Profile

Michelle Rowe

Michelle is a solicitor and has worked in local government for 15 years in a number of disciplines as diverse as Contracts and Childcare. She currently specialises in Education law and has been involved in a number of published cases. She also advises the Council at strategic level in relation to its service transformation projects and on general public law matters.

Michelle manages the Education, Employment, Litigation and Pensions team whose clients include Staffordshire County Council, local Borough and Parish Councils, NHS Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, the Ministry of Justice, schools and academies, the Boys Brigade and Police and Fire Authorities.

Experience

Michelle is currently involved in various client and internal projects and some examples are shown below:

·  Advising on Staffordshire County Council’s proposed reduction of its Youth Service provision, the remodelling of its Children Centre services and its Library offer. These are particularly sensitive issues and have received a great deal of press and public attention.

·  Establishing service infrastructure to enable Staffordshire Legal Services to become the preferred provider to Staffordshire County Council’s outsourced school support services.

·  Building a foundation of people and systems to enable Staffordshire County Council to bring legal support for all of its insurance matters in-house.

Strategic Talents

·  Delivery.

·  Negotiating towards commercial outcomes.

·  Person and team development.

Professional Qualifications and Memberships

Qualification type / Subject / Date attained
B.A. (Hons)
Post Graduate Diploma
Post Graduate Diploma
Post Graduate Diploma / Business
Law
Legal Practice
Local Government Law and Practice / 1998
1999
2002
2007

Other

Michelle enjoys the mechanics of local government and the fast pace of change in the public sector generally. She has a special interest in decision-making processes and powers as well as the legal challenges that can be made about such matters.