Stone King LLP
Who we are
Stone King’s ethos is based on understanding our clients’ needs, being good listeners and looking at the big picture.
We work together to provide clients with seamless, complementary legal advice covering all aspects of law.
This approach has helped us build a reputation for excellence amongst both private and commercial clients, whilst our strategic focus has made us national leaders in the charity and education sectors.
We are independently recognised as a leading law firm by both Chambers and the Legal 500.
Our purpose is a real commitment to us supporting our chosen sectors, acting at all times with social responsibility in supporting our clients, our communities and the environment.
We want to do this through the actions of our people and by advancing the work of our clients, who predominantly comprise of education providers, charities, social enterprises and other public benefit organisations, responsible businesses, and individuals.
Stone King clients benefit from having an integrated team with significant experience and expertise at their fingertips, and from working with a law firm that puts client care at the centre of everything it does and is deeply integrated in the education sector.
Stone King is a national law firm with offices in Bath, London, Cambridge, Birmingham, Leeds, and Manchester.
What we do
Externally recognised as a leading law firm in the UK for education law, Stone King’s specialists have in-depth sector experience in all aspects of education provision. In addition to advice on educational provision itself, the broader team advises clients on areas such as employment and HR, procurement, property, dispute resolution and litigation, and mergers. We also have specialists advising on all aspects of school life, from the day-to-day to rare and nuanced matters, including areas as diverse as immigration, information law and intellectual property.
Feedback that Stone King received in the 2025 issue of Chambers & Partners, in which Stone King was top-ranked for its education practice, said: "The firm delivered bespoke, speedy responses with outstanding outcomes”, and "The lawyers are always responsive and go the extra mile to ensure that we understand all the options”.
Stone King works with clients on an as-and-when basis, but also operates a long-established and highly effective fixed-fee retainer service. With the latter service option, clients receive focused practical advice from specialist lawyers/HR consultants on operational issues that arise day to day.
How we help
We regularly run topical webinars for professionals in the education sector that are free to attend, and we send out legal briefing notes to our education sector mailing lists when significant changes happen, for example a general election or new legislation.
Our Education Bulletin is also sent out on a regular basis, to those who sign up to receive it, with sector updates, thought leadership articles, and event reminders.
We believe in empowering our education clients to deal with day-to-day challenges, and have therefore developed a number of products and packages that can be used independently. These include:
In recent years, complaints have become more numerous, challenging, legalistic in nature, and seemingly harder to resolve in a way that is proportionate to school resources and the issues being raised. We have therefore produced a comprehensive guide which puts our extensive experience in dealing with the most complicated and demanding complaints into one place.
Designed to support SENCOs, inclusion leads and those with senior leadership responsibility for SEN in schools, the Schools’ SEN Support Service is aimed at supporting schools with the navigation of issues relating to the EHC (Education Health and Care) process for children with special educational needs.
The Procurement Act 2023 came into force on 24 February 2025, and it is essential for school trusts to familiarise themselves with the new legislation. The Act introduces new legal requirements and processes which require updates to existing policies, procedures and documents. We recognise this is a big change, so, in order to help school trusts adapt to this new way of working as easily as possible, we have created an education focused procurement package. This will help guide trusts through the change, save them time and ensure compliance with the new laws and regulations.
The Worker Protection (Amendment of Equality Act 2010) Act 2023, places a duty on employers to take reasonable steps to prevent the sexual harassment of their employees, including third party sexual harassment. Part of an employer’s preventative duty will include ensuring their staff are trained and have an understanding of what sexual harassment in the workplace is and the role that they and their employer have in preventing it.
We are pleased to offer a sexual harassment training product. This flexible training product can be customised for individual staff members, and is hosted online within our training platform, containing engaging videos and quizzes, as well as text content.
Stone King has excellent networking relationships with national organisations in the education sector, which it seeks to share with its clients. Many of the education specialists in the firm also volunteer their time to act as governors and trustees of schools.
