SEN Legal

Education

Senior Solicitor

My name is Nicole Lee and I am Head of Legal at SEN Legal, based in both Bury St Edmunds and North Wales. For three consecutive years, I have had the privilege of being named as a Rising Star in the Legal 500.

I joined the SEN Legal team in January 2015 as a Trainee Solicitor and have since returned to Wales to better support parents navigating the Welsh special educational needs system. I also spend time each month in our Bury St Edmunds office.

Within the practice, I am responsible for the effective training and management of the whole legal team across all of SEN Legal’s offices. I am also responsible for investigating complaints.

Alongside representing parents in complex SEND Tribunal Appeals, I am the lead practitioner within SEN Legal with respect of Social Care and will very often act in matters which have a complicated social care element, including where there are child protection concerns. I have good success in taking the heat out of difficult situations, and clearly asserting the roles and responsibilities of education and social care, where these have become blurred.

I am also the lead practitioner in respect of cases in the Education Tribunal for Wales. 

Prior to joining SEN Legal, I worked for five and a half years as a Support Worker for adults aged 18-60 with learning difficulties, mental health issues and challenging behavioural difficulties, alongside completing my LLB (Hons) and Legal Practice Course at Aberystwyth University. My time directly supporting young people and adults with learning difficulties has given me a hands-on understanding of the difficulties that families face within the interlinking adult social care and education systems, giving me a unique insight into how best to bring the regimes together, in the best interests of the young person.

I have excellent interpersonal skills and have been commended for the understanding and supportive way in which I assist my clients through what is an undeniably stressful process. In the 2024 Legal 500, I am recorded as “'Professional and compassionate' senior solicitor Nicole Lee in Cambridge is also recommended for her 'patient, kind and understanding' approach to cases and clients”. My years of working within special educational needs have made obtaining the right provision, and allowing children to receive the best possible outcomes, something extremely personal to me.

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