Stone King

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Highlights this year for Stone King, experts in charity and education law, include successfully acting for a secondary school that faced a multimillion-pound rent bill for dozens of prefabricated buildings. The High Court dismissed a claim against Christ the King College, in Newport on the Isle of Wight, for more than £7 million for an alleged breach of contract, ruling that it was not legal because the school had failed to comply with a statutory obligation for financed deals to be approved by the education secretary. As a result, the rent demand was invalid.

Stone King, which has offices in Bath, Bristol, Birmingham, Cambridge, Leeds and London, also advised the City of London-based Public Interest News Foundation in its successful application for charitable status, based on its work to boost public education, citizenship and civic responsibility. The decision recognised the charitable purpose of journalism.