The Trust's activities will generate circumstances where it is necessary to secure specialist legal support to support staff and ensure that the activities of the Trust are lawful.
Nevertheless, the Trust has a plethora of internal knowledge and expertise within the organisation in a number of areas.
Wherever possible, this must be sought in the first instance to help mitigate expensive legal costs. This includes liaising with the Trust’s General Counsel (Nichola Halpin, an internal Solicitor) and consulting the recommended experts outlined in the SOP below.
Procedure for Obtaining Legal Advice
First seek internal expertise
- Where legal advice is needed, raise your the concerns with your line manager. If it is agreed that legal advice is required, please consult our internal expertise point of contacts and the Trust's General Counsel first.
Secondly, seek external expertise
- If the level of in-house expertise is not sufficient, the Trust's external legal advisors may be contacted. However this must be approved by designated staff.
- Our instructed external legal advisors provide a 45-minute free advice line which should be utilised in all circumstances.
If further assistance is still required:
- Firstly, further assistance must be agreed by designated staff
- A quote for legal fees must be obtained and agreed with the appropriate budget holder prior to the commencement of work
- Inform the Trust's General Counsel of any advice sought and the fees generated.
Who are the Trust's External Legal Advisors?
Browne Jacobson Solicitors are instructed to provide the Trust with legal expertise. They can be contacted to provide us with specialist legal knowledge such as; employment and HR, contract law and immigration etc.
For all matters related to clinical and non-clinical claims, Hill Dickinson remain our instructed solicitors.
