Bruce Potter

Bruce advises both private and public organisations on all aspects of commercial, corporate policy and governance advice.

Main areas of practice

Bruce deals with corporate work, especially spin outs, acquisitions and disposals and management buy-outs as well as extensive advisory work on business recovery and insolvency across receivership, administrations and complex partnership and public and treaty body insolvency and transfers.

Bruce also deals with commercial work, especially in IT and information security, developing new legal models and mixed legal/advisory/educational approaches to new legal risks. Bruce supports organisational development and governance development across health and social care often working with multi-disciplinary teams from other professional disciplines.

The hallmark of his advice has been the combination of legal excellence with commercial acumen to deliver effective practical solutions for clients.

Clients

For the past 20 years, Bruce has worked on transactions for a wide variety of public sector companies, trusts and organisations. He has worked inside Whitehall both in the Department of Health, H M Treasury, Cabinet Office and DfE.

He has particular experience working with major UK health organisations including the Department of Health and NHS. Bruce has worked on the Procurement Guide, Competition Policy, Transactions Manual, TCS programme and other policy programmes. He has also led recent work on finding a future structure for the Mid Staffs NHS Foundation Trust through the innovative TSA process.

Significant experience

Private Sector

• Working with BP in-house legal team to support 2 major global IT projects
• Working on development and funding of Content Technologies including the ultimate sale to Baltimore Technologies and the demerger of associated businesses
• Working with Fraikin on the acquisition of the Lex vehicle fleet in the UK

EU Regional Devolved and Local Government

• Advising on the winding up of the Joint European Taurus project, the first UK based example of the termination of a European Treaty Organisation
• Advising the Welsh Government on the Merlin Project an innovative £200m integrated IT and business change project

Education

• Advising the General Teaching Council for England on all aspects of the transfer of their functions to successor bodies

Health & Social Care

• Supporting Pan NHS Supply Chain Excellence programme to secure cost savings through intelligent consolidation of purchasing
• Developing a legal framework for the £2bn Phase 2 ISTC programme (both Diagnostics and Elective activity) and also helped develop governance and commercial frameworks for Phase 2
• Supported BLPT merger project run by East of England NHS through to a successful on time completion of first NHS acute mental health competitive merger
• Part of core DH team reviewing options, approving proposals for and implementation of transfer of £10bn of Community Services activity across England – the TCS Programme, inc developing guidance and engagement
• Advising NHS Surrey on £450mn transfer of Surrey Community Health to Virgin Community Services, the largest public to private contract for community services awarded in the NHS
• Advised on first successful application for competition clearance for first successful application to OFT for clearance of a service transfer between FTs.

Policy Support and Development

• Bruce supported the development of all the major competition and procurement guidance produced by DH from 2008 to 2010 either alone or jointly with Monitor on Competition including the PRCC the establishment of the CCP.  As well as policy development Bruce supported very extensive engagement with stakeholder, inc providers, commissioners, unions and politicians.
• Bruce is well known and respected in a number of the NNHSE Regions teams including the South Midlands and East and North.
• Bruce was also part of a joint team with Frontier Economics reviewing Choice and Competition for Monitor and NHSE, and assisting in the Fair Playing Field Review.

Major NHS Transactional Support for and affecting FTs and NHS Trusts

• As well as policy support Bruce has also worked on a series of NHS Transactions (as well as numerous TCS transactions) including not just execution of transactions but also Business Case development, stakeholder, Board and staff engagement as well as competition clearances.

Expertise

• Government
• Healthcare
• Health and Social Care Funding Disputes

Career