Alice has an exceptional education practice. She is passionate about Education Law and children’s rights. Prior to commencing pupillage, Alice was the Chief Director of The School Exclusion Project for four years. This is an award-winning pro-bono unit dedicated to representing parents of permanently excluded school children.
Alice also acts for Ofsted in the Care Standards Tribunal, and is currently acting for Ofsted as Junior Counsel on the Independent Inquiry into Child Sex Abuse (IICSA). For full details of the work that Alice is currently dealing with please see her Public Law profile.
She has specialisms within the Education arena and has dealt with a number of matters including claims brought under the Equality Act 2010 for disability, sex, race, pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender reassignment discrimination, harassment and victimization. Alice also regularly appears in appeals in the context of EHC Plans (Sections B F and I) and National Trial cases.
Alice acts for parents, children, young people, schools, Universities, Local Authorities, charities and governmental organisations. She is instructed to act and advise in relation to a broad range of education law matters, including:
Reported cases:
Recent education law matters which Alice has been involved in include:
Alice has also helped to create a number of BBC Radio 4 programmes about school exclusions. Whilst Alice was Chief Director of The School Exclusion Project, it featured in the press several times addressing unlawful exclusions – for instance this Guardian article.
She is also a volunteer for the charity Inspiring the Future, which connects young people in state schools and colleges with those from the world of work. She has recently been part of their Inspiring Women campaign, mentoring girls from various schools to raise their aspirations and break down gender stereotypes.
Whilst dealing with a busy practice, Alice also finds time to assist the Centre for Women’s Justice by providing pro bono legal advice to Women that approach the charity in need of assistance in a range of matters.
Alice is happy to provide training in relation to education law. Of late she provided training on school admissions appeals to Local Authorities, a talk on disability discrimination to a children’s charity and ran a seminar on school exclusions for solicitors. Please get in touch with her clerks should this be something you would wish to organise.
Alice de Coverley and Sunyana Sharma examine the decision of the Care Standards Tribunal in Mrs EI v Suffolk Childcare Agency [2024] UKFTT 00429 (HESC) in the first known case regarding the appeal of a suspension decision by a childminder agency, other than Ofsted.
Alice de Coverley, instructed by DAC Beachcroft, represented the Respondent, and Sunyana Sharma, also from 3PB, represented the Appellant, instructed by Stephensons.
Alice de Coverley and Alex Leonhardt analyse how the tricky, balancing questions around children’s rights, school uniforms and school discipline have been dealt with by the Courts.
This article also appeared in the Education Law Monitor.
3PB Barristers are proud to announce the launch of the first book on the law on school exclusions since 2002, co-authored by Charlotte Hadfield and Alice de Coverley.
3PB’s specialist education barristers Alice de Coverley and Matthew Wyard have co-authored a two-part report, for students and schools separately, about today’s GCSE results day (20 August 2020).
The guidance offers tips for students and their parents about the GCSE grade that students will receive; the appeals process in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; Exam results Helplines available; Subject Access Requests for finding out information to support you in pushing for an appeal; grounds for appeals; Centres’ duties to students/learners.
In this article, Alice de Coverley and Matthew Wyard answer some of the most significant questions facing both students and schools on A-level results day 2020, providing practical advice on what to do next.
Matthew Wyard and Alice de Coverley have produced a guide to remote hearings in SENDIST including practical top tips for both practitioners and witnesses. They cover topics from using technology to adapting your approach to this new style of hearing.
Alice de Coverley is a well-regarded junior with experience across a wide range of education matters and particular expertise in exclusions and disability discrimination claims. She regularly receives instructions to represent government bodies, schools, universities, families and students in the First-tier and Upper Tribunals.
Strengths: "Alice is a really empathetic and skilled lawyer with incredible processing speed. She also has lovely client care and incredible legal brain."
"Alice de Coverley's knowledge and expertise are second to none."
"Alice commands the room in a very measured and powerful way. She is very good with technical knowledge and persuasive in her arguments."
Chambers UK 2025/Education/London Bar
“She is extremely well versed in the SEND Tribunal matters, and her expertise is clear in conference and when advising. Alice often goes above and beyond and has a very impressive approach when it comes to strategy, to ensure the best outcome for a client.”
“Alice has excellent legal knowledge on complex residential SEND appeal work and has also been very impressive in her advocacy and pleadings. She is my go-to barrister and is very skilled at working with vulnerable clients.”
“Alice is an excellent barrister who gets to the core of issues quickly and whose client care is phenomenal.”
Chambers UK 2024/Education/London Bar
Strengths: “Alice is excellent at identifying the key issues and presenting the evidence in the most persuasive way.”
“Alice is a highly astute and competent advocate with a razor-sharp legal mind.”
Chambers UK 2023/Education/London Bar
Strengths: "A phenomenal, astute barrister who has a friendly demeanour and an in-depth knowledge of this specialist area of law." "An extremely capable legal mind."
