Yvonne Spencer > VWV > London, England > Lawyer Profile
VWV Offices
24 KING WILLIAM STREET
LONDON
EC4R 9AT
England
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Yvonne Spencer
Work Department
Education: Schools
Position
Partner
Career
Having worked for many years advising schools on child protection, inspection and regulation, SEN and equality, serious disciplinary incidents, complex complaints, reputation management and the media, Yvonne is well placed to assist you and your school when complex and often unforeseen incidents occur.
Yvonne also leads our work with academies and maintained schools and has overseen over 500 academy and MAT conversion projects.
International Expertise
Yvonne Spencer’s international experience relates to advising overseas Governments and Local Authorities on legislative reform to introduce or reform national child protection systems.
Yvonne’s experience includes technical support to Governments to establish national systems for the accreditation and inspection of children’s services. She has also advised Governments on national professional standards for children’s social workers and advice on equalities legislation.
Countries where Yvonne has experience: Romania, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Jordan and Japan.
Meeting Your Needs
Yvonne is keen to ensure that you receive cutting edge and contextual advice. Her contributions to the education law arena include Butterworth’s Law of Education and Jordan’s Education Law Journal.
Yvonne is a regular speaker at national conferences. Recent topics include strategic advice on MAT expansion, child protection, exclusions, admissions and regulatory compliance. In 2012 she spoke alongside Professor Tanya Byron at the TES National Cyber Bullying Conference.
What Others Say
The Legal 500 recognises Yvonne as an education law expert. In Chambers & Partners, Yvonne is recommended as a key individual for education law expertise and noted for being “a standout individual’ and an ‘outstanding lawyer’, who has ‘a great deal of presence and expertise’ and ‘provides sound, strategic level advice with a good understanding of the risks to which the school might be exposed.”
Chambers & Partners also states, “The effective and efficient Yvonne Spencer has significant expertise in academy conversions. Interviewees are quick to praise her as being ‘very impressive and very able’, and ‘someone who has done an absolutely fantastic job’. I love her deep understanding of the sector; she is a dyed-in-the-wool expert. She has done a magnificent job, and is very personable.”
Memberships
Yvonne is the first female to be appointed Chairman of the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates. Yvonne is also a member of the City of Westminster & Holborn Law Society (CoWHLS), and a Director of the Education Law Association (ELAS)
Lawyer Rankings
London > Public sector > Education: schools
The education team at VWV stands out for its strategic and operational expertise and is widely considered a ‘market leader in the independent schools sector’. The team is trusted to assist with high-value projects, including major school acquisitions and sales, restructuring matters, and academy trust formations. Clients also frequently instruct the team, which has strong relationships with major sector organisations and regulators, to advise on regulatory matters in the context of safeguarding and equality issues. Barney Northover, who has advised independent schools on some of the most significant mergers and governance matters in the sector, co-leads the practice from Bristol with Chloe Brunton, who provides advice to academies and MATs on conversions and reorganisations. Also in Bristol, Simon Bevan
continues to be highly regarded for his expertise across the spectrum of employment and discrimination matters. Alice Reeve, who divides her time between Bristol and Birmingham, has advised on major safeguarding matters and provided employment advice in the context of industrial action, and London-based lawyer Yvonne Spencer is a key contact for complex regulatory matters involving parental claims and complaints.