Law firm’s Free Schools role (From York Press)

Law firm’s Free Schools role

11:23am Wednesday 1st February 2012 in Business news

YORK-BASED lawyers have been reappointed to advise the Government on its flagship Free Schools Programme.

Dickinson Dees is one of only two law firms in the UK to be working on a pioneering programme with Partnerships for Schools (PfS) on behalf of the Department of Education (DfE).

A spokesman said all the work would be done by staff at the firm’s York offices, prior to their departure from the city in April, and the appointment followed their successful work on the smaller first wave of 25 Free Schools last year.

Kevin Robertson, lead partner for schools work in the public services team at Dickinson Dees, said the appointment kept it at the ‘absolute forefront’ of education work for schools nationally.

He said that the firm had initially been appointed in October 2010 to help deliver the first wave of Free Schools, it had advised on a range of property, construction, procurement and commercial matters for the schools which opened in September last year.

“We have followed this up by being successfully reappointed in November 2011 to be one of only two firms to deliver the second larger wave of 55 Free Schools, as well as 20 new-style Studio Schools and University Technical Colleges (UTCs),” he said.

The spokesman said the Studio Schools were aimed at 14 to 19-year-olds and would offer practical learning to help students achieve key qualifications, while the UTCs were academies for 14 to 19-year-olds, focusing on providing technical education that met the needs of modern employers.

More than 70 specialists from across the firm have advised individual free school proposers on schemes in areas as far apart as Canary Wharf, Bradford and Norwich.

Mr Robertson said: “The last year has seen the take-off of the academies programme, the arrival of Free Schools and high-profile litigation following the fall-out from the abolition of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

“It has been a tremendously busy and significant time in the education sector in the UK.

“We have advised every key stakeholder in the new education landscape including individual schools, academies, Free School proposers and local authorities.”