firms with a retainer mindset. Half day rates (inc

disbursements, travel, etc) at £300 per half day effectively is

competitive. Brown Jacobson have a lot invested in the sector,

a strong mid-market brand position and they have clearly

decided they have to deploy marketing and business

development professionals to exploit the demand for GRC

solutions as well. More firms will follow this as pressure

mounts, and this is a good example of a law firm seeing the

challenges and being alive to their implications.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 54

Quick Comparators

Premium bands: Farrer & Co; Winckworth Sherwood; Eversheds

The firms expecting the highest returns from their rainmakers and top subject experts; ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Value for Money: Veale Wasborough Vizards; Stone King, Browne Jacobson

Firms delivering packaged and cost effective solutions especially for day to day legal and compliance support.

Investment Capacity: Farrer & Co; Winckworths; Stone King, VWV, Eversheds

The firms with the deepest pockets who could make the biggest impacts here should they so choose.

Buyer’s Favourites: The Key; Schools HR Co-op; Stone King; Engage

The firms with the strongest growth track records currently in terms of nett new business achieved.

Project Capacity: Browne Jacobson; Mills & Reeve; Winckworth; Eversheds; VWV

Firms able to deploy the largest teams from other specialisms, typically property, procurement and government law.

Law Firm Focus: Stone King; VWV; Winckworth; Farrer; Browne Jacobson

The law firms which are making education law a key part of their brand and committed to service development.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 55

The Three Star Firms In as competitive a market as this there is no shame in being a

third tier (or even lower) ranked supplier, and the strength of

some of the brands here is testimony to that. These are

potential brand, sector and niche leaders holding their own

well in a transforming market, alongside some new thrusters.

Pinsents has been a long established brand with good capacity

for larger deals on a solid premium law firm pitch. This is the

territory where law firms fight hardest, and firms such as

Pinsents and Charles Russel Speechleys, with an equally strong

premium pitch, certainly have the investment capacity should

they so choose to invest strongly here. The commercial

challenge of unseating one of the established niche law firm

leaders is perhaps a tougher challenge than matching the GRC

advisory teams. Law firms often address this through lateral

hiring, however, so never say never, although this is not

growing the market, typically, merely reshuffling the pack.

There are also innovative teams like Place Group who

specialise in the BSF projects that hitherto were the sole

preserve of the law firms. Very credible in their own right as a

consultancy, the fact that this level of work is commoditising as

the number of conversions rises must be a concern to those

law firms still hoping to sustain premium brand pitches for

academy conversion work. Many more law firms are also being

candid about the fact that academic conversion is now a

packageable service with fixed fees becoming more common.

Technology is a recurrent theme throughout all of the tiers

represented here and in suppliers like SLA it is critical in

ensuring the historic suppliers are able to respond to the

various levels of disruptive competition they now face. HR and

advisory teams may not put technology in their front widow

but it typically underpins everything they do and is bundled

within the service. For financial teams it is front and centre and

highly visible. For law firms it is typically well hidden, but in

many issues law firms are ahead of the pack in, eg document

automation, case management and client mobile

communications (whisper it quietly; good lawyers do do tech

now and do it well).

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 56

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 57

The Firms

Pinsent Masons

A full service international law firm brand with over 1300 fee

earners, Universities and Higher Education is a core specialism

for them. As major infrastructure projects decline their

emphasis is on commercialisation of assets and relationships in

education, often with an international flavour. A premium

brand able to credibly undercut the niche leaders, this

competitive intensity will only grow as the pipeline of major HE

projects has plateaued. The brand is a major global player and

when less than 1% of their sales regularly comes from any

niche it will have a question mark over it for the long term, but

while they continue to have a strong multi-disciplinary team to

deploy it fits their overall objectives well.

Place Group

Specialists in the BSF projects that hitherto were the preserve

of the law firms, Place are a consultancy now focused on the

academies program alongside devising their School Buyer’s

Club service, a creative approach to helping schools with

procurement issues. Their project management focuses on

managing the overlaps between the various work streams in

legal documentation, HR, TUPE, loan and assets, financial

systems, due diligence, payroll and stakeholder engagements.

Frontline Data/SLA

Theirs is life in the traditional LEA approach yet and it’s known

as traded services. Typically achieving the pressurised ‘more-

from-less’ that is required here needs software and this is the

vacuum SLA have filled. The parent software company

specialises in on-line property and facilities management

software as well as a wide range of safety compliance systems

(asbestos, fire, water, repairs, etc). IN effect SAL’s importance

is that they bring the more active LEA teams back into the

game.

Having developed SLA, they now have over 24 local authorities

on their SLA online system. SLA Online is a traded services

management system including we design templates and solves

a major headache for LEAs facing the more-from-less

challenge. The rise quite quickly of the SLA team on the back of

solid traded services automation solutions reflects the

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 58

pressure on the LEA teams in particular. ROI is crucial in a

more-from-less environment and SLA fit the bill admirably. Not

surprisingly SLA lead the Tier here as the team with the

strongest new sales pipeline; traded services teams may be

late arrivals at the ball but they are determined to keep what

they can.

CEFM

The Centre for Education and Financial Management has one

of the longest pedigrees as a GRC consultancy, starting initially

with projects for school improvement and turnaround and

coming from a content heavy and HR approach. An innovative

team, they have always avoided over-promising and their

occupational health and licensing suites of services are ground

breaking. Lacking the stronger front line sales efforts of some

of the higher ranked teams, this is a team who can be relied on

to deliver what they promise.

The Centre for Education Management is from the same stable

as EPM and Strictly and a long standing brand. Initially from an

HR background and with a strongly content focused service,

they are diversifying into the finance aspects of support. A

trusted and well respected brand, it is wrong to assume that all

the GRC teams are novices or newcomers. The depth of

experience here is unrivalled.

Michelmores

An Exeter based commercial firm, Education is an important

focus for them at both school and FE/University levels. A

strong advisory pitch led by Anthony Power. A strong regional

pitch backed by a full service commercial firm, this is a value

for money play in the South West. This ambitious firm will still

struggle in some other regions, but they demonstrate the fact

that a number of regionally focused specialists can more than

hold their own. Regional strengths will endure as many buyers

will not be national in character, but equally the national

players will increasingly have the pockets to invest more, more

often, forcing the regional teams to innovate technologically,

redirect or diversify. A solid emphasis on fixed fees is welcome,

and while they have yet to address the GRC challenge with the

energy of a Browne Jacobson, they are very handsomely

represented on the public sector procurement frameworks and

can bring a price challenge to the premium players while

matching them on breadth of coverage and project capacity.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 59

Judicium

A lawyer led team, originally an SME regulatory consultancy,

they have now set the standard in designing and delivering

fixed fee compliance services for schools and colleges. Services

range from HR and payroll to occupational health, safety,

leadership and school improvement support, as well as

financial management. Leon da Costa’s team are one to watch

as they prove that a premium service can be delivered on a

regulatory consultancy business model here. Many insurance

based SME compliance teams dabble here, but Judicium have

bet the shop. We do not expect this team to settle in the mid-

rankings for long but to rise steadily as the second most sought

after team by buyers in this tier already.

Led by lawyers, this team initially started life as a regulatory

consultancy with broader SME appeal. That they choose to

specialise in education was a personal choice of the founders

and they have excelled in service development. Coming from

the much more structured regulatory consultancy sector, they

understand fixed fees and service packaging better than most

consultancies and integrate a genuinely legal component to

their service seamlessly.

Charles Russell Speechlys

A major London law firm, deploying over 430 fee earners in

total, the education teams led by Jennifer Pierce is part of their

Charity practice and offers a premium service focused on the

Higher and further education sector primarily, although with

some school coverage now too. Growing well, should they so

choose they can invest as much as their larger competitors.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 60

Quick Comparators

Premium bands: Charles Russell Speechlys; Pinsent Mason; Judicium

The firms expecting the highest returns from their rainmakers and top subject experts; ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Value for Money: CEFM; Place Group; Michelmores

Firms delivering packaged and cost effective solutions especially for day to day legal and compliance support.

Investment Capacity: Pinsent, Michelmores; Charles Russell

The firms with the deepest pockets who could make the biggest impacts here should they so choose.

Buyer’s Favourites: SLA; Judicium

The firms with the strongest growth track records currently in terms of nett new business achieved.

Project Capacity: Pinsent, Michelmores, CEFM

Firms able to deploy the largest teams from other specialisms, typically property, procurement and government law.

Law Firm Focus: Michelmores

The law firms which are making education law a key part of their brand and committed to service development.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 61

The Two Star Firms The industry tides are more evident in the 4th and 5th rankings

than elsewhere. Strong regional plays by law firms and

consultancies can see them compete head to head with

national brands on their home turf very effectively. In the

north East a school is as likely to use Muckle as DWF, and

Shakespeare Martineau and Freeths in the midlands and the

north, Barlow Robbins in Surrey, Geldards in Wales, etc. That

DWF and Bond Dickinson hold comparatively modest rankings

compared to their overall size here is simply a reflection of that

very fact. Both are good teams, typically with good mid-

market price propositions; they are neither top premium

players nor cost cutters. In a world where specialisation is

increasingly telling they are covering all the bases well; but

perhaps missing out on some aspects other specialists focus

on. DWF have the strongest capacity as a law team by some

way to tackle major Education projects here, but the urgency

among even good law firms in tackling the growth in day-to-

day GRC work is missing. Accordingly, in this sector they are

being overtaken by GRC specialists.

As above law firm brands dominate, although not necessarily

in terms of size of regular business from the sector any more.

