Academies & Maintained Schools Lawyers
Successful maintained schools, academies, multi-academy trusts and alternative providers need experienced legal partners who understand the complexity of education law.
We deliver on-point, expert legal advice on all legal matters affecting the sector, with transparent fees, fixed rates wherever possible, and innovative solutions tailored to your needs.
At VWV, we understand the unique challenges that school leaders face.
With industry-leading expertise in the sector, we provide clear, practical legal advice tailored to your needs. Our team is here to support you in navigating the complexities of parental complaints, school governance, safeguarding, staff matters, and much more including tax.
As a trusted adviser, we offer pragmatic solutions to help you manage disputes, regulatory challenges, and expansion projects with confidence. Whatever your size or structure, we are committed to understanding your goals and delivering advice that fits your budget, so you can focus on leading your setting effectively.
With deep sector expertise and strong connections to the Department for Education, Ofsted, and sector associations, we stay informed of the latest developments in education.
We are committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion in all that we do, ensuring these values are central to our approach and services.
How can our education lawyers help you?
Academies and maintained schools want legal support that is practical, reliable and easy to access. Our expert education lawyers provide tailored advice to help senior leaders, trustees and governors navigate challenges and seize opportunities. By working closely with you, we give you the confidence to make informed decisions that help your organisation thrive.
Our team advises on the following areas:
Navigating the complexities of academy conversion, transfers and mergers can be challenging. We understand the ongoing shifts in the political landscape of academisation and support maintained schools and academies in their wish to come together and collaborate within a multi-academy trust arrangement.
Our expert legal team offers tailored support - from establishing Academy Trusts, managing staff transfers, streamlining school policies and consultation processes to finalising funding, transfer and land agreements, all while meeting crucial deadlines.
We provide fixed fee and discounted hourly arrangements to ensure value for money, complemented by Partner led comprehensive project support. Contact us for a free consultation.
We also provide expert advice on broader strategic reorganisation matters, including school federations, the establishment of SEN Units, resource bases and alternative provision, amalgamations, and changes in age ranges. Our team is here to guide you through the legislative and policy requirements involved in implementing these changes.
Our Education Law team help schools work within the complexities of the Schools Admission Code and the Schools Appeals Code, and draft admission arrangements to ensure compliance, including where schools wish to achieve positive change through innovative oversubscription criteria. We assist with handling objections to admission arrangements to the Office for Schools Adjudicator and provide support for admission appeals and admission variation applications. Our lawyers advise on equality considerations on admissions, in-year applications, placements under the Fair Access Protocol. We offer strategic advice for schools seeking to reduce PAN or expand, amalgamate, or alter their admissions structure, ensuring compliance with regulations.
School capital projects are crucial for modernising facilities and strengthening community links, though they can disrupt daily operations and stretch resources. Our expert legal team offers bespoke, cost-effective advice throughout each project stage – from drafting and negotiating planning and procurement documents to efficiently resolving disputes. We also add value with regular training and updates in partnership with industry bodies such as RIBA, RICS and CIOB. Our service is specifically designed to address the unique legal challenges faced by schools in managing capital projects.
Schools and academy trusts frequently engage with third-party suppliers and contractors. Our experienced team offers straightforward commercial advice to ensure that your agreements reflect the true commercial intent of the relationship. We understand the unique challenges faced by the education sector and can assist you with:
- Contracts involving management information systems (MIS), software licensing, and AI-driven EdTech platforms
- New and existing relationships with third parties for the joint use of facilities – including trading arrangements
- Contracts for the provision of IT infrastructure, hardware, software and associated support services
- Contracts for, or outsourcing, catering, cleaning, facilities management and other core services
Our lawyers will guide you through sensitive parental complaints protecting you from onward risks such as disability discrimination claims or complaints to Ofsted. We advise on parental responsibility and family law related matters and access to pupil records. Your school will be supported in managing difficult conversations, responding to unreasonable communication, and, where necessary, barring individuals to protect staff and pupils. The education law team will work with you to stop unreasonable parental conduct, improper use of social media by parents and pupils, defamatory statements against teachers and where necessary, we can advise on obtaining civil injunctions to stop unreasonable behaviours.
Academies and maintained schools handle vast amounts of sensitive data, from student records to staff information. We provide expert guidance on compliance with data protection laws, including GDPR, data breaches, subject access requests and freedom of information obligations. To strengthen in-house knowledge, we offer tailored staff eLearning programmes and conduct audits to identify compliance gaps, developing customised policies to align with regulations.
