Stone King LLP joins the rankings this year due to the growing role of the Cambridge office in the firm’s national employment practice, which is led from Leeds by Craig Vincent. Associate Emma Suzuki, who assists clients in the education, charity and business sectors, and senior HR consultant Anna Hyde, who has extensive experience in advising schools and multi-academy trusts, are the key contacts in East Anglia. Firm-wide, the employment practice supports more than 2,000 state schools and many FE and HE colleges and institutions, as well as offering specialist charity employment advice.
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Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- 'We have been a client for over a year, and we are incredibly happy with the professional advice received. The professional advice and assistance received are around drafting template contracts of employment for permanent staff and casual worker contracts, liaising with the HR team on its handbook, drafting secondment agreements between TRAID and the relevant legal entities and drafting secondment agreement template letters for client to issue to seconded employees.'
- 'We have been working with Emma Suzuki on employment legal matters and Lisa Basch on overall HR employment matters. The assistance and advice received are pretty clear and easy to understand and implement on the strategic direction of the charity.'
- 'We are able to have a dedicated HR Consultant who has worked with us for a number of years and knows us incredibly well. Where additional support is needed this is provided and colleagues are always well briefed on issues before they contact us. We find it very reassuring that we are able to work with a team that knows us so well and are able to provide support in a way that is so efficient.'
- 'They take the time to get to know us and keep up with policy changes that we make. They are pro-active and know our team well so know where to pull in additional support.'
- 'I have received exceptional support from Ollie Daw with a number of ER queries and one complex ET claim. He was responsive and gave comprehensive advice with a good understanding of the education sector. When we had challenges reaching a settlement, he reached out to claimant directly and helped us to engage them in negotiations; he also requested a last minute extension to our ET response deadline, completing the necessary forms at short notice.'
- 'The team at Stone King is highly professional and have a full range of expertise in the different areas of law which impact on education. They are highly responsive and effective in their clear communications. They have exceeded expectations during times when we have faced litigation, by providing an exceptional service during those times. They are a firm which are clearly committed to a collaborative way of working with clients to meet our changing needs.'
- 'We have been consistently impressed with Ollie Daw, who has acted for us to defend complex employment tribunal claims. We appreciated his expertise and strategic thinking, which through his insightful advice and guidance have been instrumental in navigating complex legal issues and finding creative solutions.'
Key clients
- Future Academies
- Futura Learning Partnership
- St Columba’s College
- King Edward’s School, Bath
- Kingswood School
- Causeway Charitable Services
- United Learning and United Church Schools Trust
- Family Action
- St John Ambulance
- Felsted School
Practice head
Craig Vincent
Other key lawyers
Emma Suzuki; Anna Hyde; Ollie Daw