Aston University appoints Pinsent Masons as sole legal advisor

In what is believed to be the first of its kind in the universities sector, the partnership has been generated following a competitive procurement process and will build on Pinsent Masons' position on Aston University's legal panel for the past five years. With immediate effect, all new legal work will be carried out exclusively by Pinsent Masons.

Pinsent Masons will provide sector focussed legal advice across a range of transactional and advisory projects that support Aston in achieving its strategic objectives. They will draw on their sector expertise in delivering the full range of specialisms including intellectual property (along with patent and trademark portfolio management), disputes, real estate, tax and regulatory as well as supporting Aston in their overseas ventures.

Drawing on their SmartDelivery approach to delivering legal services through optimal combinations of people, process and technology, Pinsent Masons will also be developing a bespoke project delivery platform for the university.

In addition, working in partnership with Aston University's Law faculty, the firm are exploring an innovative blend of both virtual and in-office work experience and mentoring opportunities for Aston's undergraduate law students.

Victoria Mee, General Counsel at Aston University commented:

"I am delighted to announce such an important and exciting partnership with Pinsent Masons and am proud to have achieved this. In the times we live in today value for money and legal excellence are even more important, but so is the depth, quality and sustainability of relationships. We will each need to invest to support each other and this new arrangement is a wonderful opportunity to create something truly important and special.

"The universities sector enjoys some unique challenges and this partnership will help us to ensure that we are equipped to operate effectively during this time to meet the new and varied demands that we now face in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. We will draw upon Pinsent Masons' sector expertise to determine the best approach to meeting our strategic objectives and we see the development of the SmartDelivery approach as a key enabler in achieving this.

Colleagues across Aston are looking forward to working closely with Pinsent Masons throughout the partnership and collaborating across a wide range of key projects."

Victoria Goddard, relationship partner and head of universities and higher education at Pinsent Masons said:

"This unique partnership provides the opportunity to change how many in the higher education sector think about collaboration with their legal advisors. We are looking forward to working with the legal team at Aston University to reshape what higher education institutions can expect from their legal spend in terms of innovation, value and cost certainty. We have the opportunity to truly understand their strategic goals and priorities and take the people, process and technology solutions we have developed in our other sole supplier relationships to meet the challenges in a new sector."

Victoria Mee, General Counsel at Aston University, will lead the relationship from the University working alongside the team at Pinsent Masons including - Victoria Goddard, relationship partner and head of universities and higher education, Gayle Ditchburn, higher education partner and David Halliwell, client solutions partner.