Typically law firms here will have less than 5% of their overall

sales coming from the Education sector. Firms like

Shakespeares, Freeths and especially Bond Dickinson and

DWF are £50-100m+ businesses, but in terms of reliance on

this specialism their teams can be matched by focused HR

teams or the larger regulatory consultancies testing the water.

The economics of the market are pushing DWF, Freeths, Bond

Dickinson and Shakespeare’s elsewhere. Muckle, Geldards

and Barlow Robbins have already made the call to build more

strongly in the sector even from a regional start if need be and

can expect to do well. Once again smaller teams (Barlow

Robbins and Muckle are £10-15m law firms) seem to grasp the

opportunity more readily than their bigger competitors,

although the investment capacity to build wider service ranges

into GRC service options is necessarily more limited. The

quality of people here remains high, especially among the rain

makers in some key regional teams. The market is moving

beyond the point where good people alone will sustain a

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Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 63

strong position, however. Look for those investing in wider

service ranges in a paced and deliverable fashion.

3BM and Every/TES have strong technology backgrounds here.

From asset management and SIMS support services they

demonstrate well how the procurement driver within schools

is now a specialism in its own right. Typically the fastest

growing players here, growth in the high teens or 20%+ range

is not untypical, ie 3-4 times the market average suggests these

firms are riding a wave. Law firms like Shakespeares can match

this, but most do not. The lesson is clear – prevention through

astute procurement is preferred to crisis management. (The

fence at the top of the cliff, not the ambulance at the bottom

approach once again.)

Insurance advisory service teams usually have a stronger

impact on advisory and compliance markets, but Schools

Advisory Service is a good example of how advice and

assistance disciplines can dominate a service sector. Focused

on absence and attendance issues, they are genuine specialists

with occupational health apps and support. These solutions are

head of their time in compliance consulting and will face

increasingly competition from the likes of Peninsula Business

Services and RBS Mentor, two top regulatory consultancies.

These teams have proved the concept but (with the exception

of Judicium) have rarely yet deployed their specialist service

teams in full. That may change as the SME HR market is now

mature, and most teams certainly have the investment

capacity to make stronger in roads into this sector than they

currently do; Mentor and Peninsula especially.

Technology driven firms are powering through this tier and can

be expected to rise in the ranks quite quickly, while both

regulatory consultancies and even some quite large law firms

have a stick or twist call to make. Larger law brands have

pulled out or pulled back, and some of the smaller ones have

decided to focus on their regional niches and dig in. The

market is developing at such a pace, however, that even these

regional strengths will come under pressure increasingly. In FE

and HE sectors sustaining the rainmaking capability that the

‘best-people’ strategies of most law firms rely on remains

pivotal. If those key people move or retire, some of the smaller

teams especially can be vulnerable. In this tier, there is clear

evidence of all of the law firms taking a robust approach to

succession; below tier 5 this can be a significant worry.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 64

The Firms

Muckle

A regional firm (North East) with a strong commitment to the

sector, Muckle achieve paced growth with a good level of cost

effective service. On their patch they will readily beat the

national brands, not least through their association with

Schools NorthEast, although the usual suspects as well as some

of the larger neighbours are also listed on the marketplace

service SNE offers. Led by Tony Phillips this is a good example

of a team who have taken the good people as a given and

added fixed fee services, suites encompassing employment

law, commercial contracting, property, construction and

governance issues, all combined in 2 branded services: MI

School and MI Staff. Headline fixed fees are quoted at £6k for

MI School with 30 hours of support built in, and £3.5-£5k for

the Staff service.

Schools Advisory Service

A high profile specialist in staff absence insurance for schools

and academies, SAS have broadened their approach to cover

many of the most common occupational health issues facing

schools on a daily basis. A service that is normally covered by

either HR teams and/or their safety equivalents, SAS now cover

3500 schools and partner with the NASBM and IAA. A genuine

schools sector specialist their advisory support now also

extends to HR, academy conversion and finance. Their parent,

Sovereign Risk Management is a Derbyshire based commercial

risk specialist broker with sales of £20m+.

Bond Dickinson

An ambitious national law firm, Bond Dickinson are over

£100m in sales nationally and bring a team of 16 to the sector’s

services. Built through a series of partnerships of partnerships,

their education team sit within the third sector and charities

practice. Led by Kevin Robertson the firm’s ability to tackle the

major projects remains a key focus and a wide range of

expertise can be brought to bear. Essentially a fairly traditional

good-people-well-resourced approach, they will be a solid

alternative to the Mills & Reeve or Eversheds teams, but it

remains to be seen if they will bring their considerable

resources to bear on prioritising this sector as they could.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 65

Peninsula Business Services

Peninsula are the market leaders by some way in the provision

of fixed fee employment and safety packages backed by

insurance for small businesses. It is a small step for them to

adapt these for individual schools and in many cases they have

been able to do so. They will typically be much more cost

effective than law firm HR bundled packages, many of which

do not offer the long stop of legal expenses insurance cover for

tribunal claims. They recently also acquired the consulting

division from Croner, the erstwhile leaders in school

compliance publishing, and their Croner brand offers a higher

service level for teams requiring more depth in HR and safety

service. Like their law firm competitors, however, while they

have already sold to over 1000 schools, the decision to focus

on the sector requires investment. It is early days, but they are

stepping up their investment here and a credible value for

money suite of services is on the cards.

Fusion HR

A pure HR consultancy team, Fusion imitate the traded services

ones now in expanding their education expertise to wider SME

clienteles. A very experienced specialist HR group, their growth

is impressive. Coming from HR rather than a regulatory

consulting background (albeit familiar with that), they have a

wider range of HR support available. Health and safety,

occupational health and academy support packages are in

place and this is a team with genuine depth of insight,

including an employment lawyer on staff. The mark of a good

team here is often their ability to sell, but their willingness to

temper growth with the ability to service it well, and we expect

this team to make measured progress up the rankings.

DWF

A strong national brand now albeit developing from their

North West base, DWF deploy one of the largest teams in the

UK (bigger than Eversheds numerically if not in terms of all fee

earners being exclusively focused on this sector). This brings

strong capabilities in major projects and they can match any of

the top law firms here while also building a local touch for

schools and smaller colleges as well. DWF undoubtedly have

good people and a strong content marketing support team,

and their approach to support is ‘crisis response’ led. While

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 66

some others are beginning to copy the crisis approach, they

are the only team to offer a whistleblowing service (to help

with identifying fraud, health & safety issues) etc

preventatively. The Crisis Support package is award winning

and effectively packages the legal risk equivalent of an IT

disaster recovery plan with prices starting from £950-£1495

(and BS11200 compatible). Aspects of a management plan,

training and documentation re very similar to the regulatory

consulting approach, but the packaging is fresher. Full

packages range from £2.5k to £7.5k and can include options

such as PR, financial fraud, data security, clinical psychologists

and reputation safeguarding. An innovative approach, DWF are

clearly seeking to narrow the gap with their peers, and the only

reason they are not ranked higher is their historical reliance on

project work not translating into a stronger full time team

earlier. As the major project pipeline slows, they are well

placed to rise in the tiers, it all depends on whether the firm

can sustain the focus on what remains for them a small sector

overall.

Every/Sandgate/TES

TES is one of the ubiquitous brands in education that moving

away from it is notable, but Every is the child of a demerger

between Sandgate’s asset management software and TES. The

founders come from facilities and asset management

specialisms for schools and their focus on the sector is

palpable. One of the few teams to eschew profitability to build

rapid growth, they are following software mores here more

than sectoral ones, but the opportunity is clear. High growth is

delivering a business with the ability to take half a million in

new sales in a given year and they can expect to rise through

the ranks progressively. There is clear evidence of increased

demand for support in commercial services and contracting

among the legal advisory teams, and this is the software and

operational equivalent where procurement systems, and asset

management services reach into school business management

as well. One to watch.

Barlow Robbins

BR have taken the plunge and while they offer personal and

business advice across the board too. They are focusing on the

third sector and schools as a key brand attribute. A surrey

based team, their practice overall is comparable in size to a

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 67

Muckle or Stone King and while not betting the shop on

Education, they have certainly taken the plunge as a specialist

alternative in advice for independent schools. Rightly not trying

to be all things to all people, their service range is well thought

through including fixed fee SafeEmploy branded services for

HR and safety support. Working in tandem with a retained HR

consultancy, packages start at £850 pa for Bronze support,

£1600 for Silver (helpline, documents audit and ad hoc

projects), and POA for the full insured packages. These are

price points designed to counter the regulatory consultancies

and should do so well. A good example of a smaller team

staking a claim to their regional patch robustly.

3BM

An experienced consulting team coming out of Hammersmith,

Kensington and Westminster local authorities, they offer an

innovative range of school support services. 3BM Education

starts with a suite of ICT support services with School Support

covering all issues from SIMS support, finance and payroll to

academy financial support. In common with many finance and

payroll focused teams they do not stray too close to HR and

employment law, although the software does cover all the

usual bases in SaaS, cloud and HR/absence reporting. The team

demonstrate a strong developmental ethic and are among the

best in delivering packages with a strong bursarial emphasis

and appeal.

Shakespeare Martineau

A midlands based law firm, Shakespeare’s are growing strongly

organically and by acquisition to challenge the national brands

and they have chosen education as one of their 5 key sectors

to build expertise in. The Education team are, for example, as

big as their employment law team overall, which certainly

shows willing. The core team show particular expertise in

further and higher education issues and while it is rare for

firms to make such a play of this it shows ambition and focus.

