Special Educational Needs and Disability Discrimination
3PB's Special Education Needs (SEN) and disability barristers is headed by renowned barrister John Friel. Detailed knowledge of the law in this area and success in appeals has seen 3PB act in many of the most complex and high value cases for both claimant students and parents and charities and defendant local authorities and schools. The team are well used to appearing at the Upper Tribunal and understand the sensitivities and demands of cases involving pupils with SEN.
3PB have appeared in many of the leading SEN cases including advising in LW v Norfolk County Council, a case reported in the Education Law Reports. Chambers education barristers are highly sought after by parents and education institutions alike, acting for both public and private schools and also charities and schools’ governing bodies.
Our Education Barristers...
Junior Counsel
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Two of 3PB's well-known education team, specialist barristers Emma Waldron and Alice de Coverley - featured here left to right - have assisted law centre CCLC in their successful legal challenge to get Norfolk County Council to reverse its huge cuts to a boy’s speech therapy. Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) and the two counsel represented H, an 11-year-old boy, who was told he would only receive only 25% of the therapy he had previously,...
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3PB’s Matthew Wyard has today given a presentation to a variety of legal practitioners, NGO’s, charities and public bodies on how the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) is incorporated into Welsh specific legislation. The talk was given at the invitation of the Equality & Human Rights Commission and the Wales Observatory on Children and Young People’s Rights as part of the inaugural ‘Strategic Litigation’ workshop held by the organisations designed...
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Education law specialist Charlotte Hadfield, who heads the Education Team, and her barrister colleague Alice de Coverley have co-authored the first book on the law on school exclusion since 2002 - 'The Law in Relation to School Exclusions' published by Law Brief Publishing. The book will be launched officially on November 25 at 5pm in a Q&A interview of both authors via Zoom. Exclusion from school is a sanction of last resort that can hugely...
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3PB’s public law barrister Matthew Wyard, who specialises in the education sector, has evaluated the snappily-titled ‘The Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 (Commencement No.1) Order 2020 which came into force this Monday 2 November. Also considered was the Additional Learning Needs Co-ordinator (Wales) Regulations. The Order gives powers to the Welsh Ministers to make regulations to give detail to the 2018 Act, including the ALN Co-ordinator Regulations. The Regulations, only now...
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3PB’s specialist education barrister, Emma Waldron, has been interviewed for the UK's No. 1 legal consumer podcast "Get Legally Speaking" about the current legal landscape and what the future may hold for unhappy students. On 18th March 2020, exams were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic; then on 17th August this year, a U-turn decision was announced by the Secretary of State for Education that allowed A-Level students to receive grades based on their teachers'...
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3PB Barristers have created a dedicated webpage on its website to act as a hub for the many articles, briefings and webinar and podcast recordings about lockdown laws and regulations as well as practical issues like court attendance, e-bundles, remote and hybrid hearings. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to create employment, contractual and other legal challenges which are in many ways unprecedented. The impact of the virus is being felt, and in response, 3PB have...
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3PB’s specialist education barristers Alice de Coverley and Matthew Wyard have co-authored a two-part report, for students and schools separately, about today’s GCSE results day (20 August 2020). This follows their A Level advice guide and webinar earlier this week. The Department for Education (“DfE”) changed its approach in a major U-turn five days after the A Level results were released. The switch to centre assessment grades (rather than the standardised/moderated grades) will apply to...
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3PB are delighted to announce that family barrister Hannah Bush has been appointed a Deputy District Judge and a part-time First Tier Tribunal judge after separate competitions, the latter of which was announced today Thursday 28 May 2020. Hannah will sit in the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber and will hear appeals concerned with Special Educational Needs and Disability and will sit as a Deputy District Judge on the Midlands Circuit. Hannah was called to...
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Government guidance on vulnerable children published today (22 March). Children with EHCPs will *not* automatically receive a school place - their eligibility will be subject to risk assessment.
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Charlotte Hadfield's brief(ish) introduction to temporary closure directions and temporary continuity directions, with a review of how special educational provision may operate if the Coronavirus Bill is enacted in its current form.
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Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are set to benefit from an extra £350 million funding to provide specialist support and tailored facilities, helping those with complex needs to succeed. The Education Secretary Damian Hinds has announced that councils will receive an additional £250 million over the next two years on top of the £6 billion already provided for the high needs budget this year, to provide much needed support for children and...
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Aimee Fox has joined 3PB Barristers’ leading Education and Family law teams from St Ives Chambers. Called to the Bar in 2007, she is well-known as a specialist in education law and private law and family finance cases. Aimee’s education practice sees her regularly appear in the First Tier Tribunal. She acts for all parties including local authorities, schools, parents and young people. Aimee’s education experience includes judicial reviews; discrimination and equalities claims; special educational...
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