About Us

With the support and encouragement of AISMA, the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants, the National Association of Specialist Solicitors Advising Doctors (NASSAD) was established in December 2011.

Executive Committee

Our Executive Committee members are as follows:

• Chairman: Ben Willis, Partner and Head of Healthcare, VWV;
• Secretary: Amanda Maskery, Partner, Sintons Law; and
• Treasurer: Sam Hopkins, Partner and Head of GP Group, Capsticks

Members

Our members are as follows:

UK –

• Rob Day, Principal Associate, Head of Primary Care, Mills & Reeve LLP
• Kevin Stillwell, Partner, Stillwells Solicitors
• Daphne Robertson, Founder and Senior Partner, DR Solicitors

Scotland –

• Andy Drane, Partner, Davidson Chalmers; and
• Michael Royden, Partner, Thorntons Law

Stringent Membership Requirements

Our Association is united by a desire to promote best practice and offers clear recognition that each member possesses developed skills and expertise in the provision of specialist legal advice to primary care medical providers. The recognition required for membership comes from other members of NASSAD, and through members of AISMA, lenders and healthcare commentators.

Element of Independence

The founders of NASSAD recognised an increasing ‘top-down’ pressure being applied to GPs by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), orchestrated by the Department of Health. It was therefore decided that a clear need existed for the establishment of a group of lawyers, independent of CCG lawyers, who could both represent the interests of GPs in contractual matters and also provide specialist advice in a range of areas. These areas include practice premises, partnership arrangements and disputes, contractual and regulatory issues, procurement, provider organisations, employment, superannuation and rural dispensing.

The element of independence from CCG lawyers broadly identifies firms having similar characteristics to the member firms of AISMA who, to a very large extent, are regional, as opposed to nationally based, firms of accountants providing advice.

The Importance of Developed Expertise

The expertise associated with NASSAD membership is particularly important when one considers the regulatory and structural changes currently occurring within the healthcare sector. This is also crucial in the context of lending. Increasingly, our members are told by banks lending in the healthcare sector that, whilst those banks cannot lay down rules concerning legal providers, they encourage their clients to engage specialist legal advice. NASSAD membership therefore acts, in this respect, as a mark of quality.

Advantages of Membership

Within the group a loose and non-binding understanding exists that, in the event that a member is unable to act for any reason, it is appropriate to provide names of other members as alternative providers.

Members meet on a formal basis, from time to time, to discuss and consider matters of mutual interest and also feel able to communicate informally for advice and support.