Emma is an experienced public sector lawyer with a focus on procurement law, subsidy control and transparency laws such as the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and Environmental Information Regulations (EIR). She has particular experience in the education sector (universities, colleges and schools), rail sector, with local authorities and in the health sector.
On procurement law, she advises contracting authorities and suppliers on the changes required to procurement procedures following the commencement of the Procurement Act 2023, and on the continuing application of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015, Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 and the Concession Contracts Regulations 2016. This includes advising on procurement strategy and procedure, drafting and reviewing procurement documents, conducting bidder dialogue sessions and advising on standalone queries such as contracting authority status and 'Teckal' structures.
Emma also provides specialist advice on giving compliant public subsidies under the Subsidy Control Act 2022, and on handling complex requests for information under the FOIA and EIR. She has particular experience in interpreting the statutory powers and obligations of public bodies in relation to information disclosures.
Emma delivers client training on all of the above areas of law. Recent sessions include detailed training for a rail sector client on handling FOI and EIR requests, training for the evaluators of a UCR procurement on SQ and tender evaluation and recording a webinar on Assessment Summaries under the Procurement Act.
Emma trained and qualified at Womble Bond Dickinson. In her time at the firm she has undertaken secondments: one to a major retail bank and another to a large local authority where she gained invaluable in-house experience, advising on large scale projects involving EU grant funding and handling FOI internal reviews. She is a member of the Procurement Lawyers Association, has written practice notes published on LexisNexis UK and in the Freedom of Information Journal, and co-presented workshops at the Annual Freedom of Information Conference.
Experience
Examples of experience include advising:
- Durham University on the procurement of a contractor to finance, design, build, operate and maintain new £90m bond funded college accommodation and related facilities, including advising on the procurement documents and process (competitive dialogue) from start to finish and drafting and negotiating the University's contracts
- A train operating company on a number of high value services procured under the UCR, including advising on procurement strategy, drafting the procurement documents including evaluation methodologies, bidder clarifications, evaluation moderation processes and delivering training to evaluators at selection and award stage.
- A train operating company on handling a number of complex requests for information under the FOIA and EIR, including its ongoing participation in an appeal to the First Tier Tribunal against its decision to refuse an FOI request on "not held" grounds and the exemption for repeated requests
- A number of public authorities on conducting subsidy principles assessments in accordance with the Subsidy Control Act 2022 and advising on a local authority's mandatory referral report of a Subsidy of Particular Interest to the Competition and Markets Authority
- Delivering practical FOI and EIR training to staff at a number of public authorities including The Crown Estate
- A large number of other public authorities including local authorities, health sector bodies and schools on handling complex requests for information under FOIA and EIR, including the application of statutory exemptions to disclosure and drafting submissions in response to appeals to the Information Commissioner's Office and First Tier Tribunal
- Reviewing, drafting and negotiating FOI, EIR and Confidentiality contractual clauses in a wide range of legal agreements, including those for local authority heat network projects, land transactions involving a public authority, and collaboration agreements.