The Education law team provide expert legal support in managing disability discrimination claims under the Equality Act 2010, offering strategic guidance on defending cases at the First Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), Upper Tribunal and ensuring compliance with your legal obligations. The work on disability discrimination is led by a barrister with two decades of experience representing over 1,000 clients in the Tribunal at substantive hearings and in relation to settlement negotiations, and therefore understands the support schools and staff will need during this complex legal process.
Find out more about our disability discrimination claims services
Our expert Education law team support the state-funded sector including mainstream and special schools, academies and multi-academy trust and alternative and further education providers. We can help on contentious and non-contentious matters and advisory work on all aspects of regulation such as:
- parent and pupil issues such as complaints
- behaviour
- suspensions and permanent exclusions
- regulatory action from Ofsted, local authorities and the Department for Education
- safeguarding and safeguarding investigations
- admissions (including in the context of conversions/amalgamations) and Office of Schools Adjudicator complaints
- Equality Act and Human Rights claims including disability discrimination claims
- Special Educational Needs, Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)
- SEND Code of Practice matters
On safeguarding our team offers guidance on investigations and reporting including in critical situations and police matters. Our lawyers are there to be a sounding board on policies, procedures and general compliance issues affecting the state funded sector. The Education law team work seamlessly with other specialist teams at VWV to provide a full range of highly bespoke solutions for their clients. We provide free and also bespoke training and products to ensure our clients stay up to date.
We advise on all aspects of the Equality Act including the public sector equality duty and how these interact with related legislation such as the Children and Families Act and the Education Acts. Our specialist lawyers support schools on equality law, including disability and race discrimination claims, equality impact assessments and policies, advancing EDI in schools and accessibility plans, and day-to-day concerns on schools' equality obligations. In addition, the team advises on Human Rights Act claims such as failure to educate and claims on failure to make special educational provision and educational negligence. We have a dedicated team of lawyers for judicial review matters in the context of education law.
Find out more about our equality law and human rights services
Understanding governance from your perspective - many of our lawyers are experienced school governors and trustees - we act as trusted advisers to chairs, CEOs, heads and governance professionals. We support schools, academies and multi-academy trusts with strategic reviews, including options such as federations, conversions and mergers.
Our expertise includes updating articles of association, drafting schemes of governance, management and delegation; preparing committee terms of reference; clarifying the duties of charity trustees; and providing company secretarial support. We also help resolve governance disputes and regulatory interventions, advise on constitutional amendments and assist in establishing trading companies and shared services vehicles.
More information on our governance health checks can be found on our products page.
Managing staff effectively while staying compliant with employment law is crucial for schools and trusts. Our team advises on contracts, policies, grievances, restructures and complex HR matters, ensuring fair and legally sound employment practices.
From hiring overseas teachers to securing visas for international students, immigration law plays a key role in education. We help schools and trusts navigate sponsorship requirements, compliance duties and right-to-work checks.
Ofsted inspections can be high-stakes events for the state-funded sector and failures may have an impact on funding and long term viability. We assist with pre-inspection preparation, including policy reviews, staff training, and compliance checks. If concerns arise during or after an inspection, we provide expert legal support in making urgent representations, deferrals, lodging formal complaints with Ofsted, and, if required, pursuing judicial review proceedings. For schools facing potential intervention, we offer strategic advice on responding to Regional Directors seeking assurances from settings and navigating improvement plans that will meet legal requirements to avoid re-brokerage or other enforcement action by regulators.
Whether dealing with site acquisitions, leases, funding agreements or land transfers during academy conversion, our property law experts support schools and trusts in managing their estates effectively.
Navigating procurement regulations is essential for academies and maintained schools when securing goods, services and collaborative arrangements. Our expert team advises on tendering, framework agreements, procurement policies and dispute resolution, ensuring compliance while achieving best value. We also support schools in structuring shared services and collaborative partnerships effectively.
Creating a culture that promotes excellent behaviour and commitment to the entire school community requires a clear vision and robust policies, procedures and practices. The guiding principle underpinning the work of the Education law team is to help schools and academies achieve this aim through careful and sensitive management of pupil and parent issues, including complex or vexatious complaints and inappropriate social media use. Our team will review and devise policies and train staff. When pupils are facing particularly challenging circumstances, we can guide clients to make the best decision for that child or young person and their families.
