Shoosmiths LLP

Testimonials

Collated independently by Legal 500 research team.

• ‘I found Gurvinder Samra passionate and extremely knowledgeable around special educational needs and disability (SEND). After years of wrangling with my local authority, causing a lot of anxiety and stress, I felt confident enough to hand it all over to her to handle, and I felt as if I was in very capable hands.’

• ‘Invaluable for parents who are going through an emotional time. Expertise and clear, decisive advice make such a difference, and Shoosmiths definitely excelled in these areas.’

• ‘Gurvinder Samra's knowledge, expertise and kindness really helped us develop a strategy that eventually secured an EHC plan that included appropriate provisions for our daughter. She always had time for us, and her understanding of some of the more complex areas of special educational needs (SEN) law was second to none.’

• ‘The team are very practical, pragmatic and logical in an area that is often fraught with emotions. Their ability to keep things stable and steady as you navigate the process is a key strength, as it allows for clarity and focus when that is often difficult to achieve without them.’

• ‘Gurvinder Samra is excellent. She demystifies the truly astonishing bureaucracy inherent in this area and provides a sense of realistic reassurance throughout the process. She becomes a trusted advisor in a very short space of time.’

• ‘Gurvinder Samra is very knowledgeable and makes the families feel that they have someone in whom they can trust to fight their corner. She acts in a timely manner and leaves no stone unturned.’

• ‘An extremely competent, responsive and hardworking team. Through a combination of knowledge, experience, commitment and skill, they get excellent results for clients.’

• ‘Gurvinder Samra is one of the leading SEN lawyers in the country. She is rightfully one of the most sought after solicitors for parents in relation to SEN issues. She is knowledgeable, tenacious and clear in her advice.’

Work highlights

Lawyers

Leading individuals

Gurvinder Samra

Shoosmiths LLP

Guv is a solicitor specialising in assisting parents of children and young people with special educational needs (SEN). She has been working within SEN law since 2014. Her team secures the provision of services to be funded by local authorities for children and young adults with additional needs by way of EHC plans. Guv assesses EHC plans and advises on their contents to ensure they are fit for purpose. If there are deficiencies within the plans, Guv can assist in challenging local authority decisions by way of mediation or SEND tribunal appeal. The types of services that Guv is able to secure for the children and young people that she represents include therapies such as physiotherapy, 1:1 teaching assistance and specialist placements. Guv has regularly secured independent specialist placements worth over £70,000 a year at the local authorities' expense by way of SEND appeal and through pre appeal negotiations. Guv conducts seminars informing parents of their legal rights in respect of EHC plans and how they can enforce them. She has links to local charities whom she regularly visits to assist parents of children with SEN. Guv regularly works with personal injury and clinical negligence solicitors, court of protection deputies and case managers, where, she is instructed on SEND appeals and pre appeal work achieving favourable outcomes within agreed fee budgets. Testimonial We entered into a tribunal against our local authority over an educational provision for our disabled son. We quickly realised that we needed legal representation. We had watched an online workshop hosted by Gurvinder Samra of Shoosmiths LLP and so enlisted her services. Gurvinder dealt with and arranged everything, Tribunal paperwork, expert witnesses, counsel and took charge of the case while maintaining an eye on the mounting fees keeping them at a reasonable level. We ultimately won the case, a result that without Gurvinder's input would have had a different outcome. N & H Tarratt