The service range incorporates commercial matters, HR,

strategy and governance and property/estate issues. Working

closely with the AHUA (Association of Heads of University

Administration) their preference for FE and HE sector work

means the scope for packaged and fixed fee services is more

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 68

limited. The team will achieve a higher ranking as their core

grows, although this is likely to be slower than in other sectors

given the ‘lumpy’ project based nature of the deal flows. A

solid competent person with professional content marketing

and business development support, on their patch they offer a

compelling value for money pitch. They clearly get it, and will

be a more compelling proposition than many similar midlands

teams, but there is much to do yet. If they choose to specialise

on the HE sector more they could make a significant

contribution, but sadly this is not the area where the greatest

growth in client spend is forecast currently.

Mentor

RBS or NatWest Mentor services is one of the longest standing

regulatory consulting teams. Initially coming from the bank’s

insurance arm it is now autonomous and offers a range of SME

focused services in employment law, HR and safety

compliance. One of the first regulatory consultancies to

specialise in the schools and education sector, their fixed fee

packages are typically very cost effective and delivered

nationwide. They have a wide range of sectors developing and

along with others in the sector can be expected to deliver on-

line and supportive ‘apps’ increasingly as well. Their fixed fee

services typically include the legal expenses cover that ensures

that as long as their advice is followed the establishment is

protected against the costs of tribunal or awards that can arise.

Freeths

A midlands based major law firm, Freeths specialise in over a

dozen sectors, one of which is Education. They cover

universities and colleges primarily but can extend to schools

and academies as required. This focus means they remain

wedded to the traditional law firm business model

predominantly competing on the quality of people, pricing and

the ability to bring a solid team to a major project as required.

On their patch a reliable, approachable and cost effective

team, they will have to specialise more if they are to rise in the

rankings as they deserve. Like many law firms, the days when

simply having good people on board are waning and the focus

has to now be much more on direct client support services too.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 69

Geldards

A Wales and Midlands based full service law firm, their

Education service sits within the third sector specialisms. They

have a strong reputation within the Welsh university sector in

particular and typify a smaller team led by significant rain

makers (Huw Williams and Rhian Brace in Cardiff and Paul

Hilsdon in Derby) able to dominate in a regional niche. In their

chosen areas the Geldards team demonstrate the depth of

insight such specialists can deliver with experience in

inspection bodies, examination boards and funding councils

complementing their private and public sector competencies.

While much of their experience will be transferable, Geldards

will be unwilling to step too far beyond their regional

preferences while able to deliver a value for money service.

Quick Comparators

Premium bands: Barlow Robbins; Shakespeare Martineau; Bond Dickinson

The firms expecting the highest returns from their rainmakers and top subject experts; ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Value for Money: Mentor; Geldards; Freeths

Firms delivering packaged and cost effective solutions especially for day to day legal and compliance support.

Investment Capacity: Muckle; Bond Dickinson; Freeths

The firms with the deepest pockets who could make the biggest impacts here should they so choose.

Buyer’s Favourites: Every; Fusion HR; Schools Advisory Service

The firms with the strongest growth track records currently in terms of nett new business achieved.

Project Capacity: 3BM; DWF; Bond Dickinson

Firms able to deploy the largest teams from other specialisms, typically property, procurement and government law.

Law Firm Focus: Muckle; Barlow Robbins; Geldards

The law firms which are making education law a key part of their brand and committed to service development.

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Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 71

The Lone Star Teams The fifth rank includes many of the new challengers and firms

for whom the penny has dropped as they decide to make a

stronger pitch to education teams for their particular brands.

One or two are facing hard decisions about whether to stick or

leave, but in most cases these are innovators on ‘the journey’.

The rankings here relate to those teams which have a

sustained core of business in education, not just the capacity

to tackle ad hoc major projects. Major projects are likely to

decrease in the medium and long term and education buyers

seeking long term partners need those who have already

committed to building a strong core business. These suppliers

will be at least half a million in sales, typically, and while the

ability to tackle multi-million pound deals is undoubtedly there

in some law firms not ranked here, notably Ashfords, Osborne

Clarke and Weightmans – good firms all – now is the time to

decide to either build a stronger core in education, settle for a

‘partner’s pet’ position, or migrate to other sectors.

Just as some deep pockets in regulatory consulting (and their

close competitors in firms like Citation, Ellis Whittam and

ELAS) have to decide to tackle the specialisation more deeply,

law firms equally face a stick or twist call. SAS Daniels’

Education 360 and SAS Protect plays are good examples of a

law firm innovating better than the competition. Harrison

Clarke Rickerby’s School Friend is another such with an

impressive range of fixed fee services covering everything from

capital projects to intellectual property, but also health &

safety and staffing and free 30 minute advisory packages

(almost the right idea, and certainly on the right track). Just

outside the rankings, Xact is a safety specialist team offering

value for money services to schools and likely to make an

impact here shortly.

The determining characteristic of the growth teams here

among law firms is that from comparatively modest major

project capacity they are and have built sizeable advisory and

day-to day advice businesses covering law but also a wide

range of governance risk and compliance services. Many will

not accept that they have been overtaken so far and so fast by

some of the larger GRC teams, but the quality of the fight back

from these innovative, often regionally based teams is

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impressive. Schools should have no qualms in supporting these

new business models from mid-market law firms. Most firms

here will have less than £1m in sales routinely coming from the

sector, while some law firms will be on a project and ad hoc

basis quadruple that.

For many years, law firms in particular will have felt protected

or privileged to have access to the Crescent Consortium or

APUC procurement frameworks. Most of these are up for

renewal now, however, and the growth in the legal services

spend is no longer in the areas controlled through these

frameworks (or not in that way). Where firms like Trowers

Hamlin were able to trade these relationships up into EFA

(education Funding Agency) advisory support, etc this ‘edge’

remains.

Education priorities and changes in Scotland are different to

England and Wales, and Anderson Strathern come in here with

both a solid project capacity and a support services play on a

premium service pitch. Arguably were market conditions north

of the border more similar they would be among the higher

rankings.

While typically the lawyers view of the market is that HR is a

peripheral issue in comparative terms, the presence here of a

number of high growth HR consultancy specialists is notable.

B3Sixty is a good example of a specialist HR team tackling the

increasingly disaggregated legal services market one piece at a

time. Backed by a broader HR consultancy, they specialise in

independent investigations and dispute resolution in

education. ECC is a similar specialist niche service provider,

cornering the market here in compensation and benefits

services, advice and consulting. Always a technical specialism

within HR, comp & ben has to be independently benchmarked,

and is only getting more complex with the introduction of

market rates in autonomous environments. Enlightened HR

have partnered with a law firm for wider legal support, but

offer a focused education, HR and employee relations service

which is growing strongly.

‘Co-opetition’ remains a feature of this sector with HR teams

employing solicitors and law firms launching HR teams. If other

compliance markets are any guide the financial and contractual

specialists will come to these specialisms only sporadically, and

the issue to watch here is payroll. Payroll software teams

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 74

rarely put much effort into developing HR consulting properly.

HR consulting t4eams typically tackle HR better, but will avoid

the larger bulk processing based payrolls. It is horses for

courses, but as the market fragments, the agility of payroll

software now favours the HR teams.

The Firms

Foot Anstey

An ambitious and commercial South West based team, Foot

Anstey are a lively brand offering a full commercial service and

focusing on 8 specific sectors, of which Education is one. A

recent arrival to the APUC and CPC frameworks for the

university sector in the South West their focus is on

independent schools and the FE/HE sectors. They accurately

describe their approach as a first class value for money service,

with independent schools they have also developed a

packaged approach branded ‘Supporting Schools and Colleges’

which alongside fixed fees offers benefits for students and

families. A firm overall with sales in excess of £30m, this is a

creative team tackling the requirements of both good people

and good services well and while the education focused team

is small and multi-disciplinary, they have all the components in

place to secure more long term business from the sector.

Blake Morgan

A full service law firm with a substantial a focus on the third

and public sectors, education is a key specialism within that

team. As with many teams here the ability to pull together

significant project teams is notable, while the core or day-to-

day education team is comparatively small. Targeting the

Oxford Colleges and the FE/HE sector explains some of this,

and while this is a £50m firm overall, the education sector

remains important to them and they are extending their scope

into independent schools and academies increasingly too. A

traditional ‘good people’ approach, their public sector

empathy brings a value for money ethic as well.

Penningtons Manches

A strong mid-market national law firm brand, they are aiming

to compete amongst the leading global and international

practices (often 5 times their size) and take a strong sectoral

approach to UK services to do so. Education is one of 14

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 75

chosen sectors. A focus on universities and private colleges is

backed by an international capability and a willingness to

broaden the scope to research councils and associations.

Official sponsors of the Times Higher Education leadership &

management awards reflects this emphasis. They bring a large

team to the sector, but within a firm of over £350m in sales it

remains a small part of their overall business. Their focus on

the complex project work is backed by a strong team well

supported with solid content marketing but their full time core

team remains comparatively small. They undoubtedly have

the capability to rival the other national and international

brands on complex projects and here the fact that their team

spend as much time on other immigration, intellectual

property, government contract, corporate or property work

will be a real advantage. It is an area which is increasingly hotly

contested and where deal flows are not the strongest in the

sector, however. Able and willing to cover transformation

issues for schools and academies, it is not their primary focus,

while they offer strong talent cost effectively for the FE/HE

complex project issues.

Ashurst

A major international legal brand with sales of over £500m,

their size and reach is such that it would surprising if they did

not have the competencies in-house to tackle education law

issues, but they are ranked here as the sector is not one of

their top priorities. Were they to make it so, their impact

would be significant, but they are staying on the high ground of

complex, international projects, and if anything, they have

stronger education teams in associate teams overseas.

B3Sixty

A sister company to a general management and HR

consultancy focused on public and third sector clienteles, this

is their specialist independent employee relations service.

