SEN Legal

SEN Legal has been operating for over 20 years as a national and highly specialised legal practice with an excellent reputation. We specialise in education law, in particular Special Educational Needs and Disability for children and young persons aged 0-25. Our services are offered throughout England and Wales so it does not matter where you are based. We remain one of the most successful practices in this area of law and are extremely proud of our constant success rate of over 90% for the last decade. We do not perform any other type of law (property, wills, etc) so you can be reassured all of our Solicitors are expert in what they do. Many of our team also have personal experience of SEN and Disability so can understand your difficulties on a personal and professional level. SEN Legal was in fact set up by our Founder, Melinda Nettleton after struggling to obtain support for her own son who has special educational needs, 20 years ago. We run approximately 200 Appeals to the SEND Tribunal every year. These vary from Refusal to Assess appeals, to obtaining ABA provision in a mainstream school, to obtaining very expensive independent specialist placements. We act on behalf of parents, grandparents, guardians, carers and the young person against Local Authorities (LA) and occasionally Universities and Independent Schools to resolve whatever problem you have, big or small. Perhaps your Local Authority are not providing the provision in your child's EHC Plan, or they have failed to stick to the legal timeframe when issuing an EHC Plan, SEN Legal can easily resolve this for you via Judicial Review. Judicial Review is a useful way of making Local Authorities including Social Services, do what they are supposed to do. This could save months of negotiation with your LA. In addition to all types of SEND Tribunal Appeals, we also run Disability Discrimination Claims under the Equality Act 2010, including the recovery of independent school/tuition fees under Section 13 of the Supply of Goods and Services Act 1982. We also assist parents, grandparents, guardians and carers in cases involving Social Care, including Direct Payments, Respite or Care Proceedings. For young persons approaching, or adults over 18, SEN Legal can also help you to obtain Deputyship Orders for both Property and Finance & Health and Personal Welfare. Deputyship is applied for in the Court of Protection where a young person lacks or has lost capacity (for example through illness). For those who do have capacity, we can assist with helping you to obtain a Power of Attorney for both Property and Finance & Health and Personal Welfare to safeguard your future.

SEN Legal is based in Bury St Edmunds, which is our administrative hub. We are one of the largest, possibly even the largest specialist practices in this field. We are a nationwide practice and we are able to take instructions from clients based anywhere in England and Wales. Our clients live as far apart as Devon and Cornwall, Kent and the Scottish borders although the majority of our clients are in London and the south and we have access to meeting rooms in London for face to face meetings.

Practice Areas	No. of Attorneys
Government and Government Relations	1
Health Care	1
Litigation	3