Paul Barber is the Director of the Catholic Education Service (CES) for England and Wales, a role he has held since 2013. After reading law at Jesus College, Cambridge, he was called to the Bar in 1992. Paul is a canon lawyer and sits as an appellate judge of the Southwark Metropolitan Tribunal. He has taught law at institutions such as Sussex University, King’s College London and KU Leuven.
In his role at CES, Paul is deeply involved in national educational policy and legislation. He previously served as Director of Education for the Diocese of Westminster for over a decade. He is a Fellow and founding Council Member of the Chartered College of Teaching, and a Vice- President and Past president of the International Office of Catholic Education (OIEC).
Paul sits on the Legal Affairs Commission of COMECE (Episcopal Conferences of the EU) and the Legal Advisers’ Group of CCEE (Episcopal Conferences of Europe). In addition to these roles, Paul a member of the Editorial Board of the Christian Law Review “Law and Justice”. His academic interests include education law, comparative canon law, and legal history, most recently contributing a chapter to the newly published book The Legal History of the Church of England: from the Reformation to the Present.