Seminars

Upcoming Seminars/Conferences
 

Legal Issues in Schools
Date:     Tuesday 27th March 2012, 1.30pm-5.00pm
Venue:  The New South Wales State Legal Conference
               SMC Conference Centre, 
               Corner of Goulburn and Castlereagh Streets, Sydney
 

In this seminar, chaired by David Ford, general issues relating to schools will be addressed by Alex Kohn. He will review some recent cases involving a number of relevant issues for the education sector including duty of care.

Des Kennedy SC will give a presentation on bullying and related issues focusing on a recent Supreme Court decision of Schmidt J in Oyston v St Patrick's College.

Margaret Baker will consider concerns and procedures relating to preparing a school for litigation.

Greg Walsh will speak on litigating school assault and abuse cases.

Linton Morris SC will address the difficult area of mediation in school related legal issues.

 

Recent Seminars/Conferences

---

UNSW School Law Update
Date: Thursday 26 May 2011, 8.30am - 1.00pm
Venue: UNSW CBD Campus, Level 6, 1 O'Connell Street, Sydney

This seminar was aimed at providing schools and their advisors with essential information for managing legal obligations, risks and liabilities. David Ford spoke about School Sport and the Law.

Click here for a copy of David Ford's paper on School Sport and the Law.

Legalwise School Law Seminar
Date: 1 June 2011, 9.00am - 1.15pm
Venue: UNSW CBD Campus, Level 6, 1 O'Connell Street, Sydney

David Ford made a presentation on School Counsellors and Confidentiality:

The duty of confidentiality and privacy
When is disclosure allowed?
Admissability
Other speakers were:

Karen Conte-Mills, Barrister, Arthur Phillip Chambers
Topic: Families, Conflict, the Court and the School: Practical Advice
Terry Manns, Senior Investigation Officer, Employment-Related Child Protection Team, NSW Ombudsman
Topic: Investigating Teacher Misconduct
Margaret Baker, Senior Legal Officer, NSW Department of Education and Training
Topic: Surviving the Litigation Process: Strategies for Schools
Neale Dawson, Director, Federation Law will chair the session.

 

2011 New South Wales State Legal Conference
Dates: Monday 28th, Tuesday 29th, Wednesday 30th and Thursday 31st March 2011
Venue: SMC Conference Centre, Cnr Goulburn & Castlereagh Streets, Sydney

David Ford chaired a session on Legal Issues in Schools on Tuesday 29th March 2011 (Session 22). The keynote presentation was given by Alex Kohn. He addressed the implications of legal action against schools, teachers and all those connected with the education system.

Mark De Carvalho spoke on: "Educational/Academic Negligence - What does it involve? What is needed for a successful suit in such an action?"

Des Kennedy spoke on the legal obligation of schools to prevent harm to their students and ways and means for schools to prevent such harm.

Robert Sutherland presented a paper: "Sexual Abuse Claims against Teachers: Tendency or Coincidence?"

The session concluded with an open forum chaired by David Ford.

 

ANZELA Twilight Seminar & AGM
Date: Tuesday, 8th March 2011 at 4.45 (AGM) 5.00 - 6.00 pm (Seminar)
Venue: The Auditorium, Bishop Barry Centre, St Andrew’s Cathedral School,
Ground Floor, 51 Druitt Street, Sydney

With Special Guest Speaker: Megan Mitchell - Commissioner for Children and Young People

Attendees heard directly from the Commissioner for Children and Young People what the future holds for the Commission in relation to schools and teachers.

2010 ANZELA Conference
Dates:  Wednesday 29 September - Friday 1st October
Venue:  NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre, 37 Reservoir Street, Surry Hills

This conference was a great opportunity for teachers, school principals and others who have an interest in education law to connect with each other and gain valuable insight into current education law issues.

David Ford, together with Andrew Knott and Professor Sally Kit, hosted a symposium on cyberbullying. The question “Is the law part of the solution to the problem of cyber bullying occurring in schooling contexts?” was discussed on Friday 1st October in the afternoon. This interactive session sparked some interesting discussions. The symposium was chaired by Professor Patrick Parkinson of the Faculty of Law at the University of Sydney. Patrick is a specialist in family law and child protection and has authored several books in this and related areas.

 

Australian Charity Law Association Annual Conference
Dates:  Friday 10th - Saturday 11th September 2010
Venue:  Novotel Brighton Beach, Sydney

This Conference was a great opportunity for anyone with an interest in charity law to network and learn about the latest legal issues faced by charities.

David Ford presented on the topic of "Tax issues of Schools, School Building funds and Public Ancillary funds - scholarship funds".

 

Legalwise School Law 2010
Date: 4 June 2010
Venue: Hilton Sydney, 488 George Street, Sydney

David Ford presented a paper on the topic of Managing the Risks in Off-Campus Activities. His talk covered issues such as:

The duty of care; a non-delegable duty;
The standard of care, foreseeability and probability;
Practical guidelines and principles and the risk management process;
Can the risks be managed? 

Click here to view David Ford's seminar paper "Managing the Risks in Off-Campus Activities".
 

