Stone King LLP

Stone King is a national leader in charity and education law and has won independent praise for the high-quality legal advice it offers to businesses and individuals across the UK.

The firm: Stone King has offices in Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds, London and Manchester.

It continues to see growth across its charity, business, education and private client divisions and now employs over 220 people, including 49 partners and 116 fee-earners.

The firm’s sector-leading education team advises over 1,000 maintained and independent schools nationally and has been at the forefront of the academies programme.

Within the third sector, Stone King acts for hundreds of leading charity and not-for-profit organisations across the UK, including many educational establishments and religious groups.

The firm also offers a broad range of commercial legal advice to a wide variety of organisations, from family-run businesses to international companies.

In addition, Stone King has gained independent recognition for its expert advice to individuals and families, particularly on issues relating to care funding and family mediation.

Types of work undertaken
Charity and social enterprise: Stone King’s sector expertise includes advice on the formation and registration of new charities, Charity Commission investigations and review visits, charity mergers, establishing trading subsidiaries, and duties and liabilities of trustees. The firm also specialises in modernising and restructuring charity constitutions, governance and compliance issues, legacy disputes, corporate sponsorship and fundraising.

Education: the firm’s sector-leading work for educational institutions includes academy creation and conversions, governor training, corporate and regulatory issues, student disputes and issues arising from negligence in relation to the provision of education. It also specialises in employment matters including TUPE, the establishment of relevant employment contractual documents and advice on the appointment process.

Employment and HR: Stone King advises clients on a wide range of employment matters including those arising from a business sale, purchase or organisational change, TUPE, changing terms and conditions, restructuring, redundancy, dismissal and discrimination. The firm also provides representation at employment tribunals and HR support.

Commercial property: the firm specialises in commercial, charitable, educational and social housing work, providing expert advice on all aspects of planning and environmental law.

Construction: Stone King’s work covers a range of projects, from refurbishment works in existing facilities to large-scale new developments. This includes legal advice on construction procurement, building contracts and preparing bespoke schedules of amendments to standard forms, consultants appointments, letters of intent, collateral warranties, funding agreements, and PFI/PPP documentation.

Corporate and commercial: the firm advises on a wide range of commercial matters including business start-ups, administration and compliance, director duties and liabilities, IT, IP, shareholder and joint venture agreements.

Dispute resolution: Stone King’s expertise encompasses contentious work involving litigation, arbitration and alternative dispute resolution.

Transport: the firm offers specialist advice on all aspects of road transport legislation, including public inquiries, appeals to the Transport Tribunal, tachograph and drivers’ hours regulation, construction and use regulations and the bus service operators grant.

Trusts and estates: Stone King provides bespoke advice to individuals on wills, trusts and tax planning, including advice on overseas assets. In addition the team is developing a strong reputation in providing specialist advice to clients in later life and their families and carers, particularly issues relating to care funding.

Family law and mediation: the firm’s expertise includes advice on divorce and separation, mediation, cohabitation, civil partnership, prenuptial agreements and cases involving children.

Residential property: Stone King specialises in local and national sales and purchases, transfers of equity, shared ownership, new-build purchases, residential leases and remortgages.

Court and regulatory: Stone King handles all manner of crime, including white-collar crime and fraud. The firm also specialises in regulatory defence in matters such as environmental, consumer protection and health and safety issues.