Recent work: Acted for the claimant in Bell v The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, a judicial review challenging the algorithm used by Ofqual to generate A-level results during the COVID-19 pandemic in the absence of examinations.
Chambers UK 2022/Education/London Bar
Strengths: "Very knowledgeable and passionate. She really helps her clients to understand what the issues are and identifies the legal risks and next steps." "She is very approachable, very supportive to parents and very calm and collected in a stressful environment."
Recent work: Represented Ofsted in several strands of the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse.
Chambers UK 2021/Education/London Bar
Alice de Coverley successfully represented the respondent in the London Borough of Croydon v K-A (SEN) Upper Tribunal appeal, a widely reported case that sided with parents when weighing the healthcare benefits of a school placement against the public cost to the council.
‘Alice’s knowledge and passion for this area of law and particularly, around special educational needs matters, is unrivalled. Her encyclopaedic knowledge of potential reasonable adjustments, external experts and other factors educational establishments should consider is incredibly helpful and she speaks with real authority on the matter. She is just magic.’
Legal 500 2025/Education/Leading Juniors/London Bar
'Alice is an exceptional barrister who quickly establishes a relationship of trust and confidence with her clients. She can get to the root of complex issues with speed and ease.'
Legal 500 2024/Education/Leading Juniors/London Bar
Alice de Coverley acted for the claimant in Raquel Rosario Sanchez v Bristol University, a high-profile case concerning whether a university owed duty of care to a PhD student facing bullying from other students.
‘Alice is pragmatic, straightforward and constructive. She is as good as it gets in the field of education law. ’
Legal 500 2023/Education/Leading Juniors/London Bar
‘‘She is empathetic with clients, strong in her advocacy and formidable in terms of her drafting style. ’’
Legal 500 2022/Education/Rising Star/London Bar
‘‘Very knowledgeable in her field, has excellent communication skills and is an all round great advocate. ’’
Legal 500 2021/Education/Rising Star/London Bar
"Alice is extraordinarily understated and approachable for someone quite so terrifyingly clever. She combines a forensic and encyclopaedic legal mind with a keen eye for strategy and an absolute commitment to her clients, and she has an understated confidence that just allows you to relax. It was clear from the start that we were in Rolls Royce hands - whatever happened, in instructing Alice we’d given our child his absolute best chance. That confidence proved very well placed, as she managed to secure absolutely everything we sought. She achieved a complex EOTAS package for him, which are rarely granted. It’s the only area with SEN Tribunals where the parent is unlikely to succeed – yet Alice did, with bells on. She didn’t just secure our child a Personal Budget, she achieved a mid 5-figures one, including elements even the SEN Code says should be restricted to exceptional circumstances. We have two disabled children, both of whom are represented by Alice. We wouldn’t consider instructing anyone else.”
“Thank you so much for fighting our corner so hard. [My child] is over the moon. You gave me hope where before I honestly had none.”
“I spoke with my client last night and wanted to relay to you how pleased she was with yesterday. She could not praise you enough and said that you went above and beyond what she expected.”
“I thought I would pass on Mr C’s comments as to how much he appreciated your time on Friday and he said what a fantastic Barrister that you are. I thought you should know how much he thought of you.”
3PB Barristers are pleased to confirm that 7 of its specialist education law barristers are now ranked in Chambers and Partners 2025. The group has retained its London Band 3 ranking in the publication, its barristers drawing much appreciated praise from its clients and peers, as well as recognition for its 'second to none', 'very responsive' clerking team. Group Head Charlotte Hadfield said: 'We are delighted with our latest results in Chambers and Partners’ 2025...
Continue reading3PB is delighted to report that its Education law team has retained its Tier 3 ranking in London. The team has attracted a total of eight rankings in the Legal 500’s 2025 edition published today: seven of our barristers are ranked in London, one of them is also recommended for their work in the Midlands. The directory acknowledges the team “cover[s] the complete range of education disputes, including acting in tribunal claims and judicial reviews...
Continue reading3PB Barristers’ (3 Paper Buildings) specialist education, equality and public law barrister Alice de Coverley has spoken to RPC Legal’s The Work Couch podcast as part of their neurodiversity mini-series ahead of ADHD awareness month in October. In the first episode of the series, which looks at the lived experience on neurodiversity, Alice joins host Ellie Gelder, alongside Auticon’s Ashlea Cromby and Tracey West and Victoria Othen of RPC Legal. The conversation covers a range...
Continue readingJim Hirschmann edits the 11th edition of our education law newsletter, packed full with team news, awards, book launches, events and analysis from our barristers Charlotte Hadfield, Lachlan Wilson, John Friel, Alice de Coverley, Matthew Wyard, Emma Waldron, Alex Leonhardt, Caroline Stone, Mark Green, Sunyana Sharma, Katherine Anderson, Ben Amunwa and Rosa Thomas, to name a few.
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