About Melinda

I offer solutions to both parent carers and professionals. This is based on my own experience of the SEN system as a mother getting the right help for my own son, and thirty years of subsequent experience as a solicitor handling SEN cases.

Melinda Nettleton with her husband, specialist Barrister John Friel.

A guiding hand

My main goal has always been to offer a guiding hand to parents. I know first hand how incredibly confusing, hostile, exhausting and overwhelming the SEN system can feel when you are just trying to get the right support for your child. My absolute priority is to help you navigate that struggle, so please do not worry.

What I care about most is ensuring that children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities receive the education and support they are legally entitled to, and can live a life full of joy, purpose and endless possibilities.

I want to make sure that you get the very best results from our time together. I take on only a small number of cases a year, so that each one gets the attention it deserves. All work is normally undertaken online.

Career profile

I qualified as a solicitor in 1980. I initially worked for local authorities and later served as a Senior Crown Prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service. After navigating the complex and challenging legal minefield of securing special education for my own son, I established my own firm to guide and advocate for other parents facing similar struggles. Over the following decades that firm won many leading cases and most appeals, securing local authority funded placements at special schools, therapies and specialist teaching.

In 2021 I was featured as The Times “Lawyer of the Week” after securing a £70,000 settlement for an autistic man over poor quality supported living.

I am co-author, with my husband, specialist Barrister John Friel, of the widely used parent-friendly textbook Special Needs and Legal Entitlement: The Essential Guide to Getting Out of the Maze.

On 1 August 2023 I stepped down from the ownership of my previous firm, SEN Legal. I have no connection with SEN Legal.

I bring a lifetime of valuable legal experience, a strong work ethic and a genuine enthusiasm for SEN.

Regulation

I am a solicitor regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, SRA number 117964. Because I am a solicitor, you have the right to raise any concerns with the SRA or the Legal Ombudsman. See my complaints procedure.