• I am head of the Procurement, Competition and State Aid teams. My practice involves dealing with all aspects of contentious and non-contentious procurement law. I have particular expertise in litigation, High Court procurement challenges, judicial review and other statutory challenges. 

    My team and I are well-known for our involvement in leading, high-profile procurement cases in the public, private and third sector, and our experience stretches across a range of different markets.

    Articles
    Ensuring that pre-market engagement and/or prior involvement of tenderers does not distort competition when designing your specification and running your tender process

    Moderation meetings in the spotlight – new High Court public procurement law case

     

    Seminars & training

    I teach the litigation module for the Law of Public Procurement (Masters) course at Nottingham Law School alongside Professor Sue Arrowsmith.

    I recently spoke at the University of Nottingham’s Global Revolution Conference and the Whitepaper Public Procurement conferences in Belfast and Manchester.

     

    Recognition
    Bevan Brittan Lawyers listed in Who's Who

     

    • R (Fair Crime Contract Alliance) v Lord Chancellor - included within The Lawyer magazine’s top 20 cases of 2016 and described by the High Court as the most complex public procurement dispute ever brought.
    • Bristol Missing Link v Bristol City Council [2015] EWHC 876 (TCC) – described by the High Court in a subsequent judgment as a "paradigm case" whereby the automatic suspension was kept in place in favour of our client (a landmark decision). Following the judgment, my team and I were tasked with finding a solution to the dispute between the parties, which resulted in a contractually agreed re-evaluation of the parties' tenders by the Council. As a result, our client was judged to have submitted the winning tender.
    • Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust v NHS Swale Clinical Commissioning Group and NHS Dartford, Gravesham and Swanley ([2016] EWHC 1393 (TCC)) - this case is significant in relation to whether damages are an adequate remedy for public bodies.
    • Sysmex UK Ltd v Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust [2017] EWHC 1824.

Department head Emily Heard is recommended for her record of success acting for bidders and tenderers in procurement challenges. Clients highlight her "subject knowledge, passion and effectiveness."

Chambers 2019

Emily's areas of expertise