Browne Jacobson appointed as legal adviser to Department for Transport Legal Advisers

Browne Jacobson is providing expert advice to lawyers at the Department for Transport on major infrastructure projects such as the National Parking Platform after securing a Government Legal Department (GLD) contract.

The UK and Ireland law firm has been appointed as sole legal adviser to the Department for Transport Legal Advisers (DfTLA), a division of the GLD that provides legal services to the Department for Transport (DfT) and its executive agencies. 

The three-year contract, awarded under the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) framework in late 2023, includes overflow capacity and resilience support, working on a partnership basis with in-house lawyers. 

Browne Jacobson has already advised on procurement, commercial contracting, competition and data transfer elements of the National Parking Platform, a DfT-funded pilot scheme that aims to connect parking providers with service providers so that customers can find and pay for parking at any participating location using their preferred app. 

The firm has also advised on the future provision of smart motorways and aspects relating to Flight100, the world’s first commercial long-haul flight powered by 100% sustainable aviation fuel that was operated by Virgin Atlantic as part of a DfT competition.

It is anticipated the DfT will also instruct Browne Jacobson’s lawyers to support with legal issues concerning roads, aviation and maritime, as well as cross-border and commercial matters relating to transport. 

Tim Edds, Partner in the public law team at Browne Jacobson, said: “We were delighted to be awarded this contract with the DfTLA as it acknowledges the expertise offered by our public law team, which was already working on a similar integrated basis with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

“We anticipate this work will, in many cases, be high-profile, novel and complex as it relates to one of society’s biggest issues – the ways and means in which we travel across the country across multi-modal transport systems.

“A key aspect of this partnership is for our lawyers to become integrated with those in DfTLA so that we can work seamlessly with the various teams and their policy colleagues. 

“In addition to the overflow capacity provided by our public law team, we are also well-placed to provide specialist advice across our firmwide proposition, which ranges from competition and corporate to employment and pensions.”

A Department for Transport spokesperson added: “This is an important new partnership for DFT Legal, and it's great to be able to supplement our in-house resource with the expertise of Browne Jacobson.”