Specialising in servicing clients in the public sector, the construction team at Sharpe Pritchard LLP regularly provides ‘an excellent service with expert knowledge’ on regeneration and new homes delivery programmes. The team is also highly capable of advising governmental institutions on commercial strategy, drafting, and procurement matters. Justin Mendelle jointly leads the team with ’widely respected’ Rachel Murray-Smith advising on NEC and JCT contracts, counsel housing developments, and contractor procurement. Helen Batter assists with contract and document drafting, while Laura Campbell specialises in mandates in the education sector.

Legal 500 Editorial commentary

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

  • ‘Provide an excellent service with expert knowledge and advice.’

  • ‘Very attentive and responsive with expert knowledge and timely input.’

  • ‘Creative and sensible non-contentious construction lawyers, able to provide a solid draft contract and support negotiation of final contract. Advice on contract management and settlement of commercial disputes. Willingness to balance commercial and legal risks, going beyond a straight legal advice to conclude commercial agreements.’

  • ‘Justin Mendelle provides sensible and pragmatic legal and commercial advice. Helen Batter is accurate and thoughtful in drafting and very knowledgeable and thorough in options appraisals.’

  • ‘We regularly work with Rachel Murray-Smith, who I would not hesitate to recommend to anyone needing advice on construction matters. Her advice is always clear, practically based and commercially sound. Rachel is widely respected in the council's new homes team for her work, and advice she has given. She always seeks to find a solution, and not just give legal advice, to what are often complex issues when advising on construction matters.’

  • ‘Sharpe know our business and can tailor their response to our queries and issues as appropriate. They are a professional team which help us meet our objectives from forming construction contracts, innovating on bespoke forms of contract in one instance to help us with a tendering strategy to de-risk the main construction. They have very good online support via webinars and short focused breakfast briefings which have been excellent.’

  • ‘Justin Mendelle and Rachel Murray-Smith give excellent advice and are very responsive and go the extra mile to ensure that we have the best advice and approach on legal disputes. They also arrange training for our teams and also have lots of very good webinars and advice which is always very helpful in a changing construction environment.’

  • ‘Creative approach and collaborative style.’

Key clients

  • Bristol Temple Quarter
  • London Borough of Southwark
  • Portsmouth Water Limited
  • The London Borough of Hackney
  • Imperial College London
  • Cambridgeshire County Council

Work highlights

  • Advising Bristol Temple Quarter on their Regeneration Programme.
  • Advising the London Borough of Southwark on the Council's New Homes Delivery Programme.
  • Advising Portsmouth Water on the commercial strategy, drafting, procurement, and negotiation of all major contracts for the Havant Thicket Project.

Lawyers

Next Generation Partners
Junior partners with significant recognition from clients and peers in the market and key roles on multiple matters.

Practice head

The lawyer(s) leading their teams.

Justin Mendelle, Rachel Murray-Smith

Other key lawyers

Helen Batter, Laura Campbell