'Doing It Differently'

This is the full text of an article published in 'Connected' in September 2008, a magazine issued for the Alumni of LSBU (London South Bank University).

"LSBU law graduate Douglas Silas tells Connected why he’d rather be making a difference than making a fortune in the City

As head of his own firm, Douglas Silas has carved out an impressive niche and established a reputation as the legal authority for cases involving special educational needs and disability discrimination. ‘What drives me is the desire to challenge injustice,’ he says, ‘and to try to secure a fair deal for all our clients. Of course, I could have gone into the City, but I wanted to do something that would make a real positive difference to people’s lives.’

As a mature student at LSBU, Douglas has first-hand experience of the power of education to change the course of a life. ‘I was hopeless at school’, he admits. ‘I left at 17, and spent the next few years following my dream of being a professional musician.’ Then, during a quiet spell, he decided to learn a new skill and enrolled in sign language classes.

‘Pretty soon I was fairly heavily involved in the deaf community,’ he says.  ‘Then I was asked to help out in a case where a deaf person had been prevented from serving as a juror. I enjoyed helping, but I could also see that there was a gap in the market for that kind of specialist legal representation. So I decided to apply to university and study for a law degree.’

Initially, Douglas’s lack of academic experience counted against him. ‘They all rejected me!’ he says. ‘Someone suggested I did an Access course, but having made my mind up, I just wanted to get on with it. I decided on LSBU, because of its diverse student profile and the practical nature of the course. I waited until ‘clearing’ started in August 1991 then came to the University in person. I bumped into the head of the law faculty and told him my story. He offered me a place on the spot.’

With its strong focus on practice as well as theory, the course was designed to equip students for the workplace. It also gave Douglas the opportunity to pursue his interest in disability discrimination. After completing the Legal Practice Course at the College of Law, fittingly, his first job and training contract, with Levenes solicitors in September 1999, involved joining the first Education and Disability department in the country. After qualifying and building up a reputation in his own name, (including being named The Times’ ‘Lawyer of the Week’ at the end of 1999,) in January 2002 he moved to medical negligence specialists Alexander Harris, where he established and ran a successful Education and Public law department.

From there, the decision to go it alone was, in Douglas’s words, ‘a natural progression’, and Douglas Silas Solicitors opened its doors officially in May 2005. Today, the firm is a thriving practice with a busy caseload predominantly made up of special educational needs cases. ‘We’ve used technology to help us keep the firm small and personal,’ Douglas explains. ‘From the start, we were determined to do things differently and I’d like to think we’ve stayed true to our word.’

That desire to be different manifests itself in a number of ways, including a completely transparent pricing policy and the provision of a vast range of free information about special educational needs and education law via the firm’s website at www.specialeducationalneeds.co.uk ‘No one who comes to us needs to feel that they are jumping into a black hole with their chequebook,’ says Douglas. ‘But there are always going to be people who cannot afford to instruct a solicitor. We have therefore made the website a genuinely useful resource.’

That willingness to ‘give away’ what most other firms would regard as valuable intellectual property underlines the unique nature of Douglas’s approach. ‘This is not just about paying the mortgage,’ he says. ‘It’s a vocation. I believe that everyone deserves access to good legal advice, whatever their means. I also believe that everyone should have access to a good education and that, ultimately, is what our work is all about."

Written by Louise Bell

Click here to view the photograph on which the article was superimposed.