Trusted advisors to Local Authorities

At Blake Morgan we specialise in local authority leisure, housing, education, waste and social care.

Headed by Penny Rinta-Suksi, a Leading Individual in the Legal 500 and industry name in local authority leisure, our ambition is to support unitary, district and county councils, as well as funders and contractors working in this market. Our mission is to aid our clients to achieve their vision and strategy through well planned and scoped, efficiently implemented, successful projects. We don’t just have experts who advise on the law – our team focuses on outcomes for our clients, and ensures we provide the most up-to-date, real-world solutions for our clients, at the right price for the job, whilst protecting their reputation and budget in a manner to withstand scrutiny.

Main Areas Of Practice

Blake Morgan's local authority legal experts specialise in a number of areas such as leisure, libraries, housing, education, waste and social care.

Leisure Projects

The team is particularly well known for its expertise in unitary and district council leisure projects with varying degrees of capital investment to include design, build, operate and maintain (DBOM) projects and local authority leisure contracts and leisure trust structures. The team has expert knowledge of the Sport England Standard Form documentation.

Local authority procurement

Our expert lawyers advise on complex, innovative and high profile procurements for a range of public sector clients.

Related Expertise

Our Clients

Our clients range from significant unitary councils in prominent city centres to small district councils in the furthest flung corners of the country. We also work with private sector providers and both charitable and non-charitable trusts – which gives us an edge in understanding this market. Our clients include Exeter City Council, North Norfolk District Council and Chiltern District Council.

Local Authority Matters

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Local Authority Matters

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"I must say thank you to you (Penny RInta-Suksi) and your team for your invaluable support and advice on this procurement. I found the whole team at BM to be knowledgeable and responsive. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend you to other clients."
- Sue Markham, Principal Solicitor of Chiltern and South Bucks Joint Legal Services


"I enjoyed working with Penny and the team at Blake Morgan. I found the service both proactive and responsive, with my team's questions being answered in a positive way, providing us with practical solutions and advice. We had a number of complex issues along the way that needed a quick turn around and we found that Blake Morgan really helped us, with the turnaround in pieces of work astonishingly fast and communication top."
- Phil Hughes of Fenland District Council


"Penny is great at focussing the team on providing me with a solution and easily picks up and demystifies complex issues."
- Christine Parsloe of London Borough of Merton


Highlights

We are supporting Reading Borough Council on a Design, Build, Operate and Maintain leisure project covering four sites. The project involves a mixture of new and existing wet and dry leisure facilities spread across multiple sites with design and construction, maintenance and operational issues. We have been retained by the client to provide legal support on all stages of the project from issue of the ISDS through to award, finalisation and commencement of the contract.


Our expert lawyers supported North Norfolk District Council on a large leisure project covering up to seven diverse sites (including one replacement new build, one new build and three dual use sites), utilising a Leisure Operating Contract.


We acted as critical friend to Basingstoke and Deane & Hart District Council on the procurement of a significant waste project.


Our Experts

Penny
Rinta-Suksi
Partner

Oxford

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Edward
McMullen
Partner

Southampton

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Simon
McCann
Partner

Cardiff

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Rajiv
Joshi
Partner

Reading

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Gillian
McCue
Legal Director

Cardiff

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Eve
Piffaretti
Partner

Cardiff

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Ben
Brice
Legal Director

Reading

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Awards and Accolades

BM Insights

Articles

'Ordinary residence' determination update

What determines ordinary residence? We look at a recent case that gives an update on determination.

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Articles

Sport England template contract interpretation

Commercial experts Penny Rinta-Suksi and Aimee Cook examine Sport England template contracts.

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Newsletters

Local Authority Matters - October 2020

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to have significant adverse effects on individuals, businesses and public bodies, the UK Government is reviewing and revising its measures aimed at mitigating the financial...

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Articles

Public Sector Exit Payments - £95,000 cap is imminent

Update: On 25 February 2021, the Restriction of Public Sector Exit Payments (Revocation) Regulations 2021 (Revocation Regulations) were laid before Parliament.

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Articles

Implied term of good faith ruling: Over £9 million in damages awarded to council

Our experts examine a case that looks at contractual termination rights and the implied term of good faith. Mr Justice Pepperall handed down judgment recently in Essex County Council v...

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Articles

Business recovery roadmap for local authority leisure centre contracts during COVID-19

Penny Rinta-Suksi, Commercial partner, and her team of specialists have been advising local authorities from the very start of the pandemic on how to manage their leisure facilities contracts with...

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