Focusing on investigations and dispute resolution, they partner

with ECC to bring depth of expertise on comp & ben to the mix

too. The founders have significant depth of experience in both

local authority and HE institutions and offer a strong option

either direct to schools and colleges or as a partner for other

more HR focused consultancies or law firms seeking capacity in

these specialisms. The independence of investigations is their

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 76

USP and their focus on this sector makes them a strong

specialist boutique.

Educate HR

A schools and academies HR specialist team led by Gill Meeson

based in Huddersfield, their range of services includes advice,

contracts, policies, recruitment project management, and

governor HR support. Assistance with DBS and occupational

health issues is provided through partnerships. A traditional

style of HR consultancy with explicit service levels, their focus

on the schools sector is clear.

Enlightened HR

Offering a designated advisor level of service, this schools and

academies focused HR consultancy is making great strides in

helping clients outsource their HR and employee relations

issues. Branded Access HR, their online system offering policy

documents, guidance, templates and ‘in-the-lift’ style guidance

is a strong play from £175pa and a good example of the sort of

system most systems driven HR or regulatory consultancies

now offer. Their schools focus and depth of content is clear

and adding strategic and project based support on top to a

high level is impressive. Additional services include payroll,

financial, DBS, pre-employment checks and safety services,

with tribunal representation handed off to a firm of solicitors.

A team which is able to lead this tier in terms of new client

acquisition, their focus and astute service mix should see them

rise in the rankings.

Wrigleys

A Leeds/Sheffield based sector focused law firm, Education is

one of their 7 chosen specialisms. Alongside their charity

sector specialism they offer a full range of services for schools

academies and HE/FE institutions. Having advised over 600

academy conversions they retain services on an ongoing basis

with over 200 and this shows a strong commitment to the

sector. Services encompass fixed price single and multi-

academy model conversions reflecting the development of this

issue now, alongside their experience in PSBP, PFI and BSF

funding options. Fixed price packages start at £80 per month

for helplines and fuller services are branded ‘Education

Response Extra’. An education specific variant of their HR

Response service this incorporates a helpline, a document

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 77

library, retained HR consultants. Part of a smaller regional

team overall, their focus on the sector is impressive and their

development of sector specific support services among the

best available. Their FE/HE team also specialise in the industrial

relations JNCHES and HR issues more than just the major

projects expertise of many competitors. On their patch they’ll

be hard to beat and they have the platform to grow further.

Ward Hadaway

A strong regional law firm brand from the North east, they

have an extensive sectoral approach to service development

and in education their team is extensive and backed by solid

public sector and third sector expertise elsewhere in the firm

as well. Able to deploy strong talented teams in FE/HE work,

their reach into schools and academies is comparatively

modest for a firm of their size, but we expect them to build on

this. Their service range is extensive and they make a strong

alternative to teams in higher tiers such as Eversheds or DWF.

Winning awards for ‘PFI team of the year’ shows their major

projects focus well, while they bring a strong value for money

pitch to a sector most commonly associated with the strong

commercial fee levels and premium legal plays. Fixed fee

options are available covering HR and employment,

Governance, SEN, admissions, safeguarding and commercial

advice. This is a team big enough to advance on all fronts and

their ambitions in this regard are clear. In their employment

team Ward Hadaway have developed credible alternatives to

the regulatory consulting offering and this will be carried over

to the education sector too as increasingly they compete well

with the likes of Peninsula, Citation and ELAS.

DAC Beachcroft

A £200m+ international law practice, it would be strange if

they did not have a presence in the education sector and while

their interest here is predominantly in the HE/FE and public

sector major projects, they are a team able to deploy some

heavyweights. Recently back on the Crescent frameworks,

their primary interests are in major property projects and

interest is driven by the experience of their rainmakers.

SAS Daniels

A smaller law firm in the compliance hot spot of Cheshire, SAS

Daniels have a strong and very commercially focused

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 78

employment law team and within that their education

specialist services have been creatively developed. ‘SAS

Protect’ offers an online package with absence support,

handbooks, training records and employment law guidance as

well as offering insured solutions. ‘Education 360’ offers fixed

fee support on a more bespoke basis. Smaller firms can now

avail themselves of a choice of white labelled content and

advisory packages from software and insurance teams. It

enables them to match the in-house technology prowess of the

larger teams and still bring their team to the fore. SAS show

commitment to the sector and it is a significant part of their

brand going forward.

Anderson Strathern

A strong full service law firm brand in Scotland, Anderson

Strathern face different priorities and issues in education

accordingly, but have made the Education sector a key part of

their public sector practice. Bringing strong project capacity

and deep pockets to the issue, they are well placed to grow

and their current focus is demonstrated by the sponsorship of

the Herald Higher Education Awards. A number of Scottish

firms have very credible teams focused on Education, not least

here, but also Maclay Murray Spens and Brodies, so

geographical expansion is not an easy option for any of the

English or national teams given the quality of these local

specialists.

Harrison Clarke Rickerbys

Another mid-market innovative and energetic law firm with a

sectoral approach to grow and service delivery, Education is

one of six sectors they have prioritised. Their range of

packaged services includes School Friend, Academy

Conversion, and School Line (helpline) with advice covering a

wide range of specific subjects (including capital projects,

governance, parents & pupils). They work in collaboration with

Ease training to deliver HR, recruitment and training services

for schools and academies especially. Their focus on

independent schools is growing with relationships with the ISC,

ISBA and BSA in place and strategically they are placing

themselves to chase the niches dominated by the likes of

Farrers. A team well placed with the quality of their team to

continue their rise up the rankings, their focus should see them

climb the ranking progressively.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 79

ECC

The Educational Competencies Consortium is an FE/HE consortium

operating on a not-for-profit basis. A member driven organisation

focused on job evaluation, compensation and benefits specialisms,

this service benefits from the collaborative approach to role

design and analysis services. Essentially a community of specialist

practitioners, they are happy to collaborate with other education

specialists.

Trowers Hamlins

A major full service national law firm, TH have built a strong

reputation in the education with a focus particularly on the major

projects, PFI, ICT and FM contracts. A small part of the 250+ fee

earner international practice, they bring all of the expertise that

you would expect of a major public sector and governmental

practice to the table, with a solid ‘good people, well resourced’

approach. With particular rainmakers well known for public

private partnership expertise, they have enormous potential in the

sector, although as a premium brand it is unlikely that they will

see the financial opportunities in schools and academies as a

major focus for them going forward.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 80

Quick Comparators

Premium bands: Ashurst; Trowers Hamlins; Penningtons

The firms expecting the highest returns from their rainmakers and top subject experts; ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Value for Money: Bates Wells Braithwaite

Firms delivering packaged and cost effective solutions especially for day to day legal and compliance support.

Investment Capacity: Trowers Hamlins; Ashurst; Anderson Strathern.

The firms with the deepest pockets who could make the biggest impacts here should they so choose.

Buyer’s Favourites: Educate HR; Enlightened HR; B3Sixty.

The firms with the strongest growth track records currently in terms of nett new business achieved.

Project Capacity: Ward Hadaway; Anderson Strathern; Penningtons; Harrison Clark Rickerbys

Firms able to deploy the largest teams from other specialisms, typically property, procurement and government law.

Law Firm Focus: SAS Daniels; Wrigleys; Harrison Clarke Rickerbys

The law firms which are making education law a key part of their brand and committed to service development.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 81

The Chasing Pack: Highly Commended This is a competitive market. There are new teams starting up

all the time, teams breaking away from LEAs, law firms, and

other consultancies, as well as suppliers from other industries

deciding to buy in. It would be unfair to say there are no

dedicated education teams routinely making day to day

revenues under the £1m or even £0.5m mark who do not

deserve your attention – there are several. You should also,

especially on a regional basis consider giving these enthusiastic

specialists and newcomers the support they need where you

can.

We do not prioritise the large law firms here who can bring

together a strong team of specialists from other sectors such

as charity law, property, government contracting, IP or

licensing, etc so some of the larger law firm brands missing

from higher ranks should not surprise.

The ability of key experts to command premiums remains a key

component of the legal profession and there are several

premium plays outside the main rankings who will still offer a

superlative service. National brands such as RPC, Addleshaws,

and Bircham Dyson Bell typify this approach where fees based

on sales per fee earner of £2-300k pa will be typical.

Very often in the third sector and among charity specialists you

will find pragmatism among fee rates alongside attempts to

buy market share. Anthony Collins are a leading brand which

will be outside the core rankings primarily because of their

charity and third sector focus being expressed in empathetic

pricing, or low fee earner expectations in terms of fees

generated pa. Their service range is impressive and local

authority insight considerable and their midlands base gives

them national reach in most cases. Capital Law are a new team

making headway in specialisms and bring both a strong team

and some heavyweight commercial experience to a legacy free

approach. Several regional law firms also bring cost effective

solutions with urban quality levels at regional prices, not least

Porter Dodson in the South West, Brachers in Kent and

Knights/Darby’s in the midlands.

The point about investment capacity (ie having the ability to

spend more than the market needs to build market share

quickly if need be) is the choice to do so. Some large brands

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 82

may be happy to run with key experts commanding premiums

and backing them on a project basis, but the market has

moved on. Many firms like Ashfords, may have ‘deep pockets’,

while in Education services their ambition may have short

arms.

That some of the regulatory consultancies such as Citation

have the capacity to match these medium and large law brands

in addressing the choice here is instructive. To date regulatory

consultancies have been very selective in picking the areas

they compete head to head with law firms, but typically when

they do so, they win. The firms targeting this sector include

ELAS, HR Dept and Ellis Whittam, all able to support national

coverage and with internal specialists in place. ELAS also bring

depth in occupational health to the table and were one of the

first to achieve umbrella status for DBS checking.

