The BL education legal retainer is designed to provide you with the help you need across an extensive range of legal areas. We offer specialist, focused and practical advice in a timely manner. 

Our education team has years of experience in assisting education institutions and has a deep understanding of the education sector. We know that time is of the essence for our education clients and we therefore strive not to “sit on the fence”. If you have good advice that allows you to be confident of your strategic options, you will be free to focus on other matters. 

The BL education legal retainer acts as a support mechanism for the key stakeholders within your education institution and gives you access to a legal specialist by phone or email. It covers all enquiries that can be dealt with in about an hour and that are not employment law or HR related. 

For example, this could include reviewing straightforward documentation, advice on immediate problems, drafting initial letters and occasionally agreements. A breakdown of some of the areas where we can help can be found below.

Where a matter requires more extensive support or if there is a significant project you require assistance with, we will agree to a separate scope of instructions at an additional charge. Such charges are discounted for retainer clients and all fee quotes are set out in a transparent manner so that you are clear as to the advice and assistance included and can budget effectively. 

At the outset, we will do our utmost to identify matters that could require additional support. In circumstances where this is not possible - for example if matters escalate or more support is needed than originally envisaged -  we will discuss the options open to you in order that you can plan and budget for the way forward. 

Institutions that are limited companies will have legal requirements to provide certain information, create and maintain records and registers, and make certain decisions in accordance with statutory procedure. As part of the BL education legal retainer we provide advice and assistance on all company secretarial matters that can be dealt with in about an hour. 

Retainer clients also benefit from discounted rates on our practical and engaging training sessions, the content of which can be tailored specifically for you. 

We encourage you to use us as a sounding board for any proposed course of action. We are here to advise on strategy and day-to-day legal matters. If you use us infrequently, we may be less quick to set out a separate scope of instructions for any extensive support you may require, to ensure that you are getting value for money from our service.

At Birkett Long we believe that any retainer works best when there is a well founded and honest relationship between the provider and the client. To help build and maintain that relationship, a solicitor from our education team will schedule an annual review meeting with you. That meeting could be used to advise on a particular matter, provide training at a discounted rate, or attend a meeting of your governors.

It is important to us that we tailor our education legal retainer for your establishment and therefore we would be delighted to meet to discuss your requirements. 

How can we help?

The table below gives an overview of the types of advice and assistance we can provide either under retainer or on a bespoke basis.