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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.
Publications
I have written several articles in 2018 including:
- 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
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- 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."