Vicky advises on a wide range of contentious and non-contentious employment issues, acting for both businesses and individuals. Vicky provides practical legal advice to clients on a wide range of day to day employment law issues including disciplinary and grievance proceedings, redundancies and long term sickness absence. Vicky also has extensive experience in advising clients in connection with settlement agreements, Employment Tribunal proceedings and has also represented clients in breach of contract and discrimination claims in the Civil Courts. In relation to non-contentious matters, Vicky regularly supports clients in interpreting and amending contractual terms and conditions as well as drafting and reviewing new and existing contracts, policies and procedures.
England - South East • Public sector
Blake Morgan LLP
Local government work is at the heart of Blake Morgan LLP‘s well-established public sector department, which is also reputed in the health and education sectors. Key contacts for the firm's specialism in local authority leisure projects include Penny Rinta-Suksi, Rajiv Joshi and Edward McMullen. Rinta-Suksi leads the local government team and is recommended by clients as ’a star in the leisure procurement field’, while Bruce Potter is head of the firm’s nationwide health and care practice. Educational lead Matthew Smith and Vicky Schollar specialise in contentious and non-contentious employment matters. Jennifer Sore, who is ‘outstanding in Highway Law’, is a primary contact for the firm’s local authority clients in the Thames Valley.
Legal 500 Editorial commentary
Testimonials
Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.
- ‘Very experienced in the leisure contract procurement field. Great subject knowledge and understanding of the key commercial implications of contractual drafting.’
- ‘Penny Rinta-Suksi is a star in the leisure procurement field. Her contractual knowledge is unmatched and has a high level of commercial awareness.’
- ‘The subject knowledge of the team in an educational setting is a huge strength of the firm.’
- ‘Jenny Sore is an excellent solicitor and is very knowledgeable and friendly. She provides good, clear advice on legal matters and is especially outstanding in Highway Law."
- 'Blake Morgan has always been responsive to our needs and always responded in a timely fashion when the named contact was not available.’
- 'Jenny Sore is very knowledgeable, and able to get to the real issue and quickly.'
- ‘Great attention to detail and client knowledge across the team. Always very responsive and great at forward planning.’
- ‘Rajiv Joshi is very good at identifying the critical issues in any legal matter, and providing a clear rationale for his advice.’
Key clients
- The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and The Metropolitan Police Service
- Office for the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets
- Royal Borough of Kingston on Thames
- Westminster City Council
- Reading Borough Council
- Surrey County Council
- Oxfordshire County Council
- Test Valley Borough Council
- Mansfield District Council
- West Berkshire District Council
- Buckinghamshire County Council
- North Norfolk District Council
- Dover District Council
- New College, Oxford
- Balliol College, Oxford
- Oxford Foundation for Theoretical Neuroscience and Artificial Intelligence
- Portsmouth Diocesan Trust
- University of Reading
- Christ Church College, Oxford
- Brasenose College, Oxford
- University College, Oxford
- Magdalen College, Oxford
- Oxford University Development Limited
- University of Chichester Multi-Academy Trust
- The Portsmouth Grammar School
- Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
- Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC)
- NHS Resolution
- NHS England
- NHS Wales
Work highlights
- Advising New College on the procurement approach, appointment of its design team, and construction contracts in relation to its proposed redevelopment of a new Quadrangle within the College estate.
- Continued to provide advice to the NMC's specialist services team, focusing on complex and high-profile cases, arising from health care settings that have been subject of major investigations and inquiries, for consideration by its Screening Decision Makers.
Lawyers
Rising stars
Leading individuals
Bruce advises both private and public organisations on all aspects of commercial, corporate policy and governance advice. Bruce deals with corporate work, especially spin outs, acquisitions and disposals and management buy-outs as well as extensive advisory work on business recovery and insolvency across receivership, administrations and complex partnership and public and treaty body insolvency and transfers. Bruce also deals with commercial work, especially in IT and information security, developing new legal models and mixed legal/advisory/educational approaches to new legal risks. Bruce supports organisational development and governance development across health and social care often working with multi-disciplinary teams from other professional disciplines. The hallmark of his advice has been the combination of legal excellence with commercial acumen to deliver effective practical solutions for clients.
Penny is a commercial partner and an OxLEP non executive director, for whom she chairs two Sub Groups (Enterprise Zones and Funded Projects Programme). She leads Blake Morgan’s Local Government England team with over 20 years’ experience in advising private sector clients, funders, public sector and third sector on major projects and commercial contracts specialising in leisure, housing, energy , utilities, and blue-light. Penny excels at outsourcing, public private partnering and joint ventures.
Practice head
The lawyer(s) leading their teams.
Penny Rinta-Suksi, Bruce Potter, Matthew Smith