Legal representation

R (on the application of G) v The Governors of X School and Y City Council [2010] EWCA Civ 1; SJ 26 January p4; TLR 23 February

A 19-year-old male trainee teacher had an affair with a 15-year-old boy visiting the school for work experience. Under s142 of the Education Act 2002, the teacher could be banned for life from working with children. He appealed against the decision to refuse him permission to be legally represented at the hearing. The Court of Appeal held unanimously that teachers facing disciplinary action by school governors because of sexual misconduct allegations involving pupils have the right to legal representation at a disciplinary hearing. A lawyer might make a ‘great deal’ of difference to the ‘flavour and emphasis’ of the governors’ conclusions, as well as to any contest over the main facts. And if an advocate might have effected such a difference between the governors, the influence of their conclusions on the ISA’s decision making might also have been different. Although art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights did not necessarily involve a right to representation in civil cases, it was ‘well established here and in Strasbourg that the level of protection which the article guarantees depends on what is at stake’.