Blake Lapthorn appointed to London Universities Purchasing
Consortium Framework
Blake Lapthorn is pleased to announce that it has been appointed
to the London Universities Purchasing Consortium's new Legal
Services Framework.
London Universities Purchasing Consortium (LUPC) has announced a
new Framework for legal services, which will deliver better value
for money to London universities and is estimated to be worth up to
£30 million over three years.
Blake Lapthorn is one of 13 firms that will provide legal
services to LUPC’s Members, who are drawn from the higher
education, further education, cultural and research sectors in and
around London. There are currently over 60 Members who comprise
some of the capital’s most prestigious universities, museums and
libraries.
The collaborative arrangement is one of the biggest for legal
services in the public sector and will offer LUPC Members improved
rates, more standardised service levels and a range of added value
opportunities. It includes eight specialist Lots, such as
employment, commercial, education and student matters and medical,
and a ninth ‘One Stop Shop’ Lot for those members that wish to
engage a single firm to provide all of their legal services
requirements.
Andy Davies, Director of LUPC, said: “Our members identified
legal services as a major area of spend with opportunities to add
value and make significant cash savings. This result demonstrates
the benefits that can be achieved through collaborative procurement
and we look forward to working with the successful firms to deliver
these benefits.”
Along with the other successful firms, Blake Lapthorn was chosen
based on criteria such as price, technical requirements and ‘unique
selling point’. Blake Lapthorn's recent experience in the higher
education sector includes commercial work covering a wide range of
IP protection and commercialisation and commercial contract work,
acting for the Universities of Surrey, Southampton, Reading, Bath
and Winchester; Isis Innovation (in relation to spin-out work for
the University of Oxford); spin-out companies and others
contracting with Universities in relation to IPR exploitation; and
funders in relation to seed and development capital. Specific areas
of expertise include research grants and contracts; trading
subsidiaries; collaborative ventures in the UK and elsewhere
(including the USA); intellectual property; IP exploitation and
technology transfer; IP protection; publishing law; and
international law.
The firm also has experience in the areas of company law and
charity law, where it has advised HEI institutions on a number of
legal issues including the duties, responsibilities and liabilities
of governing bodies of HEI institutions; the structures required
for the conduct of conferences for third parties taking into
account charity law compliance and tax and VAT implications;
trading for income generation including advice on structures and
compliance issues; and advising a student union on its relationship
with the university and trading issues and structures. Specific
areas include charters and statutes; governance structures; the
Freedom of information Act; and new legislation impacting upon
Higher Education in general and Member Institutions in
particular.
Martin Kay, head
of Blake Lapthorn's HEI sector group, commented: "We are delighted
to have been one of the firms chosen for the LUPC legal services
Framework. We very much look forward to working with the LUPC team
moving forward and to developing what we hope will be a
long-lasting working relationship."