It would be odd if the specialist teams in Weightmans did not

push on more into the FE/HE sector, and Schofield Sweeney

have already decided to join the higher ranks given their focus

and approach to service development already – it is just a

matter of time before they break through in the competitive

environment that is Yorkshire. Paris Smith have also already

begun compiling the components necessary to make a strong

competitive pitch; the investment is being deployed shrewdly

and should help them make their mark in the very competitive

south East regions.

The buyers favourites among the chasing pack are also mostly

those offering GRC packaged and fixed fee approaches, often

HR and safety service led. Ellis Whittam, ELAS and HR Dept

are all solid regulatory consulting brands and even HR

Solutions, a traditional HR education specialist, is being

favoured with client attention more than most. EnlightenedHR

in Cambridgeshire, an HR consulting team focusing on this

sector is also one to watch.

The energy and creativity of the AoC team shows potential and

that the Association allows this team significant commercial

freedom is key. AoC Create are essentially a training and

events team, but their consultancy arm has potential with

footholds in all the necessary service specialisms.

Project capacity was the driver of the ‘old law’ market and

many of the larger traditional brands retain this capacity and

facility north and south of the border. The ability of a large law

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 83

firm to bring together teams of experts, fresh from other

sector work giving them insights and other angles to pursue as

well is not to be underestimated. It is a different decision to

buying these services, however, to buying long term day to day

support on a wider range of legal and GRC matters.

That several firms have chosen already to focus more on this

sector and are motoring to carve a niche amongst the ranked

firms above is impressive. HR and regulatory consultancies are

making those decisions too. Buyers should give them a hearing

where their investment and commitment is clear for the long

term.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 84

Quick Comparators

Premium bands: RPC; Addleshaw Goddard; Bircham Dyson Bell; Burgess Salmon; Bevan

Brittan

The firms expecting the highest returns from their rainmakers and top subject experts; ‘reassuringly expensive’.

Value for Money: Porter Dodson; Anthony Collins; Capital Law; Brachers; Knights/Darbys

Firms delivering packaged and cost effective solutions especially for day to day legal and compliance support.

Investment Capacity: Ashfords; Weightmans; Citation; Schofield Sweeney; Bircham Dyson

Bell; Paris Smith

The firms with the deepest pockets who could make the biggest impacts here should they so choose.

Buyer’s Favourites: ELAS; HR Solutions GB; Schofield Sweeney; Ellis Whittam; AoC Create; The

HR Dept, Enlightened HR

The firms with the strongest growth track records currently in terms of nett new business achieved.

Project Capacity: DLA Piper; Ashfords, Weightmans; Anthony Collins; Brodies; Blandy &

Blandy; MMS

Firms able to deploy the largest teams from other specialisms, typically property, procurement and government law.

Law Firm Focus: Schofield Sweeney; Greenwoods; Paris Smith; Sharpe Pritchard; Field

Seymour Parkes

The law firms which are making education law a key part of their brand and committed to service development.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 85

Directory of Suppliers

Clicking on the title of the firm should activate a hyperlink to open the relevant web page.

3BM

A team spun out of the London Boroughs of Hammersmith, Fulham, Kensington,

Chelsea and Westminster, their core services cover SIMS, payroll and finance support

with property support and web support services as well. An experienced team led by

Andy Rennison.

Acuity Legal

A Welsh based commercial law firm with a competence in Public Sector work; a small

team in education, their public sector frameworks and PFI/PPP experience is

significant.

Addleshaw Goddard

A major full service law firm, their UK education specific team is modest but well

supported in all key areas for schools and further education with a particular focus

on property and accommodation issues.

Anderson Strathern

A strong Scottish full service law brand, they bring all of the employment, property

and public sector expertise to the table for schools and colleges.

Anthony Collins

A Birmingham based third and public sector specialist law firm, they are led by Chris

Whittington and offer a fixed fee Edu-Law helpline.

AoC Create

The Association of Colleges is the best example of an association and representative

body which takes the development and delivery of its services to members seriously

and on a commercial basis (despite being charitably established. The training and

events division is a good example of service development here.

Ashfords

A 182 fee earner law practice based in London and the midlands, their education law

team is a significant part of their public sector practice based in Exeter.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 86

Ashurst

A major international law firm, their UK team with Education experience is a small

part of the whole, but able to bring significant major projects skills to the sector.

Ashtons Legal

An east Anglian general practice, they serve both schools and colleges, not least in

Cambridge, and bring both property and PI expertise to the mix and are led by the

commercial property partner, Magnus McManus.

B3Sixty

A great example of a modern legal service specialist team, B3Sixty specialise in

independent investigations and dispute resolution in employment law and education

sectors. Partnering with ECC to cover the comp & ben issues, this team could not

exist if procurement in education law was not matching procurement in legal

services generally.

Baker Small

An employer/school focused boutique, Baker Small are one of a growing band of

independent boutiques doing nothing but education law. Happy to defend schools

robustly if need be against no-win-no-fee claims, their litigation and judicial review

competence is clear. Led by Mark Small, they act for a number of midlands and

London LEAs.

Band Hatton Button

An East Midlands team with a charity law team, Education work is focused around

their corporate partner, Haydn Jones.

Barlow Robbins

A Surrey based full service law firm, their schools team has national reach. The team

is led by Joanna Lada-Walicki with an independent school focus.

Bates Wells Braithwaite

A London based full service commercial law firm, they have an on-line Get Legal

document service for social and charitable enterprises alongside their team led by

Mary Groom.

Berrymans LM

An insurance focused team, BLM are a national firm and their approach to education

comes from a litigation defence perspective.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 87

Bevan Brittan

A public sector and third sector specialist full service law firm, they act for every local

authority in England and their property and major projects experience is unrivalled,

while their education specialisation is tangential to this core.

Bircham Dyson Bell

A London based mid-market firm with a strong focus on sectors including education,

ably led by Penny Chapman.

Birketts

A full service commercial law practice based in Cambridgeshire and East Anglia,

Education law is a key specialism for them led by Chris Barker. They are present on

the Frameworks and appeal to FE colleges and universities.

Blake Morgan

A strong southern England brand, BM are a full service team with significant project

potential in Education and a small core team.

Blandy & Blandy

A Reading based smaller firm, like many regionally based teams on their own patch

they will have a particular appeal. Part of their charities team, services include HR

support, as well as a full range of education specific backed by strong content

marketing services.

Bond Dickinson

Now a 600+ fee earner national law firm, Bond Dickinson are a strong mid-market

brand with education a key sectoral specialism in their public sector team. Team

leaders Emma Moody and Kevin Robertson come from the Charities and

projects/procurement specialisms.

Brachers

A Kent and South East full service mid-market law firm for whom Education is a key

specialism. A creative service approach brings, HR, procurement and safety to the

mix enabling them to punch well above their weight here. One to watch, they have

the potential to extend their reach significantly.

Brodies

A strong Scottish full service and commercial awl firm, their education team can

bring a lot to the projects, while they have yet to build a GRC proposition as the

pressure to do so in Scotland is considerably lower.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 88

Browne Jacobson

A national law firm with a strong reputation in the public sector and with a dedicated

team on education law led by Mark Blois.

bto

A smaller Glasgow commercial law firm, they have a fuller service definition

approach than most with HR and safety components as well as procurement and

contract support.

Burgess Salmon

A leading Bristol based brand, this major firm can handle major projects readily and

bring depth of experience to the wide ranging restructuring projects. Education is a

significant, but small part of the overall firm and their preference for major

commercial projects is well established.

Burnetts

A smaller team, their specialisms in public sector and education work in particular is

impressive, with appeal beyond their Cumbrian base. Led by Natalie Ruane, they

offer a full suite of support services on a traditional law firm model.

Capital Law/People

A comparatively new venture, Capital Law (and its sister HR consultancy Capital

People) are a newly established law firm and HR team for whom Education law is a

chosen specialism. Wales based, the service mix having started from scratch already

includes health and safety and occupational health solutions and strong appeal to

Welsh higher education teams.

Carson McDowell

A Belfast based Northern Irish team, Education is a chosen specialism. In the region

where there are precious few private schools on which to base a day-to-day practice,

higher education demand will be robust. The Education team is led by Declan Magee,

their dispute resolution head.

CEFM

The Centre for Education Management has one of the longest pedigrees as a GRC

consultancy, starting initially with projects for school improvement and turnaround

and coming from a content heavy and HR approach. An innovative team, they have

always avoided over-promising and their occupational health and licensing suites of

services are ground breaking.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 89

Charles Russell Speechleys

A major legal practice based in London, deploying over 430 fee earners in total, the

small education team led by Jennifer Pierce offer a premium service focused on the

Higher and further education sector only.

Citation

A major brand among regulatory consultancies, their HR and safety services for

typically SMEs do translate fairly easily to some schools where the HR and safety

risks are fairly routine. Backed with template documentation and now software

support, the depth of sector experience has yet to develop fully, but they have been

specialists in fixed fee legal compliance for decades already.

Clarkes Legal

A smaller full service commercial law team based in Reading, they take a broader

view than most of legal services and compete with GRC consultancies head to head

in Employment and HR consulting (Employmentbuddy is a content and training rich

HR consulting environment). Their education service is a full spec approach ably led

by Kirstin Parker.

Cripps

A London and the South East based full service commercial law firm, they have a

small team able to bring the traditional law firm services to local schools.

Croner

The law for non-lawyers publishing market used to be dominated by Croner in a wide

range of sectors, but the sheer volume of content marketing material from law firms,

accountancies, banks and financial institutions has virtually wiped this market out.

Croner was best known for its ground breaking Heads Legal Guide, but it has

withered on the vine as the group has migrated

into accountancy software or regulatory

consulting instead. It is not only law firms who

have choices on where to migrate to. Their focus

is now on consulting.

