January 2009

A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN A YEAR...

As I always say at the beginning of my update at this time of year, may I firstly wish you a Happy New Year. I hope that 2009 brings you everything that you are hoping for. 

I usually write my email updates twice a year, a New Year one in January and then one to celebrate our firm’s anniversary of its first setting up, in May or June (although last year’s went out somewhat belatedly in September!). I now have a couple of thousand people on my various email lists which allows me to communicate with them easily (but which I also only do so sparingly!)

If you have previously received my email updates during these past few years you will know roughly what they are about, but, if this is your first time, then you will find that it brings you up to date with my latest news and, in particular, about developments on our website. I do this because I know that many people like to be kept aware of what I am up to and to find out about new information that I have put on. Read on for information about Changes to SENDIST, Our Last 12 Months, Our Website, Changes To Our Website, Our New Email Course/Presentation, ‘Doing It Differently’ and My Most Exciting News!

I apologise in advance for the length of this web page but there is a lot to cram in as usual! Make sure that you read it fully so that you are aware of the new things that I am announcing.

CHANGES TO SENDIST
You may have received a couple of emails from me in October and November last year providing you with information about the Changes to SENDIST (the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal) which took effect on 3 November 2008. I have set up a separate email list for people to subscribe to get further information about the changes or to receive information about the training that I will be providing about the new rules and procedures and conducting SEN/Disability Discrimination cases under the new regime during this year. If this is of interest to you and you haven’t already subscribed please do so straight away at the Changes to SENDIST page.

OUR LAST 12 MONTHS
At the end of every year I always reflect on what we have achieved in the previous 12 months which has been my fourth in sole practice, having set up on my own with Natasha Jones and Erica Hurst on 3 May 2005. Over the years we have had a few people come and go but last July we took on Laxmi Patel who has blended effortlessly into our team within a very short space of time. 

Once again, I am thankful everyday to have the opportunity to be able to continue doing the work that I am passionate about, representing parents of children with special educational needs (SEN) and often making a real difference to their lives. If you have either instructed me, referred cases my way or have just said nice things about me during these past 3½ years, I am eternally grateful to you because this has allowed me to continue doing what I love to do.  There are not many people who can truly say that they cannot wait to get into work everyday!

I was delighted to be named again as an education law expert in the two leading legal directories recently, who have very said that I am considered to be ‘a very fine, contentious solicitor who is extremely committed to his clients’ cause’ [Legal 500] and ‘a tenacious yet sensible lawyer’ ‘whose clients fully appreciate his empathetic nature and ethical and practical advice’ [Chambers and Partners].

OUR WEBSITE
As you probably know, one thing that has always helped me stand out from the crowd is our website, due to its vast array of free information to download or email courses to subscribe to.  I gave up doing legally aided work in April 2007. I had no choice because of the reduced rates of pay; the continuing high level of administration and beaurocracy; and the long delays which I had in receiving payment from the Legal Services Commission. This meant that I could no longer practically, effectively, or financially afford to continue doing this work. 

This decision greatly saddened me, as I always prided myself on the fact that I was providing advice and representation through legal aid to people who could not afford to instruct me otherwise. As I say on our website, Special Educational Needs and/or Disability issues affect every part of our society and know no class, race, religion, age etc. However, as a result of my decision I became determined to try and help people in other ways. This led me to put as much free information as possible on the website about Education, Disability and Public law issues, particularly those concerning SEN. My website was already a popular resource to visit for parents and educational (and other) professionals as between August 2005, when I set up the website, to March 2007, just before I dropped out of legal aid,  it had already received about 54,000 unique visitors. I was very proud of that fact.

By the end of December 2008 I then found that our website had attracted more than 115,000 unique visitors. So in January 2008, realising that I may have uncovered a genuine ‘need’, I decided to update my  FREE Factsheets, produce a free guide to 'Appealing For A Special School' and designed a couple of free email courses entitled 'Everything You Wanted To Know About The Law On Special Educational Needs But Were Too Afraid To Ask' and ‘'How to Conduct a SENDIST Appeal', as well as updating the website generally with lots of other free information on Types of SEN/Disability  and SEN/Education Info which also provided links to other websites which could provide Further Information. I also updated our Useful Resources pages and provided links to video and audio documentaries and news reports about SEN which were currently available on the internet on our Video/Audio About SEN page. I have understandably been amazed to discover at the end of last year, that during 2008, our website had actually received over 125,000 visitors within that year alone and served up over 290,000 web pages to people!   That means we have had over 240,000 unique visitors to our website and have served up over 517,000 pages since we first launched our website!!

I believe that, apart from the fact that I have chosen to give away so much information for free, people visit the website and then sometimes choose to instruct me, because they know that I am sincere in my wish to try and help children with SEN get the right provision or school placement. I also provide clear and detailed information About Us, What We Do, What We Don't Do, and Why We Do What We Do  so that someone will be able to find out quickly if we can help them (see Can We Help You?). In addition, I hope that they also value my honesty and integrity which also applies to the way that I am completely transparent and fair about Our Costs which I openly set out in detail on our website. In fact, I actively encourage people to read this information even before contacting us to see if we can help them.

