Legal Services

Devon County Council’s Legal team offers maintained schools based in the Council’s administrative area who subscribe to our annual service access to a legal services e-mail helpline.   The service provides schools with access to a team of lawyers who can provide general advice and assistance to schools with the type of discrete, ad hoc queries that arise on a day-to-day basis, including:

• • Land: matters connected with title deeds of school premises, including boundary disputes, trespass, encroachments, rights of way and easements across property.
  • Employment: the exercise by governors and headteachers of the delegated powers they are given by both statute and common law (in the case of Community and Voluntary Controlled Schools) or the exercise of powers governing bodies have by virtue of being the employers of school staff (in the case of Foundation Trust and Voluntary Aided Schools) can give rise to a number of employment law issues and potential claims.
  • Discipline: matters connected with exclusion of pupils and other day to day issues regarding discipline faced by headteachers.
  • Civil Law: an almost infinite variety of problems can arise in schools generated by an increasingly litigious society such as claims by parents or their lawyers alleging negligence, quarrels between parents about access and dealing with unwanted visitors on school premises.

Our service is only available to Devon maintained schools. Please log in to see the products relevant to your school type.