DAC Beachcroft

A major international law practice with over 1400 fee earners, in UK education law

they have a strong presence among the procurement frameworks and a focused

team led by Eve Gregory in their major projects and property team.

Davitt Jones Bould

The number of specialist law firm boutiques continues to rise and DJB are a

commercial property specialist. Not the firm to go to for day-to-day employment law

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 90

work, they can, however, complement other complementary specialists with proven

depth in their chosen major property work.

DLA Piper

One of the strongest global law firm brands, DLA’s education experience is

international and in the UK they can bring significant major project support to the

table as well as deep experience in contracting with government bodies. Able to

deploy large teams to large issues, they are a cost effective option for a global law

firm brand.

DMH Stallard

A London and the south east regionally focused team, their service range for

education is sound and well supported. Led by Simon Bellm the head of their

employment team, this is a traditional law firm offering dependent on the regional

strong personal relationships.

DOHR

An HR consultancy based in Hertfordshire, they have a wide range of services for

SMEs, but led by the founder Donna Obstfeld have diversified into schools and bring

a strong of partners to the table for good measure. A good example of an HR team

innovating in service design and extension to build real depth of service.

Double First-Engage

A good example of the school information management systems sector engage

includes a wide range of modules and use institute and affinity group endorsements

heavily. These databases and document management systems are the core of school

management MIS platforming and increasingly the systems that compliance must

talk to and enhance.

DWF

A north west based brand and a major law firm nationally now, they are a full service

commercial business with a full suite of services in education law from pensions to

intellectual property. Pioneering issues now such as litigation funding and leading

with crisis response illustrates some innovation in the ‘ambulance at the bottom of

the cliff’ service approach.

ECC

A not-for-profit consortium of higher and further education organisations, they

provide confidential job analysis, role evaluation and bespoke compensation and

benefits consultancy to members. In a world where roles can become much more

fluid and pay scales less rigid increasingly, the need for this service will increase.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 91

Educate HR

An HR consultancy established by an experienced school HR advisor, they cover

advice, administration, bespoke recruitment, Governor support and helplines backed

by transparent service levels.

Education Personnel Management

One of the original innovators in delivering HR and school compliance services, the

range of service supplied through portals in HR, payroll and DBS checking from their

Cambridgeshire base is backed by some of the most experienced advisors in the

sector.

ELAS

A leading regulatory consultancy with national reach, ELAS have

the usual HR, employment law and safety services in place for

schools, as well as a range of occupational health and safety

specialisms. A team who offer fixed fee support and insurance backed legal services,

their experience in schools has been ad hoc to date, but growing well, not just in the

North West. They have experience in private, academies and religious schools and

were one of the first to become an umbrella body for CRB/DBS checking. Strengths in

food safety and health surveillance are key.

Ellis Whittam

A Cheshire based regulatory consultancy with fixed fee HR and safety services, as

with the other SME specialists they bring the insured proposition to the table

offering a ‘get out of jail’ card in the event of claims and HR disputes and a growing

range of safety support services.

Empire HR

The regulatory consultancy approach reinvented for the Scottish

market, this team based in Aberdeen have a premium approach

and national reach. Employing ex-education sector staff in their

advisory team is a step ahead of most other fixed fee, insurance

backed teams and welcome as such. Good quality lawyers on fixed

fee services, backed by good IT; this is a rising star in the field.

EnlightenedHR

Many GRC teams, and a few law firms too, use fee-per-document download services

as a key route to market. Enlightened HR have a wide range of templated documents

and the systems in place to upsell from these. Fuller services add on-site support on

top of the DBS, payroll, health & safety and pre-employment checks and their price

per document services are increasingly packaged into fuller suites which are still

available pick-n-nix. An innovative approach, their core is HR services with fixed fee

options and project support to a high level.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 92

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 93

Every/Sandgate/TES

A software core in asset and facilities management core services include contract

management, compliance and strong procurement support.

Eversheds

One of the UK’s biggest law brands, they have one of the largest teams with one of

the most comprehensive marketing and business development approaches and

almost exhaustive coverage of the frameworks. No longer indisputably the largest

provider, their ability to deploy large teams with depth of experience is clear. They

cover all the bases with a very content rich approach to ongoing support. Led by

Diane Gilhooley.

Farrer & Co

The premium brand specialising in private schools and fee paying independents, the

team led by David Smellie are one of the longest standing specialists here.

Field Seymore Parkes

Another solicitors’ firm from the Reading centre of excellence, Kate Burley leads a

team with a very thorough approach to service development. A smaller firm with

solid regional strengths and the ability to stay with clients for the long term.

Flint Bishop

A regional firm in Derbyshire with over 100 fee earners, their small education team is

led by Andrew Nicklin and covers the employment issues well.

Foot Anstey

A southern and south west of England based team, their commercial law services see

Education as a key sector led by Duncan Tringham.

Freeths

A strong mid-market full service law firm with national reach, they target education

as a key sector led by Stephen Pearson and Christopher Sing.

Frontline Data/SLA

The parent software company specialises in on-line property and facilities

management software as well as a wide range of safety compliance systems

(asbestos, fire, water, repairs, etc). Having developed SLA, they now have over 24

local authorities on their SLA online system. SLA Online is a traded services

management system including we design templates and solves a major headache for

LEAs facing the more-from-less challenge.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 94

Fusion HR

A long standing HR and safety specialist team led by Kathryn Birch, they are now

diversifying beyond education as well as extending beyond their Yorkshire home.

Geldards

A midlands and Wales based mid-market law firm with over 150 fee earners, their

education services are well developed for all sections of the Education market. A

commercial and cost effective approach, the team are led by Paul Hilsdon in Derby

and in Wales by Huw Williams. A traditional ‘good people’ approach typified by

Rhian Brace is backed by professional event and content marketing approaches.

Greenwoods

An East of England based team with over 50 fee earners in total, they typify how

smaller law firms can compete with the bigger brands by focusing properly on sector

experience and depth. Led by David Woods theirs is a commercial approach with

particular strengths being ICT advice and income generation support for schools and

colleges. One to watch.

Harrison Clarke Rickerbys

A West Midlands full service law firm, Education is a key part of their charities

practice. HCR can bring depth of experience in commercial property and

employment law issues to the projects, with Claire Thompson bringing particular

experience in immigration to the mix too.

HC Associates

An HR team with a particular education sector competence, they have begun to

diversify into the care sector and the private sector progressively. Led by Helen

Cooper, the HR tam are not generalists but specialists and know employment law

generally, national terms and conditions in particular and best practice. A good

example of what depth of experience looks like compared to generalist HR and

employment law teams.

HCSS (Access)

A financial software team at their core, their depth of experience in education is

impressive and they have just joined the VC led Access Group

Hewitsons

An East Midlands full service law firm with over 120 fee earners and now a presence

in London, Chris Knight leads a team with a well-designed full range of services and a

capped fee retainer service designed for bursar support. A service ranging from over

70 policy and procedures templated to debt recovery support for fee collection, they

typify the Cambridge centre of excellence in education law.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 95

Hill Dickinson

A major full service international firm with over 420 fee earners, they typify the

major projects approach to the education sector and bring considerable depth of

experience in areas such as major capital construction projects. Claiming over 100

education clients, the team is led by David Rawlinson and focuses on the private

sector with brand protection innovations and growing strength in their employment

team led by Kerstie Skeaping.

Howes Percival

An East Midlands based team, HP have launched a branded service, Lawflex,

designed specifically for academies. The service comprises helpline and email

support (up to 30 minutes), annual retainer fixed fees, a dedicated contact and

commercial, property and employment advice. Based on over 150 academy

conversions, the intention to build a sector strength from this is clear. A strong

regional player, they will be hard to beat on their home turf.

HR2HR Schools

A smaller regulatory consultancy focused on Kent, the range of services typifies the

advisory, consulting and training packages favoured by SMEs. They have launched a

dedicated service for schools focused on academies from both per- and post

conversion.

The HR Dept

A nationwide network of HR consultants supported by a strong content, compliance

and marketing team centrally, HR Dept Academic is a tailored package for schools

offering HR and payroll outsourced support. On-site and insurance backed support

brings genuine fixed fee support including cover for tribunal claims. The full HR

service range is well designed covering DBS checks, investigations, EAP, time and

attendance, comp & ben, and OH treatment cost plans. They offer one of the most

fully featured HR support packages around.

HRSolutions GB

A Lincolnshire based HR consultancy offering a full range of helpline, safety, payroll

and support services on a candid service level agreement basis. A DBS umbrella

body, they cover all the core advisory bases well and are branching out to other non-

education sectors too.

JG Poole

One of a small and growing band of education specific legal boutiques Jason Poole

offers a dedicated core team with access to a network of experts to support larger

projects. Poole and Harris offer a high level of strategic advice and an outsourced

general counsel service.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 96

Judicium

A lawyer led team, originally an SME regulatory consultancy, they have now set the

standard in designing and delivering fixed fee compliance services for schools and

colleges. Services range from HR and payroll to occupational health, safety,

leadership and school improvement support, as well as financial management. Leon

da Costa’s team are one to watch as they prove that a premium service can be

delivered on a regulatory consultancy business model here.

Kitsons

Regional specialists in the South West, Kitsons are a 50+ fee earner team. They list

Education as a key specialism and the team led by Rhodri Davey, their employment

specialist.

Knights/Darby’s

Consolidation in the legal mid-market means regional teams like Darby’s and Knights

merge on a regular basis. The merged team have a presence throughout the

midlands and north east now. Led by Rebecca Kashti the full suite of services is

offered on a traditional law firm model.

