Henna Malik

Solicitor, Bird & Bird

I am an associate in Bird & Birds public sector projects team within Bird & Bird's Commercial department, supporting clients in the public and private sectors on commercial transactions and relationships.

I specialise in providing pragmatic and strategic advice to public and private sector clients in relation to a number of issues including:

achieving successful procurement outcomes by assisting public authorities with designing and running complex procurement procedures;

advising bidders on putting their best foot forward in a procurement procedure, including drafting clarification questions and where necessary whether there may be merit in challenging a public authority decision;

collaboration activities including joint ventures between the public sector and between the public and private sectors;

public sector commercialisation activities including setting up and running trading vehicles;

advising on the formation of Teckal companies and group company reorganisation;

implementing sustainability and social value initiatives;

complying with best value obligations and complying with the fiduciary duty to achieve value for money.

I also regularly advise on interpreting legislation including vires (whether a public body has the power to carry out an activity), State aid and subsidy control assessments, risks associated with non-compliance of conditions of contracts including grant funding applications, and a variety of issues pertaining to public and administrative law including potential judicial review grounds.

My approach in advising clients is to first understand what my client is trying to achieve and then work with them to implement the solution.