Stephen Hocking

Stephen’s particular interests are higher education funding and regulation and all aspects of special educational needs and disabilities provision, for institutions and providers and for students, pupils and parents.

Recent experience includes:

• Advice relating to the assessment of research or teaching outputs Advising on closure of education providers
• Advice on the regulation of higher education providers
• Charity law advice in the higher education sector
• Conduct of special schools, admissions, tribunal litigation, and the governance or sale or transfer of special school activities
• Acting in connection with the IICSA

Stephen is a university governor, and he has in the past been a school governor

Stephen advises on equality and human rights issues for public sector service providers, professional bodies and individuals, in both judicial review claims and actions for financial compensation. His most recent work has focused on claims arising out of the impact of coronoavirus restrictions on people with disabilities.

Stephen’s healthcare practice is principally for commissioners, providers and regulatory bodies, and has covered issues ranging from an individual funding request for one patient to the restructuring of hundreds of millions of pounds of NHS expenditure. He is particularly at home in cases with a complex scientific or technical content.

Recent experience includes:

• the conduct of health technology appraisals, appeals, and regulation and pricing of medical technologies
• approval and conduct of clinical trials, post trial data collection and exploitation, and patient issues connected with clinical trials and novel treatments
• disputes around patient treatment, particularly with regard to access to new or novel treatments such as cannabis based medicines,
• procurement challenges in the NHS

Stephen brings and defends professional misconduct cases for accountants, teachers, and medical professionals.

Stephen acts for defendants and claimants bringing and defending judicial review challenges in the Administrative Court and Upper Tribunal, and advising on the exercise of public powers.  His recent work has included disputes over the provision or funding of and charging for adult and child social care provision, age assessment challenges,  human rights challenges, disputes relating to the provision of healthcare or education, judicial reviews relating to special educational needs provision,  and provision of cultural facilities.