Leathes Prior

A Norwich law firm with over 50 fee earners, they bring a fully developed service

range to local clienteles and practical support on all issues from admissions to debt

collection. A good private client brand locally, this is a solid value for money

proposition from a commercial team.

Maclay Murray & Spens (MMS)

A leading Scottish law firm brand with over 180 fee earners, their capacity for major

projects in the education sector is well proven with HR and tribunal support focused

on major projects too. The Education team is led by Amanda Jones, head of

Employment & Pensions.

MacRoberts

A Scottish Commercial Law firm, the Education team face different challenges to

English teams, with challenges to charitable status for the private sector being more

prominent than autonomy, while procurement and traded services are key issues.

The team is led by Robin Corbett, head of Energy, Resources and Transport.

Mentor

RBS is the only retail bank to have had an in-house team helping clients with

compliance services. The Mentor team are their regulatory consultancy and have

always had a strong sectoral approach. RBS/NatWest is a nationwide brand and

service offering a cost effective approach to fixed fee HR and safety support.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 97

Michelmores

An Exeter based commercial firm, Education is an important focus for them at both

school and FE/University levels. A strong advisory pitch led by Anthony Power.

Mills & Reeve

A national law firm with a strong team and a high quality advisor pitch led by Gary

Attle (South) and Richard Sykes (North) with content marketing branded Fusion.

Muckle

A North East based commercial law firm now with over 80 fee earners, their

Education service is led by Tony McPhillips. Focused on academy conversions, they

offer support on employment, contracts, property, construction, governance with

two branded levels of support (MI School and MI Staff). Fixed fee packages start at

£6k for 30 hours of support, and MI Staff pricing is based on £25-40 per employee

pa.

Nelsons

An East Midlands law firm with over 100 fee earners, Education is one their select

group of chosen specialist sectors. Led by Laura Kearsley, their Ian Jones is well

known in the sector. They focus on fixed fee academy conversions supported by a

strong range of content and training support services.

NPW (Newham Partnership)

Newham Partnership Working is a partnership approach to ICT, HR, governor

support and school management support services. A commercial approach in a

mutual framework, their service range is extensive, and covers ICT in some depth.

For a comprehensive approach to school management support, they are impressive

with services ranging from health & safety to radiation protection, manager

networks and first aid. Three years into their new incarnation, they have shown

growth consistently, diversifying beyond regional boundaries.

One Education

Formerly Manchester traded services team, this now independent group offer HR,

payroll, finance, governance and ICT support. One of the widest service ranges on

offer, they are hard to beat for breadth and experience. Expanding regionally too.

Osborne Clarke

A major international commercial law firm with over 700 fee earners, their expertise

comes largely from the major infrastructure projects expertise and their ability to

deploy large experienced teams on PP and major transformations is impressive. As is

typical for firms with this international focus, the day-to-day support seems to be a

lower priority.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 98

Paris Smith

A Southampton based full service law firm, the team led by Nick Vaughan offer a full

range of support services on the traditional law firm model. They are associate

experts for The Key.

Penningtons Manches

A south east England law firm with international aspirations, they have over 220 fee

earners and a strong sectoral focus in developing their services. With a FE and HE

private sector focus, they have extended into other academic research bodies well

with typically strong multi-disciplinary approaches.

Peninsula

The clear leader in smaller SME regulatory consultancy services market,

this strong group now define the fixed fee, insurance backed employment

law, HR and safety service standards, both here and in many

commonwealth countries. Having recently acquired the Croner Consulting

operations, they have service propositions for both 10 employee sites and

now 50+ employee ones too, albeit often on long term contracts. Their

core employment law and HR propositions are fixed fee and

straightforward, while they do now offer higher service levels through the Croner

branded solutions as well as tax, occupational health and related services. A truly

nationwide coverage they are now offering much more than simply repackaged SME

solutions.

Pinsent Masons

A full service international law firm brand with over 1300 fee earners, Universities

and Higher Education is a core specialism for them. As major infrastructure projects

decline their emphasis is on commercialization of assets and relationships in

education, often with an international flavour.

Place Group

Specialists in the BSF projects that hitherto were the preserve of the law firms, Place

are a consultancy now focused on the academies programme alongside devising

their School Buyer’s Club service, a creative approach to helping schools with

procurement issues. Their project management focuses on managing the overlaps

between the various work streams in legal documentation, HR, TUPE, loan and

assets, financial systems, due diligence, payroll and stakeholder engagements.

Porter Dodson

A south west solicitors firm of some 70 fee earners prioritising education through

academy conversions, they typify the approach of many to continued support for

schools thereafter, predominantly in HR and employment support. Fixed fee and

retainer packages are offered by this cost effective team led by Lesley Gaskell.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 99

Rollits

A smaller law firm of some 60 fee earners based in the Humber, their education

sector is fully developed covering everything from governance to pensions, and from

safeguarding to IT contracts. A traditional ‘good people’ approach, their appeal in

Lincolnshire will be strong from the team led by Tom Morrison.

RPC

Describing themselves as a wider remit of ‘professional services firm’, this law firm of

over 300 fee earners has a strong commercial approach, working for many VCs in the

sector, as well as a dispute resolution and commercial property based approach with

clients. A premium service play from a traditional ‘good people’ approach backed by

solid content marketing.

SAS Daniels

A law firm based in the compliance services hot spot around Cheshire, Education is

one of their small list of chosen specialist sectors, and they combine legal and HR

teams for a strong employment and HR range of services for schools and colleges.

SAS Protect is a compliance management systems approach to rival that of the

regulatory consultancies, and in tandem with their Education 360 package brings

genuine sector depth of experience from the team led by Jonathan Whittaker.

Support is genuinely fixed fee on the basis that most clients prefer, ie ‘all-you-can-

eat’.

Schools Advisory Service

An insurance services based teams, SAS have developed innovative absence and

maternity solutions on the back of their strong insurance services base.

Schools HR Co-operative

Formerly HIllingdon’s School HR service, independent since 2011 services include HR,

payroll, recruitment and OH, and the team is led by Mike and Bob Charlton.

Schofield Sweeney

A Leeds/Bradford based law firm with over 30 fee earners, they have a strong

sectoral focus of which Education is one. Alongside academy and other sub-

specialisms, their aptly named ‘Just Teach’ package combines, HR, contractual and

procurement support, SEN, admissions and exclusion support, governance and

company secretarial services. Now online too, the fixed fee approach is backed by

online document management and compliance diary support. Tribunal cover is

offered as an optional extra. Led by Simon Shepherd, this is a great example of how

regional law firms can match and beat regulatory consultancy pitches.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 100

School Business Services

Cloud based budget management software for schools lies at the heart of the SBS

offering, and the team cover finance, MIS and ICT services for schools. Based in the

south east their reach and appeal is growing strongly. Finance and business packages

are offered on annual contracts, and the shrewdly partner with Place Group and

School Buyers Club to extend their service range into procurement and legal areas.

This is a team that cover off the main worry list items for bursars brilliantly.

Shakespeare Martineau

A Midlands based commercial law team, Education is one of their key focus areas

and a strong team is led by Smita Jamdar.

Sharpe Pritchard

As solicitors and parliamentary agents, SP is a 50+ fee earner smaller firm with strong

niche expertise. One such is a strong education sector focus and deep governmental

insight and experience in areas such as PFI and EFA work. This major projects focus is

exemplified by their education construction specialist team; this is a firm with

genuine differentiation in their specialist focus within the sector; a go-to brand in

complex public sector funding projects.

Stephensons

A nationwide law firm for whom education is a key sector, they offer value for

money and fixed fee approaches such as Workplace Plus and Safe Assist alongside

good sector experience. Having run the helpline for the National Association of

Nurseries, they are comfortable with both affinity group and framework based

channels

Stone King

Undoubtedly a go-to brand in services for schools and colleges, Stone King have

made their education team a pivotal department within their firm overall. Based in

the South West and with over 85 fee earners their appeal is national. Running the

NASBM and FASNA helplines and legal advisory support functions gives them a

uniquely high profile. Services are available on project and retainer bases, and while

ultimately a cost effective solution provider, the depth of experience is impressive.

Strictly Education (ESS)

Strictly Education can justifiably claim leadership in the market and they have

diversified from a payroll core with a range of financial support services very

effectively. Covering all the bases of GRC support including HR, finance, ICT, facilities

and property support, there is typically an informational solution initially with

software and services added as investment timings allow. Formerly part of a VC led

HR software agglomeration, they are now independent following an mbo and in a

position to stretch their lead if they so choose.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 101

Taylor Vinters

A Cambridge based team of some 80+ fee earners, they are a brand building on their

strengths in technology, investment and private client work. In Education they have

a preference for major projects and assisting colleges with funding from grants to

trading structures. A premium player, they have a broadly traditional approach to

good people combing to provide good project support teams.

Teachers Resource Centre

A subscription based content heavy online resource for schools and colleges on

documentation in compliance, Policies for Schools costs £225pa for 300 model

policies and the School Health & Safety services is £350 for 186 risk assessments and

70 policies. Bundles have now been added for school heads on issue s such as school

improvement, curriculum, and safeguarding.

The Key/WB

Initially a content solution sponsored by Government, this team have migrated to a

full publishing solution with modular support for School Leaders and School

Governors providing subscription Q&A content and toolkits. The WB addition

brought eLearning and CDP support to the mix. Now backed by a VC privately, they

know how to develop services. Solid back-up for those tackling GRC issues on a DIY

basis.

Thorntons

A Scottish law firm with over 130 fee earners, Thorntons are well represented on all

the procurement frameworks and in addition to the usual governance, employment

and procurement solutions offer commercialisation support and immigration

specialists as well.