ADAPE NSW/ACT Workshop
Date: 26 May 2010 at 3pm

David Ford presented a workshop on current tax implications that are relevant to school and university fundraisers, particularly relating to capital works, scholarships and bursaries. Main issues discussed were:

Maintaining your DGR funds
Building, Library and Scholarship funds
What is a gift?
Undue influence and gifts
Tax effective structures for donors

UNSW School Law Alert 2010
Date: 20 May 2010 at 8.30am - 1.00pm
Venue: Grace Hotel, 77 York Street, Sydney

David Ford presented on the topic of "Parents in Education", covering such issues as:

What if they mislead the school?
Do they have a duty of care to their children?
Can they take discipline of other children into their own hands?
Are they free to sound off about teachers?
Can they come and go as they please? 
 

Click here to view David Ford's seminar paper "Parents in Education".

 

National Centre Against Bullying Conference 2010
Navigating the Maze:  Cybersafety and wellbeing solutions for schools
Venue:  Hilton on the Park, Melbourne
Date:  8-10 April 2010

David Ford, Sally Kift and Andrew Knott presented a workshop on Cyberbullying. 

Targets of face-to-face bullying have increasingly turned to the law for redress, and it is likely that targets of cyberbullying will seek to do the same.  Generally, the law struggles to keep apace with advances in technology and cyberbullying is no diffferent.  This presentation explored the application of legal responses to cyberbullying in schools and examined how effective the law was likely to be for prevention and intervention, in its criminal, civil, and employment aspects.  It also looked at the reasonable steps a school should take to minimise the risks of students and teachers being bullied in cyberspace.  

Ways Youth Services
Youth Forum 2010 - "Cybersafety and Bullying"
Venue: WAYS at Bondi, 63a Wairoa Avenue, Bondi Beach
Date: 25th March, 2010 between 10am-11am

David Ford presented an information session on Cybersafety and Bullying. The forum was an interactive and fun exploration of the topic so that the knowledge gained was able to be applied by students in their day to day lives.
 

Association of School Business Administrators Conference 2009
5-9 October 2009
Venue: National Convention Centre, Canberra, Australia

David Ford presented the topic “Handling Future Legal & Risk Management Directions”.

ANZELA Twilight Seminar
Tuesday, 24th November 2009, 4.45-6.00pm
Venue: Sydney Grammar School

Dr Marilyn Campbell, Associate Professor of the School of Learning and Professional Studies (QLD University of Technology) presented a talk on Cyber Bullying in Schools.

ANZELA 18th Annual Conference
(Australia & New Zealand Education Law Association)
30 September - 2 October 2009
Venue: Victoria University Conference Centre, Melbourne, Victoria

Garry Pritchard and David Ford both spoke at this conference. Garry's presentation was on the topic “Business Continuity Management for Schools” and David presented on the topic “Managing the Risks in Off-Campus Activities”.

 “The theme (of the conference) focussed on the nature and types of risk involved in education generally and in particular in schools, tertiary institutions and policy. New areas such as sport, construction, employment law and ICT were included to reflect the ever changing challenges facing educators and administrators in this context.”

School Law Update 2009
Date: 25 June 2009
Venue: Grace Hotel, 77 York Street, Sydney

David Ford was one of the presenters at this School Law seminar. His topic was the Enrolment Contract and he covered:
 

• Misleading & deceptive conduct;
• Contract with whom?;
• The application form;
• Steps before making an offer;
• Disability discrimination issues;
• Terms of enrolment contract dealing with “helicopter parents” confiscation/searching student possessions, use of images;
• Interest on unpaid fees;
• Privacy issues;
• Family law issues.

Other seminar topics were:
 

• Navigating the Intellectual Property minefield;
• Effect of Wood Commission on Privacy and Employment;
• Changes to the Child Protection regime following Wood Commission;
• Bullying in schools - the limits of liability.
  

   

NSW Ombudsman Symposium 2009
Dates: 25-26 May 2009
Venue: Mercure Hotel, 818-820 George Street, Sydney?

David Ford was one of the presenters at the NSW Ombudsman Symposium in May 2009. David’s topic was Practical Issues for Investigators. He dealt with several issues that often arise in the course of investigations of allegations of reportable conduct against employees in schools. These include:

• The extent to which the formal rules of evidence should be applied - it is easy to say they do not apply but does this mean they have no application at all?
• The degree to which the investigator must be satisfied before making a finding of sustained or false - what does the burden of proof really mean?
• How to deal with allegations of incidents which are said to have happened many, many years ago? Are the recollections of witnesses reliable? Are there recovered memories? Are there sincerely held but false memories? Can such allegations ever be sustained?
• Whether and how to take into account prior allegations or findings of misconduct - are they relevant to the investigation or simply prejudicial to the person against whom the allegation has been made?
• How to distinguish negligence from neglect - when is an allegation of neglect reportable conduct?
• How exhaustive must an investigation be? Should the investigator follow up every lead? Is it appropriate to ask about the cost benefit when investigating allegations of reportable conduct?