HR & Employment Law in Education - Speakers

Dai Durbridge, Partner, Browne Jacobson LLP

Dai is a Partner in the Education team at Browne Jacobson. Dai specialises in advising schools and academies on all pastoral education issues, including admissions, exclusions, parental complaints, use of force and searching pupils. A recognised safeguarding expert, he regularly supports schools on complex safeguarding issues including handling disclosures of abuse, managing allegations against staff and parental consent.

Naseem Nabi, Partner, Veale Wasbrough Vizards

Naseem advises the firm’s education clients on all issues including academy conversions, TUPE, trade union recognition and collective bargaining agreements.

Peter Woodhouse, Partner, Stone King

Peter is a Partner in the employment team at Stone King. Over the years, he has acted for numerous education clients in the maintained and independent sectors, both as advocate in the employment tribunal and as adviser in non-contentious matters

Emma Hughes, Head of HR Services, Browne Jacobson LLP

Emma is our Head of HR Services and manages the team responsible for providing HR consultancy services to a range of clients. Emma has extensive experience of the education sector having previously been HR Director for a large Academy Trust. Emma takes a pro-active approach with clients and is responsible for managing the operational lead on HR Services.

Victoria Blake, Principal HR Consultant, Stone King

Victoria Blake is a Principal HR Consultant in the Employment Team at Stone King. Joining the firm in 2010, she has over 25 years’ experience working in HR in both private and public sectors and over 9 years as a School’s HR specialist.

Richard Hewitt, Senior Associate, Veale Wasbrough Vizards

Richard has worked exclusively with schools and education charities, both locally and nationally, for several years and advises on a wide range of employment law issues

Heather Mitchell, Associate, Browne Jacobson LLP

Heather leads Browne Jacobson’s national team of education employment law specialists.  She regularly supports schools with complex staffing issues including protracted discrimination claims brought against employers, TUPE transfers and negotiating the exit of staff when relationships have broken down.  An experienced presenter, Heather regularly speaks at national conferences on both operational and strategic employment law matters for schools.

Tom Wallace, HR Consultant, Browne Jacobson LLP

Tom works as an HR Consultant within Browne Jacobson’s education team, and has over 8 years’ experience working with schools, including working for a number of years with one of the largest multi-academy trusts. Tom specialises in educational HR, with a particular focus on academies. Tom has managed and led on a variety of change management projects including restructures, workforce reductions and pay reviews including job evaluation and pay structure re-design.