The legal environment for public bodies is increasing in
complexity, as pressures for efficiency and value have to be
reconciled with requirements of transparency, accountability and
procedural fairness. Public bodies often find themselves on
the front line of debates about changing public services and public
expectations.
Our Public Law team has market-leading expertise in helping public
sector bodies, including central and local government, statutory
and chartered bodies and professional regulators, to anticipate,
prevent and resolve these challenges. Our goal is to "create
space" within which our clients can discharge their public
functions according to their priorities, free from legal
challenge.
Our perspective is strategic as well as tactical, seeking not only
to ensure our clients remain within the law, but to go beyond that
to add value and quality to the public functions they carry
out. We understand and work within the special culture that
applies to the exercise of public functions. We offer
pragmatic, expert advice to help develop policies, procedures and
decision-making processes which are robust enough both to deter
and, where necessary, to withstand legal challenge. Where
challenge is unavoidable, we are able to deploy some of the
strongest litigation skills in the field to manage any dispute to a
resolution.
Our team comprises lawyers and partners who genuinely
specialise in public law. The team is based at our Fetter Lane
offices. Team members deploy a wide range of legal skills
enabling us to advise on constitutional and governance issues,
formulating and implementing policy, developing commercial
relationships with the private sector and the financial and legal
implications of proposed actions. They have extensive
experience in working with all parts of the public sector,
including education, health, local government, and NDPBs.
Our areas of specialism include:
- public and administrative law
- judicial review
- EU law
- governance and constitutional issues
- freedom of information
- equalities and human rights
- data protection
- disciplinary proceedings for professional regulatory
clients
…'very strong public law practice' (Legal 500 UK 2009,
Administrative and Public Law, South-West)
...the team has the depth and talent to handle complex
public law issues (Chambers UK 2010, Administrative and Public Law,
Best of UK)
Beachcroft LLP's three-partner practice offers
"in-depth and pragmatic" industry knowledge, with
"outstanding knowledge of local government law" as well as related
Freedom of Information Act and Data Protection Act
issues. (Legal 500 2008, Administrative and Public Law,
London)
"up-to-date and experienced" (Chambers 2008, Administrative
and Public Law, Best of the UK)