Academies & MATs

Stone King is a nationally recognised top-ranked law firm with a strong track record in all aspects of legal support for academy trusts. We act for thousands of academy schools from a national network of six strategically placed offices in Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds and London.

We have extensive and detailed experience in academy projects, having advised clients on academy formation and development for over 19 years.

In addition, we have supported over 1,800 completed academy projects to date, and this includes over 1,450 conversions and more than 350 academy-to-academy transfers.

We believe that our deep knowledge of state education, and our thorough and comprehensive understanding of the academy sector, will enable us to meet all of your requirements and deliver best value for you for the following key reasons:

You will have an integrated team with significant experience and expertise at your fingertips

We deliver high quality, full-service legal advice informed by national know-how but delivered locally through our network of offices at an appropriate price. We would be both excited and proud to be both your legal partner and trusted adviser. You would have a dedicated, highly experienced client partner, who would be responsible for making sure you have access to the advice and particular skills you need.

You will be working with a legal partner which puts client care at the centre of everything we do

We are confident that our approach to client service will ensure that you receive a proactive, responsive and innovative service - where we will give you practical, commercial advice and won’t be shy in providing you with our opinion, rather than sitting on the fence.

You will be working with a firm which is deeply integrated in the education sector and understands your challenges

As specialist lawyers, we have built up a bank of evolving national know-how and policy. We are alive to sector concerns, policy change and the local context, which is becoming increasingly important as the DfE focus more on place-based solutions, with the anchor role that schools have in our communities.

We are well regarded by the DfE and have built key strategic partners with key influencers in the sector, including the Confederation of Schools Trusts and the Institute of School Business Leaders.

We see this as the first chapter to a strong strategic relationship

We work collaboratively with our clients, not just by providing legal advice but by helping our clients to upskill, linking them up with networks and opportunities which they can tap into.

If you are already an academy and need support regarding operational issues, please click on to our state funded school pages here.

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