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.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • 'Blake Morgan LLP have sector leading experience and knowledge of the regulatory/education sector. They have provided us with independent legal advice to our independent fitness to practise panels for more than 20 years. The team have a deep knowledge of our cases and our needs as a regulator and they are able to consistently deliver a very high quality of work on each and every occasion.'
  • 'Blake Morgan's service and quality which they provide us with is second to none.'
  • 'Delme Griffiths - his knowledge of regulatory law is encyclopedic- in some of more complicated cases this knowledge has been invaluable. Delme is always willing to be available, often at very short notice, if complex issues emerge, to provide advice. Also, when giving advice, it is always explained in teams which can be easily understood even when the issues are complex. Delme Griffiths exhibits a remarkable level of calmness which is very reassuring.'
  • 'Graham Miles has a huge amount of experience and knowledge of regulatory casework. His level of experience is unsurpassed by any other lawyer. Graham's manner, knowledge and confidence is greatly appreciated and he brings a remarkable level of reassurance to those people whom he is working with.'
  • 'Eve Piffarretti has undertaken considerable work on our cases to an extremely high professional standard.'
  • 'Very knowledgeable education specialists.'
  • 'Trish D'Souza offers the best client care I have experienced and has been terrific in supporting our student casework unit with pragmatic and urgent advice responding quickly to legislative changes.'

Key clients

  • New College, Oxford
  • Cardiff University
  • Portsmouth Diocesan Trust
  • University of Reading
  • Brasenose College, Oxford
  • University College, Oxford
  • University of Chichester
  • St Dominic’s Sixth Form College
  • Magdalen College, Oxford
  • University of South Wales
  • Gower College
  • Oxford University Development Limited
  • Swansea University

Work highlights

  • Acted for Cardiff & Vale University Local Health Board leading case about an Employment Tribunal's jurisdiction to hear unlawful deductions from wages cases and the inter-relationship between contracts of employment with universities and honorary contracts in a clinical setting.
  • Advised Reading University on a significant procurement for Henley Business School which involved drafting complex sub-contracts with third party suppliers.
  • Advised the Education Workforce Council on the revision of its Indicative Sanctions Guidance and on practical issues arising from its registration rules and primary and secondary legislation including whether it can retain data about students undertaking initial teacher training.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Matthew Smith

Other key lawyers

Penri Desscan, Paula Kathrens, Eve Piffaretti, Joanna Rees, Alison Patten-Hall, Trish D’Souza, Rachel Sales, Natalie Lawley, Laura Sherratt