Michael Brotherton

Although Michael specialises in all areas of Education Law, he has built up an enviable reputation dealing with the more contentious aspects of school life including procedural issues, admissions, exclusions, parental complaints, and Equality Act claims.

Michael’s other skills include advising on many academy conversions, from single academy projects to multi academy conversion projects; advising on safeguarding issues, abuse allegations, policy drafting, general governance, best practice and whole school issues.

Michael has acted on many high profile cases, including advising the first independent school to appeal successfully against de-registration by the Secretary of State (Al Huda Girls’ School v Secretary of State [2012] UKFTT 729 (HESC)). Michael’s other notable cases include a Supreme Court case on race discrimination in school admission policies (R (E) v Governing Body of JFS [2009] UKSC 15), supporting a school in the High Court successfully defending its uniform policy in the context of a pupil’s right to wear her veil (X v Y School [2007] EWHC 298 (Admin)).