Trowers Hamlins

A 250+ fee earner full service international law practice, education is a part of their

public sector practice and focused heavily on PFI, BSF, PPP and ICT/FM contract

work. A premium player with this sector depth best represented by Helen Randall.

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Veale Wasbrough Vizards

A 200 fee earner full service law firm, often firms of this scale have teams who can

come together for a sector, but VWV genuinely target this sector as a core

specialism. Represented on four frameworks and four Institutes including the ISBA,

Local Government Lawyers Group and COBIS their breadth of appeal is clearly and

they are close on the heels of the other high visibility law firms such as Stone King,

Browne Jacobson, Mills Reeve, etc and ahead of some of the niche premium brands.

A strong good people approach supported by good content marketing and

professional positioning.

Walker Morris

A 230 fee earner Leeds based full service commercial firm they cover both complex

projects and academy conversions.

Ward Hadaway

Lawyers in the north east with over 240 fee earners they have a good understanding

of the GRC service sector as well as the commercial legal sectors. Part of their public

services team, they have won PFI awards repeatedly while also supporting 200

academies. Led by Tim Care their Public Services partner, they have a very full

service range. Alongside the usual suspects, their HR support is ironically on similar

lines to the regulatory consultancy SME support services, while their safety cover

extends to issues such as food safety.

Weightmans

A major mid-market law firm with over 620 fee earners, their education team

focuses on public sector major works and higher education specialisms. The

framework marketing channels are working well for them.

Working with schools

A Manchester based consultancy with genuine sector depth of experience, the

husband and wife led team offer support in all the core areas, including HR, payroll,

DBS checks and training.

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Winckworth Sherwood

A strong specialist brand well known among religious schools in particular, WS are

already actively partnering with many other suppliers in the sector too.

Wrigleys

A Leeds and Sheffield based smaller firm focusing on key sector strengths, Education

is one and they offer support across the full range of educational specialisms from

FE/HE to free schools. Taking over 600 schools to academy status has meant they

can retain work with over 200. Dr John Mullen leads the HE/FE team, and Chris

Billington the independent sectors.

Wright Hassall

A south midlands team of over 150 fee earners, education is a key sector for them led by Ian

Besant, their employment law partner. Conversant also with the SME HR sector they bring

an HR consultancy team to the mix as well.

XACT

A regulatory consultancy team with a particular strength in safety services, this team while

based in Scotland operate nationwide and sell predominantly through affinity groups and

institutions (albeit not education ones especially yet). Their service mix for schools is more

safety focused than most and content rich.

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Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 105

Education Intermediaries A key battleground in the search for validation, institutes vary from

operating their own compliance support services to endorsements of

preferred suppliers and all points in between. Most are

fundamentally lobbying, representative and (training) standards

bodies for whom member services in compliance are important but

secondary.

Whereas firms like Weightmans, Mills Reeve, Eversheds, Bond

Dickinson, Blake Morgan and DWF major on frameworks, here,

Farrer’s dominate the support services for independent schools,

closely followed by Veale Wasbrough Vizards, Stone King and

Browne King for their services to affinity and membership groups.

AMDIS Admissions, Marketing & Development in Independent Schools

A membership body for independent schools focused on admissions, marketing and

development activities. Members include a strong list of marketing support

specialists and they cover 450+ schools in the UK.

AGBIS Association of Governing Bodies of Independent Schools

A charitable body promoting the advancement of good governance in the

education sector, since 2002 they have been a merged group. Well known for their

annual Heads and bursar’s salary survey. Strong training and content support is

provided to members as well as legal and practical advice backed by Veal

Wasbrough Vizards and Farrer & Co.

AHUA Association of Heads of University Administration

The association for senior university registrars, COOs and Heads of Administration,

they have 190 members from 140 associations. Their role is representative and

lobbying as well as member events and benefits including a ‘Law Forum’.

Shakespeare Martineau are sponsors and provide the monthly bulletin to members,

with Eversheds, Mills & Reeve, Pinsents, Brymer Legal and Anderson Strathern also

partnering.

AoC Association of Colleges

Close ties to the higher education specialist Association of Colleges, this team offer

an impressive range of training and content support. When associations decide to

do the support services on a commercial footing, AoC Create, for example shows

how good they can be at it. Services include recruitment, training and event

management. The AoC covers 98% of the further education sector with 308

members. Event sponsors Bates Wells Braithwaite are their legal partner.

ASCL Association of School and College Leaders

An active membership and representative body covering 18000 schools, colleges

and system leaders, they have a strong policy flavour. Their legal partner is Browne

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 106

Jacobson, while the Association provides field officers and in-house solicitor

support.

BESA British Educational Suppliers Association

The British Educational Suppliers Association is a procurement specialist group with a

vast range of suppliers from access control to yearbooks.

BSA Boarding Schools Association

The representative body for boarding schools they service all schools with training,

qualification programs and advice. Advice is backed by Farrers with newcomers

including Harrison Clark Rickerby’s claiming affiliations too.

BUFDG British Universities Finance Directors Group

The representative body for senior finance staff in higher and further education, the

association offers advice, networking and representative services. Member benefits

are focused on payroll and financial issues for obvious reasons, but include guidance

on funding, fraud and procurement too. Freeths have an association with them

currently.

CES Catholic Education Service

The Catholic education service acts on behalf of the Catholic Bishops Conference and

provides extensive support on employment documentation alongside guidance on

admissions, disqualification and more. There are now 2142 Catholic schools and 450

Catholic academies and the Catholic Church has established Churchmarketplace to

facilitate procurement, including legal services and HR. Leading suppliers to CES

include Winckworth Sherwood and Browne Jacobson.

CofE Schools Church of England Schools

Covering some 4500 CofE primary schools and 200 secondary schools their national

education office offers a range of direct support services. While not affiliated to any

firm in particular, Winckworth Sherwood’s John Rees is registrar to the Archbishop of

Canterbury and legal adviser to the Anglian Consultative Council.

CIPS Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply

The leading professional procurement institute, they have a British Universities Finance

Directors Group (BUFDG) and co-ordinate 11 regional procurement efforts through

university procurement officer support efforts.

CIPFA Academies Public Finance

The professional body for public finance and accountancy, they are supporting

academy financial reporting qualifications currently.

COBIS Council of British International Schools

Covering 268 schools in 76 countries, COBIS is a membership and representative body

offering development, training and event s. Veale Wasborough Vizards and Double

First are ‘supporting members’.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 107

FAB Federation of Awarding Bodies

The representative body and membership organisation for vocational qualification

awarding bodies in the UK. They offer a legal package in association with Bates

Wells Braithwaite

FASNA Freedom and Autonomy for Schools - Nat

Association

Browne Jacobson and Stone King are supporting members. Browne Jacobson offer

support from £1 per pupil per year on Quickcall (unlimited queries and immediate

answers), as well as fixed fee HR and Academy conversion packages. Stone King

offer a free half hour of advice and 10% discounts on the first piece of work, fixed

fee retainers (ie c£500 off a £5k package) and 10% off academy conversions; free

access to online resources and 50% off the information management audit (ie £2k

reduced to £1k).

GSA Girls School Association

The representative body for independent girls’ schools. Advice comes from Farrers

HMC Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference

The professional association for 282 independent heads, they have a strong

professional development emphasis. Advice comes from Farrers.

IAPS Independent Association of Prep Schools

An association of 650 prep schools internationally, they represent 608 schools in

the UK with a strong training support function. Members are also members of

NAHT and benefit from the Browne Jacobson advice services.

ISA Independent Schools Association

Supporting 380+ head teachers of independent nurseries to sixth form colleges,

Stone King are their existing ‘Gold’ Supplier in legal services, with the Key and

Double First also represented.

ISBA Independent Schools Bursars Association

The independent school bursar’s association, they represent over 1000 schools and

as with all bursar approaches they focus on financial and operational issues in

some depth. Alongside Crow Clark Whitehill and Kingston Smith branching out

from accountancy services and Assurity bringing regulatory consulting safety

specialisms, Barlow Robbins, Farrers, Harrison Clark Rickerby’s, Stone King, Veale

Wasbrough and Wrigley’s have a supportive presence.

Legal Services & GRC Suppliers to Schools and Colleges 108

ISC Independent Schools Council

An association of associations, they link 7 associations representing over 1200

schools and providing specialist advisory support. Legal advice comes from Farrers.

LLG Lawyers in Local Government

A merger of the association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors and Solicitors in

Local Government, the LLG operates through regional branches and several special

activity areas, including employment and litigation. Legal support comes from

Weightmans, Anthony Collins, Eversheds, Bevan Brittan, Veale Wasbrough

Vizards and Browne Jacobson.

NAHT National Association of Head Teachers

Affiliated to the TUC, the head Teachers organisation is both a trades union and a

membership representation body. Legal advice is provided by Browne Jacobson.

NASBM National Association of School Business Managers

Existing relationships include Browne Jacobson, Every, HC Associates, HCSS,

HR Solutions (GB), Schools Advisory Service, Stone King, Strictly Education, The Key,

and Veale Wasbrough Vizards.

NGA National Governors Association

A charity which supports Governance in all state funded schools with a lobbying

and content rich support service. Browne Jacobson is an approved partner

SCIS Scottish Council of Independent Schools

The Scottish independent schools council represents 70 schools and is supported in

legal matters by Turcan Connell a team with a strong charity practice, and using

YPO for procurement.

SGOSS Governors for Schools

Another Government sponsored initiative that started as a 6 month pilot and is

now a charity employing 20 staff, their priority is the recruitment of good

governors.

SoH Society of Heads

Representing over 100 independent school heads.

WISC Welsh Independent Schools Council

The umbrella body representing independent schools in Wales.

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