Led by Tom
For years, Tom has run SEND tribunal appeals for local authorities: building their evidence, drafting their responses, negotiating their working documents and advocating for them at hearing. That work taught us the thing parents most need to know: how the council's case is actually put together, which parts of it are solid, and which parts fall apart under a properly built challenge.
SEND Advocates exists to put that knowledge on your side of the table. We are a small specialist practice. We only do SEND. Your case is prepared and argued by the advocate you meet on the first call, not passed down a chain.
We are advocates, not solicitors
We say this plainly because most firms in this market don't. We are not regulated by the SRA and we do not provide reserved legal activities. What we do is the thing SEND appeals actually turn on: evidence, the working document, and advocacy before a tribunal where no side needs a lawyer. It is also why our prices sit well below what a law firm typically charges for the same appeal. If your case ever needs a solicitor or counsel, we will tell you, and we work alongside them when it does.
What being unregulated means for you
Because we are not SRA-regulated, some protections that come with instructing a solicitor do not apply here. There is no Legal Ombudsman to refer a complaint to, no SRA compensation fund, and no client account protection of the kind a solicitor's firm must provide.
In its place, we run a published complaints procedure, and we deal with any complaint ourselves, in writing, with a clear process and a named outcome. If a complaint cannot be resolved between us, your options are the ones open to any consumer dispute: the small claims court, or the general routes set out in our complaints procedure.
Read the complaints procedureOur standards
A published complaints procedure. Replies within one working day. Fees agreed in writing before each stage, billed at milestones, with unreached stages never charged. If we don't think your appeal should be fought, we will say so at the free call and it will cost you nothing.