Safeguarding is at the core of a school’s decision-making and culture. Our safeguarding lawyers provide expert advice on all legal duties and compliance with Keeping Children Safe in Education, Working together to safeguard children and related legislation. We assist schools in managing safeguarding risks, establishing effective governance, creating best-practice policies, and implementing safer recruitment practices. Our team offers guidance on investigations and reporting, including dealing with non-recent allegations and supporting legal proceedings. In critical situations, such as safeguarding or criminal incidents, we offer prompt and practical advice. The education law team conduct bespoke training and host regular free webinars to ensure schools stay updated on current safeguarding requirements.
Safer recruitment is central to safeguarding and a key focus in inspections. Schools must conduct and evidence rigorous pre-appointment checks for staff, volunteers, and third parties.
How we help:
- Legal guidance on recruitment, compliance, and regulatory requirements.
- Support with inspection preparation, attendance, and post-inspection challenges.
- Template recruitment documents and contract reviews to meet safeguarding obligations.
- Safer recruitment training, covering KCSIE requirements and key legal updates.
The SEND system is under strain, and schools continue to meet the needs of pupils with SEND often on restricted funding. Our SEND team supports schools in challenging funding decisions, EHC Plan consultations, disputes with local authorities and parental complaints. We guide schools through the Children and Families Act and the SEND Code of Practice. Our expertise includes developing Service Level Agreements with local authorities that will protect your budget, and advising on High Needs Operational Guidance and SEND funding. We deliver free webinars and resources on SEND and offer SENDCOs and special schools opportunities to discuss their concerns with our SEND lawyers.
We advise sponsors, including universities, FE colleges, independent schools and charities, on their involvement in the academies programme as part of a broader portfolio. Our tailored advice typically covers issues such as:
- A sponsor’s ability to engage in the academies programme
- The ongoing relationship between the sponsor and the sponsored academy trust - addressing risk management (including reputational risk), control, governance, exit strategies and liability limitations
- The accounting implications for a sponsor and its group
- The procurement of services by the academy trust from the sponsor and its group
Our products
From managing policies and recruitment to data protection, you’ll have the tools and support you need to handle these with confidence. By simplifying complex guidance, we free you up to focus on what matters most - your pupils, your staff, and your success.
Explore our range of legal education products, designed to meet your setting's unique challenges so you can lead with confidence and peace of mind.
The team are very down to earth and pragmatic. They clearly explain risks when there are options available. They have a wealth of experience we were able to benefit from.
Our work highlights
Successful conversion of 13 schools into a Multi-Academy Trust
Supported 13 maintained schools to form a new Multi-Academy Trust, a project that was both educationally and organisationally significant for the schools. The group comprised both Church of England and community schools and required a comprehensive approach to ensure a smooth and successful transition. Provided expert guidance across every aspect of the process, including drafting governance documentation, and navigating complex staff structuring and transfer issues. Managed land matters and contractual negotiations, ensuring that every detail aligned with both educational goals and regulatory requirements.
We continue supporting the Trust as it grows, providing ongoing legal assistance.
Multi-team support for a MAT dealing with safeguarding allegations
Supported two schools within a MAT in relation to urgent safeguarding allegations made against pupils involving an extensive police investigation. Provided the schools' SLT with crisis management support and prompt advice on necessary steps, reporting obligations and multi-agency working via regular meetings. Advised on communications with the LA during safeguarding review meetings, alongside mitigation of the risk of Ofsted intervention. Together with the client, devised an action plan including two separate investigations for staff (with input from the employment team) and pupils, and reviewed policies/processes at school/trust level. Provided draft communications for external use assisted by our reputation specialists. Following our advice no further action was taken against the schools and the matter was robustly investigated and lessons learnt.
Comprehensive win in complex employment tribunal claim
Assisted a single academy trust with a complex employment tribunal claim brought by an ex-employee. The claim involved allegations of race and sex discrimination and harassment, freedom of information and subject access requests, referrals to external regulatory bodies, allegations of criminal wrongdoing and liaising with the police. We made successful applications for costs and anonymisation orders, successfully resisted all applications made by the Claimant and successfully resisted attempts to appeal. The case entailed proofing, co-ordinating and supporting 14 School witnesses. The School comprehensively won the case.
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