England Rugby Signs Up Irwin Mitchell To Takeover Legal Helpline And Online Legal Document Service

England Rugby has agreed a deal for law firm Irwin Mitchell to take over the provision of its legal helpline and online legal document services for member clubs up and down the country.

The legal provision will include a Legal and Tax Helpline which allows more than 1,500 England Rugby clubs to access legal and financial advice 24/7, 365 days a year. A secure Online Legal Support portal will also give those clubs access on-demand legal document templates such as contracts and GDPR notices.

Irwin Mitchell became the Official Legal Provider for England Rugby last year and throughout the Covid-19 lockdown period Irwin Mitchell and England Rugby have already held a successful series of virtual events where 750 people from the rugby community have accessed advice on topics including furloughing and holding virtual AGMs.

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“As part of our partnership with England Rugby, we’re excited to be able to support rugby communities and clubs across the country – and we’re delighted to announce that from August we’ll be stepping up our support as official legal partner when we launch our legal and tax helpline and document services.

“Sports clubs are facing a difficult and demanding situation at the moment – so the extra support we can provide could prove critical to some.” Alex Lloyd - Head of Contact & Senior Associate

Irwin Mitchell is also piloting a legal health-check service with several clubs with the aim of rolling the programme out wider over the coming months.

Angus Bujalski, the RFU's Legal and Governance Director, said:  “The legal and tax helpline, together with the legal document checking service, is an important support to our clubs to help them navigate through challenging times.  Having these in place, together with the recent legal webinar series, means that our clubs have access to the support network of a large full-service law firm when they most need it.”

Irwin Mitchell is also developing a new mentoring programme for young players with support from former England Rugby Captain, Dylan Hartley and current Red Roses Captain, Sarah Hunter.  The programme which soft launched earlier this year, will create a community of mentors across clubs throughout England to support 14 to 18 year-old players with the aim of improving retention of more young people in the sport and helping young players to enhance their skillset, confidence and resilience both on and off the pitch.

Find out more about Irwin Mitchell's partnership with England Rugby.