Guy Darvill - Team Lead and Senior Solicitor for Education
Guy joined Warwickshire County Council in 2016 after working for a number of years at Staffordshire County Council, having initially qualified in private practice. He has built up extensive experience in all aspects of education law, advising on special educational needs, school transport, admission and exclusion issues, and general educational duties. His work in this field also includes representing at the Special Educational Needs Tribunal and clerking Independent Exclusion Review Panels, admission appeals and Home-to-School Transport Reviews, as well as training panel members and council officers. He also has experience in ombudsman matters, bringing and responding to Upper Tribunal appeals, and defending judicial review proceedings.
Guy has worked for schools on a wide range of issues, advising on areas including family proceedings, social media usage, contract disputes, defamation actions, complaints, and many other matters. He also has considerable knowledge on local government law and processes through his involvement as a designated lawyer, working on transformation projects concerning libraries, youth services, children’s centres, and non-statutory adult social care provision.
Email: guydarvill@warwickshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01926 476973
Sophie Scullion - Team Lead for School DPO
Sophie joined Warwickshire Legal Services in 2018, having previously worked at a private law practice, and Coventry City Council as a Business Manager. With a background in customer service, business administration and the performing arts, Sophie specialises in data protection, information governance and working with schools and trusts.
Sophie leads the School Data Protection Officer (DPO) team, working with over 300 schools, and is extremely passionate about the School DPO Service - always on a mission to make sure the services we offer are the best they possibly can be!
We are always open to any feedback that schools might have for us, so please drop Sophie a line if you have any comments.
Email: sophiescullion@warwickshire.gov.uk
Telephone: 01926 476973
Education Team
The Education Team consists of multiple solicitors, senior legal assistants and paralegals, and provides legal support for Warwickshire County Council’s in-house Education Services as well as hundreds of schools and trusts. Our clients are located in Warwickshire and further afield around the country, including in external local authorities. With decades of experience between them in education and school-based law, the Education Team specialise in many areas including:
- Pupil related matters
- Parental disputes
- Anti-social behaviour
- SEN appeals and tribunals
- School absence prosecutions
- IRP’s
- School transport appeals
- Governance and policies
School Data Protection Officer Team
Our School Data Protection Officer (DPO) Team consists of six staff members who work with over 300 schools and trusts. The team delivers the School DPO subscription service that we offer to schools around the country, which covers:
- Audits and compliance checks
- Data breach advice
- ICO complaint handling
- Data subjects’ complaints (stage before ICO involvement)
- Template policies and procedures
- Bulletins (including advice notes)
- Access to our School DPO Handbook
- Training – live events, on demand, and access to eLearning
Follow the School Data Protection Officer Team on X (previously Twitter)
Offers to schools
With a dedicated team of education specialists, and a wider team with decades of experience in all areas of law, Warwickshire Legal Services offers both subscription and buy-as-you-go Legal and Data Protection Officer services to schools and trusts, and at very competitive rates.
Our services for schools are designed to remove the stress of complex legal cases, offer immediate guidance and reassurance via our hotline services, and deliver a fast response for peace of mind in emergencies. Routine or complex: our customers know they can call us for specialist advice and support to meet the legal challenges of the education sector.
You can find out more details about our offers on the Warwickshire Education Services (WES) website.
To contact the Legal team, email schoolenquiries@warwickshire.gov.uk or telephone 01926 412361.
To contact the School DPO team, email schooldpo@warwickshire.gov.uk or telephone 01926 412859.