Douglas Hamer

A very useful book, spoken as a practitioner in the area. I think it would be equally useful for solicitors as it would be for parents. It shines in going into detail and giving one an in-depth look at many areas of education law. At the end, it has a useful Q and A section, and it also has good specimen examples of documents you would expect to see in an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal. A slight drawback for a neophyte in the area is that it does not take you in complete detail through every legal process it covers, but as a counter to that point, it would be extremely long and plodding if it did. It covers the basics in a good enough level of detail that, if you read it carefully and methodically, you should emerge having read any given chapter with a lot more understanding than you came in with. I would say that this book is the ideal accompaniment to the material one can find online in such resources as IPSEA's explanations to the basics of education law and tribunal procedure, as well as the SEN Code of Practice 2015, because it goes into 'behind the scenes' detail and gives insight from one of the leading barristers in the field. Interestingly, it is not shy in stating when it considers the government's code of practice to have been incorrect on the law!