December 2005

As we are fast approaching the end of 2005 I thought that it would be a good time to reflect on the past year, which personally for me has been a very important one.

As you may know, until Friday 15 April 2005, I had been for a number of years the head of a very successful Education & Public Law department at a large healthcare firm, Alexander Harris Solicitors. I left there that day with my secretary/personal assistant, Natasha Jones, in order to set up in sole practice so that I could specialise exclusively in Education, Disability & Public Law.

We left Alexander Harris on a 'high' having successfully won or settled the last 45 out of 50 cases. They and the Legal Services Commission also kindly let us take the Education Contract with us to our new firm to allow us to continue doing this type of work.

My decision to set up on my own was not only for personal ambition, family and business reasons but also because I genuinely believed that by working as a smaller firm and doing the cases that I am truly passionate about (i.e. those concerning Special Educational Needs or Disability Discrimination) it would allow me to provide a much more effective and personal service to new and existing clients.

So on Monday 18 April 2005 we walked into an empty office on the 6th floor of Central House in Finchley, a short walk from my home and, after a frantic couple of weeks setting up the IT, arranging for the transfer of client's files from our previous firm and drafting and implementing a whole new set of office policies and procedures, Douglas Silas Solicitors went 'live' on Tuesday 3 May 2005.

I am delighted now to be able to report that in just seven and a half months, out of the 38 new cases that we have taken on, 22 of them have already had some sort of resolution.

Out of these 22 cases we have successfully won or settled 19, partly won 2 (i.e. getting more for our client but not everything they had wanted) and have only lost 1 (although that may still be the subject of an appeal).

Out of these 22, 11 have been SENDIST appeals, 8 have been potential or actual Judicial Reviews, 2 have been statutory appeals and 1 has involved SEN issues.

But although I may have my name on the letterhead I am sure you realise that I would not have enjoyed this success without the tireless hard-work and dedication of my team, not only my 'right-hand' Natasha but also Erica Hurst, who manages our office, speaks to new clients and who generally takes a lot of the administrative strain away from us.

I want to also thank my recent or current clients for their instructions to me this year which has helped me get started, and for also allowing me the privilege of being able to continue doing what I love doing and by doing that being able to help them.

I feel that it is only right to share my good news with those people without whom I would not be here!

I also need to tell you that we will be closing our offices this Friday 23 December 2005 at 3.30pm and not re-opening until Tuesday 3 January 2006 at 9.30am.

If I do not get the chance to speak with you before then may I now extend my season's greetings to you and your family and my wishes for a happy and peaceful new year in 2006.

Kindest regards

Douglas

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