Who We Are
We are outcome-focused lawyers. We do not allow time and money to be wasted taking academic or hopeless points. The education professionals we work with are intelligent, dedicated people capable of reflecting upon their own situation; our expertise is in helping them through their difficulties.
Our joint expertise is recognised by the teaching unions in England, two of whom – ASCL and NAHT – frequently instruct us to represent their members in complex and sometimes high-profile regulatory cases. We also work directly with many teachers who require a bespoke legal service.
Andrew Faux – Barrister (qualified 1995)
Andrew understands the landscape of teacher regulation inside out. Following a career as a criminal barrister, Andrew worked as an in-house prosecutor for the General Teaching Council for England from 2005-10. He knows the personalities and philosophies that continue to shape the Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) and the Department of Education’s approach to teacher misconduct.
Since 2010 Andrew has used his skills to help regulated professionals, building an unrivaled reputation in this field as a pragmatic defender of teachers and headteachers facing allegations of misconduct or other difficulties at work.
Colin Henderson – Solicitor (qualified 1997)
Colin is a tenacious litigator who has honed his case preparation skills over two decades of managing cases at every level from Tribunals to the Supreme Court. He has supported thousands of clients whilst working in the non-profit sector and in private practice across the fields of education, employment, property and public law.
He brings a sympathetic but rigorous approach to his cases. He has many years of advocacy experience before courts and tribunals and has represented teachers before the TRA since 2016.
Chris Segovia – Barrister (qualified 1998)
Chris qualified as a barrister in 1998 and a solicitor in 2006. He worked at a national trade union law firm before joining the in-house legal team at the General Teaching Council for England in 2007 working alongside Andrew Faux. From 2011 he moved on to work in other areas of professional regulation, including 15 years with the Nursing and Midwifery Council, also sitting as a panellist/chair at the Scottish Social Services Council (7 years) and at the General Teaching Council for Scotland (4 years). He is an appointed legal adviser to the professional conduct panels of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy and the General Optical Council.
He uses his broad experience of professional regulation to bring a thoughtful, fair-minded, realistic but fearless approach to protecting a client’s rights and navigating a case through its various stages.
The Reflective Practice – established 2015
We are all committed to providing personal support in professional crises whilst achieving the best possible results. All professionals, including lawyers and teachers, should reflect on their practice continuously and their regulators expect this. We named our regulatory defence law firm The Reflective Practice based on this principle in 2015 and have been helping teachers and other professionals ever since.
Our notable cases include the High Court appeal which clarified there is a public interest in retaining good teachers in the profession despite their misconduct. The Reflective Practice legacy site gives more information on our approach to legal practice.
We combine the expertise of solicitors conducting litigation and barristers concentrating on advocacy. More information on our firm’s regulation by the Bar Standards Board is available from them here.