We have been appointed by the British Council as its full-service external legal adviser. The appointment follows a successful tender by the firm under the London Universities Purchasing Consortium’s (LUPC) Framework Agreement.
As the UK’s international cultural relations body, the British Council operates in over 100 countries and has an annual turnover in excess of £700m. Mills & Reeve has been engaged to provide advice across the full range of legal disciplines including procurement, commercial, contracts and real estate. As part of the arrangement the British Council will also have access to law firms within the State Capital Group, the global network of which Mills & Reeve is a member. Specialist advice on Scots and Northern Irish law will be provided by Burness and Arthur Cox respectively.
The appointment is for three years and follows a competitive tendering exercise with other LUPC panel members. The LUPC is a professional purchasing organisation acting on behalf of over 65 major institutions from the higher education, cultural and research sectors in and around London. Its Framework Agreement was formed in August 2010 and is one of the largest of its kind in the public sector. Mills & Reeve was the only one of 13 successful firms to have been appointed to provide advice across all eight of the LUPC’s specialist Lots, as well as the “One Stop Shop” Lot for members, such as the British Council, that wish to engage a single firm to provide all of their legal service requirements.
Commenting on the appointment, lead partner Greg Gibson said:
“We are delighted to have been appointed by the British Council and look forward to the challenge of working with them on a broad range of issues. The British Council joins other major cultural institutions, such as the British Museum Company and the British Library, as clients of the firm. It also sits alongside the Wellcome Trust, another of our clients, as one of Britain’s two biggest charities. The fact that as a firm we act for all of these organisations is a reflection of the breadth and scope of our advice to the not for profit sector.”