The Legal 500 > United Kingdom - Solicitors > West Midlands > Education

‘Highly professional, excellent knowledge and understanding of employment law and education from a legal perspective. We established excellent relationships with the individuals at the company‘.

‘The firm has a wealth of experience and understanding of education law and we can rely on them to always provide robust, reliable and timely advice and support when we need it. The firm’s approach is highly professional, consistent and conscientious.‘

‘Browne Jacobson’s advice has always been timely, well-researched and well-judged, leaving us with a clear direction of travel and, more importantly, clarity around some complex legal issues.‘

‘Highly effective and knowledgeable individuals who work effectively with our school staff. Advice and support is always of the highest level.‘

‘Browne Jacobson’s education team offers the rare commodity of legal advice wrapped up with real world risk appraisals and a genuine interest in ensuring clients make informed, best-option decisions. They don’t retreat behind the mask of an arm’s-length adviser and are time and time again willing to engage from a client-side perspective to tailor their legal expertise to the absolute benefit of the client.‘

‘The team has a culture of high performance and driven practitioners who are not interested in elongating engagements or issues – they bring a real commercial and even entrepreneurial quality to their practice. This sets them easily above any competitor firm in the sector and they remain firmly established as the go-to legal team in education.‘

‘Browne Jacobson’s advice is always robust, backed up by sound consideration of risk. My perception is there is a relentless pursuit to ensure they understand the sector inside out through proactively engaging with policy-makers and leaders‘

‘Nick MacKenzie is always available, always happy to support and provides wise counsel; Nick is someone who you trust and is happy to do whatever he can whenever he can.‘

‘Nick McKenzie is hugely energetic with a deep understanding of the law. He manages to be both highly in demand and highly accessible, and readily fits into the trusted adviser model which senior legal professionals most usefully occupy.‘

‘Nick MacKenzie is an absolute industry expert and is always my first port of call for anything governance or strategy-related. I would recommend him to anyone within education as a trusted partner.‘

‘Richard Freeth is a fantastic support to our multi-academy trust. His sector knowledge and ability to get to the heart of any matter quickly provide us with an invaluable service which is of the highest standard.‘

‘Richard Freeth is highly experienced and is sympathetic to the challenges we face as a local authority. He is easy to contact at short notice and quick to respond to any queries we have. We have developed a great working relationship with him and find him to be very friendly and approachable.‘

‘Richard Freeth’s advice is excellent. He will make every effort to respond as soon as he can to ensure we can progress rapidly with the issues we have to hand.‘

‘Helen Badger’s calm manner, persistence and tenacity make complex employment issues much more palatable to deal with. Anything asked of her is delivered.‘

‘Associate Lydia Michaelson-Yates is determined, tenacious and excellent at cutting through the noise to the pertinent issues. Excellent practitioner with great credibility and presence at board level.‘

‘The firm has a very good reputation and expertise in higher education and has a very good approach – it understands our business and priorities‘

‘Highly responsive. providing intelligent and pragmatic advice on a range of issues. The practice has a breadth of expertise and can draw on experiences across the education sector to provide informed and expert advice‘

‘The team has a good understanding of our business and the advice they provide is measured and pragmatic, based on our risk appetite providing a good sounding board for further discussion‘

‘Excellent lawyers, who are knowledgeable about the sector and pragmatic. No ‘noise’ – they are straightforward and are there when we need them but don’t bother us unnecessarily‘

‘The team’s advice is rooted in a deep knowledge of the law of education and otherwise, but its excellence derives from its experience with an impressive list of clients and its engagement with the policy, politics, and understanding of education nationally and internationally’

‘The advice is balanced, well articulated and clearly thought through‘

‘The service we receive from Shakespeare Martineau is always incredibly tailored and personal. Partners have developed strong relationships of trust and confidence with our executive team, meaning that they feel more like colleagues than external lawyers. The advice we receive is always relevant and practical, and we particularly appreciate the extent to which our particular context is considered and accommodated‘

‘Smita Jamdar is outstanding in her ability to analyse the issues and identify a clear way forward‘

‘Smita Jamdar is known for being a key player in the higher education sector. She is a very credible lawyer and trusted by our internal clients‘

‘Smita Jamdar is very approachable, responsive, has strength and depth of experience in the sector and is well known for her expertise. She carries much credence and respect amongst lawyers in the sector as well as my internal colleagues at the university’

‘Smita Jamdar gets straight to the point, is always responsive and delivers clear, cogent, pragmatic advice‘

‘The education team is led by a charismatic partner, Smita Jamdar, who is a significant presence in the higher education scene in the UK both as a policy leader, commentator, and communicator. She is also an outstanding lawyer‘

‘Smita Jamdar is one of the outstanding education lawyers practising at present. She has enviable networks, influence, and is a powerful figure on social media and in other forms of communication. She is committed, often passionate, and empathetic to the needs of clients‘

‘Smita Jamdar is personable, responsive and an expert in the field‘

‘David Browne is the employment field is clear-sighted and client-friendly‘

‘David Browne has given sage and insightful advice to major educational clients. He brings solutions where others might bring options‘

‘Tom Long is always responsive, calm, competent and approachable. He provides clear and pragmatic advice and is good with non-legal colleagues‘

‘Geraldine Swanton has particular expertise in data protection, FOI and student related complaints. She is very responsive and practical in her advice and approach‘

‘Joanna Forbes is responsive and very experienced‘

‘Joanna Forbes and Geraldine Swanton have both been very attentive to our needs and have offered insightful, pragmatic and clear advice‘

‘Geraldine Swanton and Joanna Forbes both produce strong work in good time-frames‘

‘Director Uddalak Datta is very knowledgeable and experienced in public procurement law as well as commercial contracts. He is easy to work with and provides practical and pragmatic advice‘

‘Director Catherine Savage, who handles litigation and disputes, is very experienced and efficient, helpful and clear in conveying complex legal advice to non-litigators and non-lawyers‘

‘Catherine Savage on the litigation side is a great lawyer and extremely knowledgeable about the higher education sector‘

‘Associate Anieka Sheppard is impressive in terms of her knowledge and practical advice‘

‘Everyone who I have dealt with at VWV is extremely professional yet approachable. I have had great confidence in the advice that I have been given‘

‘The team has great ability to consider and think through challenging issues, providing appropriate advice as is needed for each individual situation‘

‘Jaime Hobday is a great client manager – she inspires confidence and clearly has a great depth of knowledge in the academy sector‘

‘Friendly, knowledgeable, open and honest team‘

‘The team is big enough that there is a breadth and depth of expertise, but also small enough that you get an individualised and personal service. The education team sits well within the firm, whose wider work involves assisting disabled children. The team has excellent knowledge, and are very personable – an ideal combination for special educational needs work‘

‘Senior associate Benjamin Smith has provided valuable advice over the past few years and is always enthusiastic and patient. He is able to ensure our deadlines can be met when dealing with urgent work‘