Joanna Howard

Experience

I’m a solicitor in our Public and Regulatory Law team. I advise on legal and regulatory obligations, policies and procedures and legal challenges. I work with public bodies, regulators, charities and private sector bodies in a variety of sectors.

I have a particular interest in safeguarding, education (including the regulation of qualifications and issues arising in schools), equalities and health and social care. My safeguarding practice includes advising clients on policies and procedures, handling of serious historic and recent incidents in the UK and overseas and reporting to the relevant authorities and regulators.

I advise on the powers and duties of public bodies, and questions on statutory interpretation. I have advised claimants seeking to challenge the decision of public authorities, including by judicial review, as well as a public body who was defending a challenge to its decision in the First Tier Tribunal.

My work includes advising on public inquiries, inquests and professional discipline. I have also advised on a range of information law queries, particularly data protection and preparations for GDPR, as well as confidentiality and privacy.

I was seconded for three months to a public body to advise on data protection issues and its relationship and operational activities with other public bodies.

I have a background in education and charity law matters having previously worked for three years with Bates Wells’ education and charity teams.

I advised a governing body on successfully challenging a decision taken by a local authority through pre-action correspondence.

The authority withdrew its decision before we needed to commence proceedings. If left unchallenged, the decision would have significantly impacted our client’s day-to-day work and its relationship with its members.
I advised a charity on how to respond to a serious safeguarding incident and its subsequent reporting obligations, including filing a serious incident report with the Charity Commission.

Our work included advising on crisis management more broadly including obtaining specialist communications advice.
During a secondment to a public body, I advised on and drafted a range of operational policies and procedures together with their interaction with statutory duties.

During this three month secondment I worked from the client’s offices as well as travelling around the country to understand how it operated in practice.

Advising on CQC registration and regulation
Acting for a charity in relation to an inquest
Providing advice to clients on safeguarding
Reviewing policies and procedures for charities and not-for-profit organisations
Advice to education bodies on regulation
Providing advice to clients on the Equality Act 2010
Defending a statutory appeal brought against our client’s decision in the First Tier Tribunal
Advising a membership organisation on complex confidentiality matters
Assisting with advice to a social care company on a potential public law challenge
Assisted with advice to a regulator on its statutory obligations
Advising a trade association on competition law matters
Assisting with advice on complex issues relating to a membership organisation’s code of conduct
Advice on a range of data protection queries for household name organisations