Douglas Silas Solicitors > London, England > Firm Profile
Douglas Silas Solicitors Offices
GABLE HOUSE
239 REGENTS PARK ROAD, FINCHLEY
LONDON
N3 3LF
England
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Douglas Silas Solicitors > The Legal 500 Rankings
Public sector > Education: individuals Tier 1
Specialising exclusively on cases involving special educational needs, Douglas Silas Solicitors represent parents of children and young people, going ‘above and beyond’ with their ‘care and compassion for every individual case’. The practice is led by the hugely experienced Douglas Silas
, who frequently assists in disputes with local authorities regarding EHCP, EHC needs assessments and represents clients in SEN and disability tribunal appeals.
Practice head(s):
Douglas Silas
Testimonials
‘Their care and compassion for every individual case from everyone is above and beyond.’
‘Deals solely with EHCP tribunal. This is a small dedicated team, who are very experienced and knowledgeable about this subject. ’
‘Individuals in the team are incredibly empathetic and understanding. Passionate.’
‘Douglas’ specialism and express clear from the outset. Being a person with additional physical needs himself, it was clear that he bought his personal experiences and insights to the case, but with it very much being about our child and his needs.’
‘Douglas and his team are simply fantastic, they supported us to fight for the correct school placement for our child with SEN and ensured he had a robust ECHP. They are professional, great communicators and give excellent advice. They are efficient and lovely to deal with. Throughout, Douglas Silas, Samantha Hill (personal assistant) and Adam Long (SEN specialist) always made time to explain the options and hear any concerns. We wouldn’t hesitate to work with them again and are forever grateful for their dedication and perseverance.’
‘Douglas is an inspiration. He seamlessly blends his professional legal talents with unwavering empathy, decency and generosity. We felt in extremely capable hands and trusted his advice throughout. We were delighted with the result. Adam Long (SEN specialist) and Samantha Hill (personal assistant) are key members of his team and we have the greatest respect for them too. This is personal service and it felt like we were a strong team.’
‘Specialist experience in this sector, which can be very difficult and emotional to navigate, due to the fact that the issues being dealt with are mainly based around the well-being of children and children’s education. A firm like Douglas Silas can help support in multiple ways.’
‘Douglas Silas himself has special needs. He is able to relate to problems being encountered. His practice is therefore very capable and is backed by first hand experiences. He is actually quite a motivational personality, having achieved impactful work, despite the clear health and mobility challenges he faces on a day to day basis. His team are superbly supportive, both Samantha Hill (personal assistant) and Adam Long (SEN specialist) are attentive and helpful.’
Work highlights
Douglas Silas Solicitors > Firm Profile
Douglas Silas Solicitors (DSS) is a small, niche, but nationally acclaimed and renowned firm of solicitors run by Douglas Silas.
Douglas specialises exclusively in advising and representing parents of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) and has done so successfully now for many years.
WHO WE ARE
Douglas has successfully represented thousands of parents of children with SEN and has helped them get the right provision or school for their child, even where they thought that there was no hope left. Douglas (who is himself physically disabled and uses a wheelchair to get around) has, over many years, become the foremost solicitor/firm in the country in the field of SEN.
Douglas/our firm have also won numerous awards over many years, including: ‘SEN Law Firm Of The Year’, ‘Education Law Firm/Lawyer of the Year’, ‘Outstanding Achievement’ & ‘Niche Law Firm of the Year’ and he has also been shortlisted twice by the Law Society for its prestigious ‘Solicitor of the Year (Private Practice)’ award.
WHAT WE DO
We help parents of children and young people with Special Educational Needs (SEN) who are in dispute with their Local Authority (LA) to get a good Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) for them. We advise them indirectly (i.e. helping them do things themselves), or we represent them directly (i.e. do everything for them)– from helping them seek an assessment, right up to representing them in an appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.
Parents choose us to help them (usually after personal recommendations) as they know that we have considerable experience of SEN; a nationally acclaimed reputation and an extremely high track record of settling or winning cases. We also work closely with parents, experts and schools during a case, as we have learnt from extensive experience that cases are usually won by presenting good evidence and having the best ‘team’ behind you.
Parents also choose us to help them as they know that we provide honest, independent, objective and the best specialist advice and support that they can get. They also know that, as a small and niche specialist practice, we provide a very high level of personal service and will only help parents where we genuinely believe that we can provide real and added value. In this way, they always know in themselves that they have done the best that they can for their child.
HOW WE HELP
We usually help where parents are trying to get an EHC Plan in the first place, or where they need our help to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal because:
- They want to request their Local Authority (LA) to conduct an EHC Needs Assessment (we can draft a detailed letter for them to send to their LA requesting one);
- Their LA has issued a draft EHCP, but they need help responding to it (we can draft a detailed letter for them to send in reply to the LA);
- Their LA has refused to conduct an Assessment, has refused to make an EHCP following an Assessment, or has issued a final EHCP but has not put sufficient support in it and/or is not agreeing to name their preferred school (we can help them to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal).
However, aside from this, we also help parents with the following other situations:
- Where they want to obtain ‘expert’ advice from independent professionals like an Educational Psychologist (EP), Speech & Language Therapist (SaLT), Occupational Therapist (OT), Physiotherapist (PT), or other education/health/care professional, but are not sure who to approach or what to ask them to do;
- Where the LA has said that they are going to cease to maintain their child’s EHC plan, but they disagree.
Main Contacts
| Department | Name | Telephone | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Douglas Silas | [email protected] | 020-8349-7700 |
Lawyer Profiles
| Photo | Name | Position | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Douglas Silas | Director | View Profile |
Staff Figures
Number of UK partners : 1 Number of other UK fee-earners : 1- Public sector > Education: individuals