CHANGES TO OUR WEBSITE
Before I wrote this, I read my previous updates during the previous few years and was tickled by the fact that I have constantly been trying new ideas and making changes to the website from time to time. I have a lot of ideas, but I am the first to admit that they are not always good ones that work (although they seem good at the time!) Therefore, I have quietly phased some of these ideas out over time.

However, you may be aware that I have had a number of domain names that we have used to link to our website. After three and as half years of playing around it is clear to me that the most popular one has always been www.SpecialEducationalNeeds.co.uk. It is now my intention to use this as our main address although I am not changing the site design in any way. I am actually quite proud of the fact that it has retained the same format for so long with a very simplistic design and that it focuses on the quality of the content without having to resort to fancy animations or even pictures to try and entice people to visit. If you have not looked at our website for some time you may be amazed to see just how information is actually on there now.  Even I find information on it that I had forgotten was there! As I have created and update the website myself with the assistance of students who have been doing work experience with me, I have constantly had to add to it to keep up with the demand. 

I spiced it up a little a year ago by putting on a talking ‘avatar’ to welcome people to the home page on the website and to try and make the user experience more helpful.   However, I have come to realise that, although she does not play afresh every time someone visits us (if they have previously visited in the last month) it is about time to gently retire her and replace her with a new face. If you go to our ‘'Welcome'  page (after you have read the rest of this page of course!) you will see who I have replaced her with.

In addition, I have slightly revised the ‘'Welcome'  page by making it easier to download or subscribe to information immediately, rather than having to navigate through other pages. I realise that sometimes people need information quickly. I have chosen not to update my email course on ‘'How to Conduct a SENDIST Appeal' for the time being as I have had no time since the changes to SENDIST (now the ‘SEND Tribunal’) on 3 November 2008. However, since cases lodged before this date will still follow the existing rules I am going to leave the email course available until 31 July 2009, by which time all appeals under the 'old' regime should have been heard and determined. I also hope to provide training about the new SEND Tribunal regime early in 2009.

OUR NEW EMAIL COURSE/PRESENTATION
But one of the most popular things that I have ever offered has been my free 7 day email course entitled  'Everything You Wanted To Know About The Law On Special Educational Needs But Were Too Afraid To Ask'.  This course has been running now for just over a year and I am delighted, during this time, to have received so many emails from people thanking me for the information that I have provided.  I also give a number of personal presentations using the same title, from time to time, to organisations who have kindly invited me to speak to them, with PowerPoint slides.

I have now decided to combine these idea and have therefore produced an on-line presentation based on the original email course which I am really excited about, particularly as I have again tried to do something different by using technology The presentation has been split up into seven days again and each part lasts around 10-15 minutes. There is also a ‘bonus’ on the eighth day for people who have completed the course. I have put in a lot of time into preparing this presentation but, although it has been made clear to me by many people that they would be willing to pay to watch it, I have taken the decision to give it away for free in the same way that I was offering the 7 day email course previously. 

I know that this may probably sound crazy to you but, I hope that you will at least agree with me that the reason for the success of our firm has been my willingness to give away a lot of information for free, that others would usually charge for. I genuinely want to try and help as many children with SEN as possible get the right special educational provision or placement to meet their needs.  I believe that the best way to achieve this is to try and educate people as much as possible about the SEN legal framework. I believe that this is another step in the right direction. 

So, even if you think you already know everything about the law on SEN, I am sure that you will find something in the presentation of interest to you.  You can sign up for yourself by going to 'Everything You Wanted To Know About The Law On Special Educational Needs But Were Too Afraid To Ask'. 

‘DOING IT DIFFERENTLY’
And talking about trying to do things differently, I was also delighted a few months ago to be approached by the Alumni Association for London South Bank University, where I obtained my law degree in the early 1990s, who asked to write an article about me for their autumn 2008 issue.  I was taken by the fact that they entitled it ‘Doing it Differently’ and, as it is such a nice article, I have reproduced it on our website so that people can read it if they want to. 

Although these days I usually shy away from cameras wherever possible (and I know that I have said that I do not usually put pictures on my website) I have made an exception in this case, as I was flattered to see the photograph that they took of me outside the Royal Courts of Justice.  If you want to see the photo for yourself, there is a link at the end of the article.

MY MOST EXCITING NEWS!
But I have chosen to leave my most exciting news to last. I am thrilled to inform you thatI have recently been formally appointed as Honorary Legal Advisor to IPSEA (the Independent Panel for Special Educational Advice).  You can find out more about IPSEA on their website www.ipsea.org.uk. 

IPSEA has, for many years, been at the forefront of providing free and independent legal advice and support to parents of children with special needs facing problems with their education or disability discrimination at school by providing advice, support and representation, where needed, in appeals to the Special Educational Needs & Disability Tribunal.  In addition they have also played a big part in campaigning for improvements in help given to children with SEN by schools and central and local government.  I have worked closely alongside IPSEA for almost as long as I have been a solicitor and have always admired what they stand for. I am delighted to be even more closely associated with IPSEA and I look forward to being able to use my role Honorary Legal Advisor to help even more children with SEN get the right special educational needs provision or placement. 

Many thanks for taking the time to read this email/webpage and, please again, accept my very best personal wishes to you and yours for 2009. 

With my very best wishes, as always.

Douglas

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