Alice deCoverley profile 560x670

Alice de Coverley

Year of Call: 2014
Email Address: [email protected]
Telephone: 020 7583 8055

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Clerk Details

  • Clerk Name: Gemma Faulkner
  • Clerk Telephone: 020 7583 8055
  • Clerk Email: [email protected]

Direct Access

Alice accepts Direct Access instructions for Education Law cases.

Alice is particularly passionate about Education Law. Prior to commencing pupillage, Alice was the Chief Director of The School Exclusion Project for four years. This is an award-winning pro-bono unit dedicated to representing parents of permanently excluded school children.

Alice is instructed to act and advise in relation to a broad range of Education Law matters, including:

  • Breach of contract and negligence claims involving education providers
  • School Exclusions
  • School Admissions
  • Appeals to the SEND Tribunal on the content of EHC Plans
  • Discrimination (particularly disability discrimination) claims in the FTT and County Court
  • Internal academic appeals / Fitness to Practice appeals
  • Appeals to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator

Recent matters which Alice has been involved in include:

  • Advising medical and nursing students in claims under the Equality Act where the University’s competency assessment standards conflicted with the duty to make reasonable adjustments.
  • Advising a Higher Education provider on their duties under the Equality Act when a student disclosed a previously unknown disability after examinations had taken place.
  • Advising in relation to negligence claims for failure to diagnose learning difficulties.
  • Advising in relation to breach of contract claims involving Independent Schools.
  • Advising parents of school pupils with disabilities who have been unlawfully permanently excluded.
  • Drafting funding applications to the European Human Rights Commission, to support client’s cases concerning discrimination in education.
  • Drafting submissions to the Health and Conduct Committee/Fitness to Practice Committee.
  • Appeals against Termination of Registration.
  • Drafting submissions to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator.

Alice has also helped to create a number of BBC Radio 4 programmes about school exclusions.

Whilst Alice was Chief Director of The School Exclusion Project, it featured in the press several times addressing unlawful exclusions – for instance.

She is also a volunteer for the charity Inspiring the Future, which connects young people in state schools and colleges with those from the world of work. She has recently been part of their Inspiring Women campaign, mentoring girls from various schools to raise their aspirations and break down stereotypes.

Alice is happy to provide training in relation to Education Law. Of late she provided training on school admissions appeals to Local Authorities, a talk on disability discrimination to a children’s charity and ran a seminar on school exclusions for solicitors. Please get in touch with her clerks should this be something you would wish to organize.

  • Recommendations

    Alice de Coverley is a well-regarded junior barrister with expertise covering a wide range of education matters. She is regularly instructed to represent government bodies, schools, universities, families and students, and is experienced in the handling of exclusions and disability discrimination claims.

    Strengths: “She is extremely well versed in the SEND Tribunal matters, and her expertise is clear in conference and when advising. Alice often goes above and beyond and has a very impressive approach when it comes to strategy, to ensure the best outcome for a client.”
    “Alice has excellent legal knowledge on complex residential SEND appeal work and has also been very impressive in her advocacy and pleadings. She is my go-to barrister and is very skilled at working with vulnerable clients.”
    “Alice is an excellent barrister who gets to the core of issues quickly and whose client care is phenomenal.”

    Chambers UK 2024/Education/London Bar

    Strengths: “Alice is excellent at identifying the key issues and presenting the evidence in the most persuasive way.”
    “Alice is a highly astute and competent advocate with a razor-sharp legal mind.”

    Chambers UK 2023/Education/London Bar

    Strengths: "A phenomenal, astute barrister who has a friendly demeanour and an in-depth knowledge of this specialist area of law." "An extremely capable legal mind."
    Recent work: Acted for the claimant in Bell v The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, a judicial review challenging the algorithm used by Ofqual to generate A-level results during the COVID-19 pandemic in the absence of examinations.

    Chambers UK 2022/Education/London Bar

    Strengths: "Very knowledgeable and passionate. She really helps her clients to understand what the issues are and identifies the legal risks and next steps." "She is very approachable, very supportive to parents and very calm and collected in a stressful environment."
    Recent work: Represented Ofsted in several strands of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.

    Chambers UK 2021/Education/London Bar

    Alice de Coverley successfully represented the respondent in the London Borough of Croydon v K-A (SEN) Upper Tribunal appeal, a widely reported case that sided with parents when weighing the healthcare benefits of a school placement against the public cost to the council.

    'Alice is an exceptional barrister who quickly establishes a relationship of trust and confidence with her clients. She can get to the root of complex issues with speed and ease.'

    Legal 500 2024/Education/Leading Juniors/London Bar

    Alice de Coverley acted for the claimant in Raquel Rosario Sanchez v Bristol University, a high-profile case concerning whether a university owed duty of care to a PhD student facing bullying from other students.

    ‘Alice is pragmatic, straightforward and constructive. She is as good as it gets in the field of education law. ’

    Legal 500 2023/Education/Leading Juniors/London Bar

    ‘‘She is empathetic with clients, strong in her advocacy and formidable in terms of her drafting style. ’’

    Legal 500 2022/Education/Rising Star/London Bar

    ‘‘Very knowledgeable in her field, has excellent communication skills and is an all round great advocate. ’’

    Legal 500 2021/Education/Rising Star/London Bar

    "Alice is extraordinarily understated and approachable for someone quite so terrifyingly clever. She combines a forensic and encyclopaedic legal mind with a keen eye for strategy and an absolute commitment to her clients, and she has an understated confidence that just allows you to relax. It was clear from the start that we were in Rolls Royce hands - whatever happened, in instructing Alice we’d given our child his absolute best chance. That confidence proved very well placed, as she managed to secure absolutely everything we sought. She achieved a complex EOTAS package for him, which are rarely granted. It’s the only area with SEN Tribunals where the parent is unlikely to succeed – yet Alice did, with bells on. She didn’t just secure our child a Personal Budget, she achieved a mid 5-figures one, including elements even the SEN Code says should be restricted to exceptional circumstances. We have two disabled children, both of whom are represented by Alice. We wouldn’t consider instructing anyone else.”

    “Thank you so much for fighting our corner so hard. [My child] is over the moon. You gave me hope where before I honestly had none.”

    “I spoke with my client last night and wanted to relay to you how pleased she was with yesterday. She could not praise you enough and said that you went above and beyond what she expected.”

    “I thought I would pass on Mr C’s comments as to how much he appreciated your time on Friday and he said what a fantastic Barrister that you are. I thought you should know how much he thought of you.”

    • Expand recommendations
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