Joanna Rees > Blake Morgan LLP > Cardiff, United Kingdom > Lawyer Profile

Acting on its own as well as often forming part of a multi-office group with lawyers based out of the firm’s offices in South East England, Blake Morgan LLP provides ‘clear legal advice’ to public and private sector clients in contentious and non-contentious matters spanning Wales and the wider UK region. As part of her broad construction practice, which includes a substantial volume of public sector work, Joanna Rees is ‘very knowledgeable about the NHS methodology of procurement and construction contracting’. In more general terms, Rees is also highly adept at advising on large infrastructure and energy projects, where her expertise runs the gamut of the project lifecycle, from tender through to build phase. On the contentious front, the recently promoted and ‘exceptionally capable and experienced’ Kate Howell ‘manages complex construction disputes with great skill and efficiency’.

Blake Morgan LLP’s education practice offers charity, employment and governance advice, including misconduct, exclusions, reorganisations, and school conversions, school expansion, as well as data protection. Matthew Smith leads the department and has extensive experience in employment tribunal cases. Joanna Rees leads the Cardiff-based construction team, advising on new secondary schools in Cardiff. Legal director Trish D’Souza assists schools with a range of issues, such as special educational needs and student admission issues, while legal director Ben Brice heads the department’s charity work in the education sector.

Blake Morgan LLP‘s education offering spans transactional work, litigation and specialist education tribunal work, also covering a wide range of student matters, such as EU student tuition fees, implications of Brexit, exclusions or disciplinary matters, as well as in sensitive cases, such as sexual misconduct and discrimination cases and advice on regulatory issues. Matthew Smith leads the department from Cardiff and handles both contentious and non-contentious employment advice. Penri Desscan handles procurement and broad commercial matters, while Eve Piffaretti ‘s broad practice covers public, regulatory and governance law, as well as mental health and capacity law. Paula Kathrens handles employment-related litigation and Joanna Rees is the key contact for contentious and non-contentious construction matters. Alison Patten-Hall assists with commercial agreements including IP licensing and procurement. Other key members of the team are Trish D’Souza, Rachel Sales, Natalie Lawley and Laura Sherratt.