LAWYER IN THE NEWS

Who? David Evans, 40-year-old in-house counsel at the National Union of Teachers (NUT).Why is he in the news? Represented Marjorie Evans, the south...Who? David Evans, 40-year-old in-house counsel at the National Union of Teachers (NUT).Why is he in the news? Represented Marjorie Evans, the south Wales headteacher cleared last week by a disciplinary tribunal of slapping a 10-year-old pupil in her care.

Ms Evans was cleared six months ago on appeal of all criminal charges relating to the alleged attack, but the schools board of governors decided to hold a disciplinary hearing, which concluded last week after a mammoth 19-hour overnight hearing involving 22 witnesses.

Background: Completed his law degree at North East London Polytechnic (now University of Essex) from 1982 to 1985, followed by Law Society finals at Manchester Polytechnic (now Brunel University) in 1986.

He qualified with Manchester firm Philip Conn & Co in 1989, before moving to Pontypridd in the same year where he worked at Keith Thomas & Partners until 1991, he then moved to Cardiff to do a stint at Freed Kemp from 1991 to 1996.

After becoming a partner there, he joined to Swansea firm Graham Evans & Partners in 1996 before joining the NUT as in-house counsel in January last year.Route to the case: The original criminal proceedings against Marjorie commenced before I joined the NUT, but Ive been involved with this employment disciplinary hearing from the start.Thoughts on the case: This case is very far from being over Marjorie is still considering whether to sue the education authority for compensation, as she has been subject to undue pressure and strain over the last six months, even after she was cleared by a criminal court.

Questions still need to be asked as to why the disciplinary investigation took so long, and the initial police investigation also needs to be looked at.

Her first priority is to get back to teaching, which she did last Wednesday.Dealing with the media: Not having had that much past media experience, Ive just tended to deal with each situation as it has arisen.

The NUTs media relations officer helped me a great deal, and Ive certainly learnt a huge amount through dealing with this case.Victoria MacCallum