Education law

Independent schools and colleges have to deal with a wide range of practical and strategic issues on which many different aspects of the law can bear. Staff issues, to take an obvious example, require for their solution a thorough understanding of employment law and of the environment in which teaching and other staff work. Questions of pupil discipline and assessment, on the other hand, call for expertise in education law.

Diocesan Boards of Education also need advice on their duties as trustees, and from time to time schools undertaking large construction or renovation projects will need the services of a property lawyer.

We combine all these areas of expertise with a deep understanding of the independent and local authority schools sectors, and of the conditions under which schools operate.

Few legal firms can match the breadth of our expertise, and none can match the depth of our experience, built up over more than 100 years.

Our clients include voluntary aided schools, foundation schools, Local Education Authorities (LEAs), Institutions of Further and Higher Education, Charitable and Denominational Educational Institutions, The Department for Education and Skills (DfES), Parent Teacher Associations, Insurers and Teaching Trade Unions.

Our understanding of the voluntary aided schools' and foundation schools' world extends beyond the peculiarities of the sector's unique regulatory framework, as important as this is. We also understand the type of service that is required, characterised by being accessible, swift and sensitive to the situation. Religious schools also require their lawyers to have an understanding of their special character, and of the wider context in which the particular legal issue should be assessed. We are fully aware of these issues and experienced in advising on them.

By focusing on the particular needs of schools and colleges and organising our resources to match, we have built up a large education practice, which covers church schools under three Diocesan Boards, together with a large number of foundation schools, further education and higher education colleges.