Kennedy Cater Legal

Kennedy Cater has appointed Helen Edwards as its new Director and Head of Public Sector. She replaces Vivienne Horton, who will remain with the company as a consultant.

Kennedy Cater has been at the forefront of providing specialist advice for both public and private sector organisations in their procurement and management of legal services.  The Public Sector specialises in providing particular support around establishing legal services frameworks, contract management, in-house process and efficiency gains and new business models, including shared services.

 Tim Morel, Founder and Director of Kennedy Cater said,

‘Helen’s in-house background will further enhance our expertise in this sector and give focus to increasing collaboration between our public and private sector teams on projects that require real innovation.’

 Helen has spent 19 years in local authority legal departments, the last 8 as Director of Legal Services in two authorities. Key focuses were to drive efficiencies through the redesign of in-house legal teams, and the establishment of shared legal services in three different authorities. The most recent of these being oneSource, the shared back office support service established by the London Boroughs of Newham and Havering.

Helen will be the lead contact for Kennedy Caters innovative framework services for the London Boroughs Legal Alliance (LBLA) and the Housing Associations Legal Alliance (HALA).

Commenting on her appointment, Helen said:

 “I am delighted to have joined Kennedy Cater. In the difficult economic climate facing our public sector clients, I am excited by the opportunity to use my transformation skills to show them how investing in our services can achieve significant  savings and sustainable quality and efficiency improvements”

New Panel Announced for Housing Associations’ Legal Alliance (HALA)

Following an exacting and highly competitive procurement process managed by Legal Consultants Kennedy Cater, the new HALA solicitors panel has been appointed.

Launched in 2010 with 4 members, HALA now comprises 9 members with an annual legal spend of over £2million and a housing stock in the region of 70,000 units throughout the UK. The members comprise of Advance, Hexagon, Merlin Housing Society, Network Housing Group, Newlon Housing Trust, Octavia Housing, Phoenix Community Homes, Saxon Weald and Viridian Housing

The framework which covers 3 lots; Corporate Finance and Governance, Housing and Asset Management and Property and Development, will be in place until August 2017 with the option to extend for a further 12 months.

11 key regional firms across all 3 lots have secured a place on this coveted panel. The firms appointed are: Berrymans Lace Mawer, Bevan Brittan, Capsticks, Clarke Willmott, Devonshires, Forbes, Lewis Silkin, Penningtons Manches, Prince Evans, TLT and Tozers.

HALA was established to provide its members with high quality legal services at rates commensurate with their combined spend. Building on the success of the original Framework Agreement, the new panel will provide Members not only with highly competitive rates and an unparallelled range of fixed fees, but also a comprehensive range of value added benefits that will support them in their drive to reduce their legal spend.

Head of Legal at Viridian, Katrina Robinson commented,

‘HALA goes from strength to strength and after this robust process I am delighted that we now have such a strong panel in place which all members can access. The firms’ commitment to our process has been commendable and I look forward to working with them all in the coming years.’

Tim Morel of Kennedy Cater who was instrumental in managing the tender alongside the members of HALA said. ‘Since its inception 4 years ago HALA has offered a fine example of how a successful collaboration can bring worthy rewards. Cost savings, supportive partnerships with law firms, and the sharing of ideas within the Social Housing Sector have proved this point for HALA and I am sure that the new panel will only build on this success.’

For this latest procurement exercise, the third it has conducted, the alliance has more than halved the number of law firms appointed. The predecessor framework, established in 2009, saw 16 firms chosen.

The new framework has two lots – Lot 1 covers complex regeneration, development, property and planning and Lot 2 will handle the full range of legal services (including litigation, contracts, procurement, PPP/PFI, property and employment).

The successful firms appointed following the procurement, which was led by the Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea, were:

Lot 1

Ashfords LLP

Bevan Brittan

Freeth Cartwright LLP

Sharpe Pritchard LLP

TLP LLP

Lot 2

Ashfords LLP

Michelmores LLP

Pinsent Masons LLP

Sharpe Pritchard LLP

TLT LLP

The successful firms have all agreed to provide additional benefits such as training and other knowledge transfer initiatives.

The framework is available to all participating members of the LBLA: Kensington & Chelsea, Brent, Camden, Ealing, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow, the City of London Corporation and the West London Waste Authority.Haringey Council, although not a member of the alliance, will have access to the panel. Other authorities in London and the South East will also be able to take up this option.

Tasnim Shawkat, Bi-Borough Director of Law at Kensington and Chelsea, said: “This is a great outcome for the LBLA – delivering once again, a panel of firms committed to delivering exceptional service and supporting the challenging and wide ranging work being undertaken by our in-house legal teams. We are particularly pleased with the competitive rates achieved which show a reduction on those under the old framework.”

Vivienne Horton, Director at Kennedy Cater, which advised the LBLA on the procurement, said: “We are delighted by the response to this rigorous procurement process which has delivered firms with recognised expertise and experience in local government who are well placed to provide the LBLA authorities with legal support that fulfils the significant cost and quality criteria required.”

"Kennedy Cater has worked closely with the four Councils in Rotherham to provide an extremely helpful proposal for the development of shared service arrangements for legal services across South Yorkshire. This required them to have a full understanding of the issues, and the sensitivities, involved in developing these arrangements, and a pragmatic approach when formulating their proposal. Kennedy Cater demonstrated this understanding, and helped to progress our thinking in a very constructive way. We can now look to press ahead with the implementation of new service delivery arrangements that will drive down costs and improve the quality and resilience of service delivery."

Andrew Bedford, Strategic Director of Resources, Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council

Welcome to Merlin Housing Society who has recently joined the Housing Associations' Legal Alliance (HALA) as the ninth Member.