Specialist education solicitors

There is strength in numbers, and nothing supports the education sector more than schools working together.

Whether your trust is exploring a formal collaboration agreement, a federation, or a shared services model, our solicitors for education help you build arrangements that are legally sound, practically workable, and aligned with your trust’s values.

We advise on joint working frameworks, resource-sharing agreements, and partnership structures between trusts, maintained schools, and diocesan bodies. Our approach is always to understand what you are trying to achieve first, then build the legal framework to match.

Collaboration done well creates impact.

MAT consolidation is accelerating. We understand that no two mergers are the same. Whether you are pursuing a merger to build long-term resilience, responding to DfE direction, or proactively seeking the right partner trust, the impact on schools, staff and communities is significant, and the legal foundations you put in place matter.

We have extensive experience advising trusts on MAT mergers and school-to-trust transfers. We guide boards through the process including advice on transfer agreements, TUPE obligations, funding agreement variations, land transfers, and more. The legal work is only one part of the puzzle, and the focus for leaders will be on getting the culture and vision right.

Whatever the context, our advice is grounded in deep sector knowledge and practical experience.

Leading a trust means managing a constant flow of operational, commercial and property challenges alongside the bigger strategic picture. Our teams are experienced across all of it.

On the commercial side, we advise on procurement, catering and wrap-around care contracts, service level agreements, and contractual disputes, to help protect your organisation’s interests and keeping operations on track. For property, we support site acquisitions, development agreements, leases, licences, and disputes, with a clear understanding of the estate pressures MATs face as they grow.

Day-to-day, we are also here for the challenges that land without warning. This might include parental complaints, child protection matters, admissions and exclusions, data protection, health and safety, employment and pensions matters.

The pace of DfE policy change shows no sign of slowing. For MAT leaders and education governance professionals, staying ahead of regulatory obligations, fulfilling duties to employment law, data protection, and financial compliance needs continuous care.

Our education law solicitors provide proactive, ongoing legal support so your trust is never on the back foot. We offer annual legal support packages designed specifically for schools and MATs, providing expert, on-demand advice at a fixed cost that fits within school budget planning cycles.

With experience advising faith-based institutions and diocesan bodies alongside large multi-academy trusts, our education law solicitor team brings sector nuance and insights.