About our company

We are an award-winning team of senior level lawyers and HR professionals who specialise in the education sector.  We work with schools of all sizes ranging from small primary schools to Multi Academy Trusts.

Company founder, Natalie Ruane, spent over 20 years as a solicitor, Partner and Head of Employment Law in a commercial legal environment.

From 2010, Natalie focussed on building a specialist team, advising the education sector, in particular schools and academies. Her team were nationally ranked in the Top Tier of providers of legal services, with Natalie being ranked as a “Leading Individual” in the field of education.

Increasingly, the team felt that a commercial legal environment fosters a transactional relationship with clients, at odds with the provision of proactive, sector specific support, long term relationships, focus on outcomes and dealing with the vagaries of (often unpredictable) issues.  To address this dichotomy, an agreement was reached that the team would transfer out of private practice, setting up a stand-alone entity on 1 September 2021, to focus on the provision of legal and HR services to the education sector.

We have extensive, specialist experience and a personal interest in sector developments. We provide proactive, pragmatic and clear HR and legal support.  We don’t just advise at a distance, we step in when needed to alleviate the burden of staff management from senior leaders. Our aim is to become colleagues rather than service providers – we support leaders and we help them to grow in house expertise.

We also work hard to support sector wide collaboration, working closely with DfE, local authority and local and regional trade union colleagues. We believe in genuine engagement, creating a forum where frank dialogue can take place in order to constructively share views, ideas and solve issues affecting the sector.

Our team’s experience and knowledge of dealing with HR issues in the education sector is unparalleled.