Education News

Specialist education law barristers present SEND mock tribunal

27th January 2022

Five barristers from 3PB’s specialist education law team recently joined forces with Oxfordshire County Council to host a SEND mock tribunal as part of a training session. Barristers Lachlan Wilson, Katherine Anderson, Matthew Wyard, Jennifer Agyekum and Naomi Webber presented the mock tribunal to over 80 attendees. 3PB’s education law team represents parents, pupils, schools, and their governing bodies (both from the maintained and the independent sectors), academies, universities and colleges, NGOs including charities, students,...

  Welcome to our December's education law newsletter Welcome to 3PB's Education Law Team December 2021 Newsletter. It features contributions from specialist Education Law Barristers Aimee Fox, Emma Waldron, Matthew Wyard, Naomi Webber and Jim Hirschmann and has been co-edited by Jim Hirschmann and Katherine Anderson. You will find legal analyis on: (1) Discrimination in Foster Placeents as analysed in the recent Court of Appeal Judgment R (Cornerstone) v Ofsted [2021] EWCA Civ 1390 (2)...

Matthew Wyard counsels schools about data protection risks

1st November 2021

3PB Barristers’ specialist education and regulatory law barrister, Matthew Wyard (pictured here) has released the third article in 3PB’s Cyber Law Series. The feature covers data protection for schools and the higher education sector. Matthew highlights the rights of access to data from schools and colleges and specifically what constitutes ‘education data’. The new Data Sharing Code of Practice from the ICO is also scrutinised for how it assists the higher education sector in situations of crisis...

9 of our 14 education law juniors ranked in the 2022 Legal Directories

23rd October 2021

3PB Barristers is delighted to announce yet another record performance for its education law team in the latest editions of Chambers and Partners UK Bar directory and in the Legal 500 directory. While Chambers and Partners lists 6 individual rankings for our team in London (Band 3), the Legal 500 awards us 7 rankings in London (Tier 4), one in the Midlands and another in Wales and Chester. Nine of our 14 education law juniors...

Aimee Fox elected to the Council of the Birmingham Law Society

20th October 2021

3PB family and education law barrister Aimee Fox (pictured here) has been elected to the Council of the Birmingham Law Society, which oversees the activities of the Board and represent the interests of its 5,000 legal professionals across Birmingham and the Greater Midlands. Aimee has a busy and established practice specialising in financial remedies and private law family proceedings alongside her advocacy and advice on special education needs (SEN) children cases. Founded in 1818, Birmingham...

3PB Barristers raises over £1000 for the South West Legal Support Trust

18th October 2021

On Thursday 30th September, 3PB Barristers joined the rest of the Bristol legal community on the Bristol Legal Walk 2021. 3PB Barristers, staff, and 3 ½ year old Basset Fauve De Bretagne, Mabel (pictured here with Tom Cox, Lachlan Wilson and Richard Tyson) walked 10km around Bristol City Centre and raised over £1000, all of which will go to help  free legal advice charities in and around Bristol. To find out more about the South...

IICSA junior counsel Alice de Coverley on Inquiry findings into child sex abuse and UK religious groups

2nd September 2021

3PB education and public law expert Alice de Coverley acted as Junior Counsel for Ofsted, led by Sarah Hannett QC, in this major public inquiry. The Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) has found "shocking failings" and "blatant hypocrisy" in the way major UK religious groups handle child sex abuse allegations. IICSA concluded some religious organisations in England and Wales were "morally failing" children. IICSA set this all out in its report arising from their...

Jim Hirschmann joins family and public teams at 3PB

2nd August 2021

3 Paper Buildings (3PB Barristers) – the second largest barristers’ chambers in the UK - are delighted to announce today that specialist family, public and regulatory barrister Jim Hirschmann has joined from 5 Pump Court and will practice from 3PB’s office in the Inner Temple in London. Jim Hirschmann (call: 2018) covers a broad range of family, education and public law disputes. His family law caseload takes in care proceedings, private children disputes and applications...

Reaction to Ofsted review; and the Everyone's Invited website

22nd June 2021

Ofsted's publication of its review on safeguarding policies in state and independent schools and colleges in relation to sexual abuse on 10 June has further emphasised how prevalent sexual abuse is in our education institutions and that steps must be taken to tackle this issue. Head of 3PB's Education law group Charlotte Hadfield, Sarah Bowen and Alice de Coverley from 3PB’s Education and Employment & Discrimination teams presented a webinar at 5pm on 21st June...

3PB joins forces with law firm BLM to provide training on Special Educational Needs in Wales

17th June 2021

Two of 3PB’s specialist education law barristers Matthew Wyard and Katherine Anderson joined forces with John Roberts at BLM Law to provide three webinars for Lawyers across the country in a snappily-named series, ‘‘SEN (Special Educational Needs) in Wales, the Current and Future Legal Landscape’’. The webinars covered various topics including dealing with the more adversarial tribunal claims and appeals including the role of experts; the most important aspects of Parts 2, 3 and 4...

Charlotte Hadfield successful in High Court judicial review

2nd June 2021

3PB’s specialist education and regulatory law barrister Charlotte Hadfield (pictured here) was successful in a recent judicial review challenge against Nottinghamshire County Council, in a case brought under s42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 whilst acting for the parents. The High Court Judgment, which was handed down on the 20th May 2021, is already a “must-read” for those lawyers practising in the field of education law as it includes some helpful and insightful...

Welcome to April's newsletter Welcome to the fourth edition of the 3PB Education law team’s newsletter. You will find this quarter’s newsletter packed full with 3PB news, analysis and case law updates from John Friel, Emma Waldron, Alice de Coverley, Jennifer Agyekum and Alex Leonhardt. This quarter’s topics include: two different reflections on a year of virtual hearings, an analysis of R (L, M, P) v Devon County Council [2021] EWCA Civ 358 (regarding statutory...