9.30am – 1.00pm, followed by lunch
Presented by Weightmans and Browne Jacobson
The course will relate to changes to Special Educational Needs brought about by the Children and Families Act 2014.
Duration Half a day (3 CPD points) including lunch
Morris Hill is an associate at Weightmans in the local Government team. Before joining Weightmans in 2007 he worked for 10 years in local authority in-house legal teams. Morris specialises in education and social care, including child and vulnerable adult protection, best interest determinations, ordinary residence disputes, general community care obligations, commissioning and contractual arrangements, charging, mental health, information sharing, school organisation, exclusions and admissions, SEN provision, school transport and general strategic advice.
Morris has acted in many reported cases, including since joining Weightmans: R (St Helens BC) v Manchester PCT [2008] Times, October 6 (NHS continuing healthcare), R (Manchester CC) v St Helens BC & PE [2009] WLR (D) 319 (ordinary residence dispute), R (F & Others) v Wirral BC [2009] BLGR 905 (community care / Supporting People Programme), W PCT v TB & V & S MBC, C & W NHS Trust & W MBC [2010] 2 All ER 331(Mental Health Act 1983 / Mental Capacity Act 2005), R (Culkin) v Wirral Independent Appeal Panel [2009] ELR 287 (school exclusion), R (Broster & others) v Wirral BC [2010] EWHC 3086 (Refusal to provide Personal Budgets), R (RH) v SSHD & Wigan BC [2010] EWHC 2414 (age assessment), A Local Authority v H [2012] EWHC 49 (Fam) (the test for capacity to enter sexual relations) and Wirral Borough Council v Salisbury Independent Living [2012] EWCA Civ 84 (meaning of ‘person affected’ for the purposes of the Child Support, Pensions and Social Security Act 2000)
Morris also has an interest in all aspects of public and human rights law. He also advises local authorities on information law and provides regular training to lawyers and other local authority officers.
Mark Blois is a partner and head of the education team at Browne Jacobson, a leading national education law firm, personally having over 15 years experience as an education lawyer. He is recommended as a Leader in his field in Chambers UK, Legal 500 and Legal Business directories and was named Lawyer of the Year 2012 at the Nottinghamshire Law Society Awards. He has previously served on the Regional Council of the Learning and Skills Council, as a Director of the National Governors’ Association and as a governor of a 157 Group FE College. Mark is currently the Chair of a large primary academy group and a long-standing Teach First mentor.
He regularly speaks at national conferences including those of the Independent Academies Association, National Association of School Business Managers, National Governors’ Association, National Association of Special Needs and the State Boarding Schools’ Association. He has been interviewed by Radio Four and Sky News. He has contributed over 100 papers, articles and book chapters to education literature on a variety of aspects of education law. In 2013 he gave oral evidence to the House of Commons Education Select Committee for their report on ‘The Role of School Governing Bodies’.