Hicksons teams have expert knowledge of the education sector and provide the full range of legal services to the operators, managers and suppliers to schools and tertiary institutions across both the government and non-government sectors.
A range of
workplace issues, governance, statutory compliance and operational issues regularly confronts leaders and executives in the education sector and we can not only respond to the day-to-day, but also
anticipate future needs.
Across our range of
integrated legal units, Hicksons can offer expert guidance on
workplace relations and safety, discrimination matters, public liability,
commercial and procurement projects,
information technology, the protection of
intellectual property,
property planning, development and leasing and
commercial disputes resolution.
We bring particular skills in:
- Harvard-based negotiation methodology;
- multistage contracting;
- collaboration and knowledge transfer;
- governance and compliance;
- endowment and fundraising;
- privacy and discrimination matters; and
- general employment matters.
Hicksons has
extensive experience in, and a
thorough understanding of, the education sector in Australia. Members of the firm have acted for clients at all levels of the Australian education spectrum, including
government and independent schools, leading universities and research institutes.
Hicksons solicitors have acted in, and advised on, a wide range of matters including:
- public liability claims;
- attendance prosecutions;
- commercial disputes;
- discrimination claims;
- employment matters;
- commercial transactions;
- all aspects of bullying and cyberbullying claims;
- secondary nervous shock claims;
- sexual assaults;
- unprofessional staff conduct and misconduct;
- psychiatric injury claims; and
- catastrophic injuries.
Hicksons regularly advises the tertiary and vocational sector on a wide range of issues, including policy development, compliance and workplace relations, particularly in relation to matters brought before the Anti- Discrimination Board and the Australian Human Rights Commission. We have appeared for clients in relation to ASIC inquiries and similar investigative bodies, demonstrating our understanding and management of compliance issues for government agencies.
We procure and negotiate contracts that range from products for classrooms, to research services that aim to improve future teaching and learning standards.
We provide advice on procurement strategy, probity and preparation of procurement documentation and contracts.
We negotiate contracts with the preferred supplier to achieve the best sustainable outcome for the client while maintaining a positive relationship with the supplier.
We advise on a variety of intellectual property (IP) issues, including the development of course materials, internally and collaboratively with other educational institutions, and the distribution, use and licensing of IP developed or funded by our clients.
Our teams can also negotiate and draft contracts that involving funding and research collaborations and advise on IP copyright, patents, and trademarks.
We have been involved in many critical information technology (IT) projects for education clients, including the development of professional learning and accreditation systems, online assessment platforms, rolling out telecommunication services and wireless access points to schools across NSW, implementing video conferencing infrastructure for classrooms and negotiating enterprise software licenses, including for customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning solutions.
We have particular expertise in negotiating and drafting contracts for IT solutions, software development and licensing, professional services, software and cloud services, telecommunication services and support and maintenance.