- London
- commercial; charities & social enterprise; practitioners
- i.hempseed@hempsons.co.uk
- 020 7484 7530
Specialist advice for universities
Higher education institutions (HEIs) increasingly have to operate not only as civic institutions but as substantial businesses as the amount of central funding diminishes. At the same time, HEIs have a duty to respect academic independence and free expression and in the context of a consumer market for fee-sensitive students. At the same time the Department for Education expects HEIs to get more involved in supporting secondary education. Our lawyers have recently advised a university on setting up a university technical college (UTC) and another on ceasing to be a sponsor of an ‘old style’ academy.
We are also able to help HEIs with the commercialisation of their activities as well as with issues surrounding the student contract and student welfare. Our lawyers have also particular experience in helping HEIs to procure facilities management services as well for major capital development projects.
What we do
We provide specialist legal services to universities in the following areas:
- Behaviour and expulsion
- Charity law and charitable status
- Collaborations and joint ventures
- Fundraising and trading
- Governance
- Research
- Shared services
- Spin-outs
- Sponsorship of academies, free schools, studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs)
- Student contracts
- Students’ unions
- Student welfare
In addition, we have specialist expertise in other areas of law:
- Commercial contracts
- Construction projects
- Employment and discrimination
- Data protection
- Dispute resolution
- Freedom of information
- Funding
- Health and safety
- Information technology
- Intellectual property
- Outsourcing
- Property
- Public procurement
