Sylvia King has been a qualified solicitor for over thirty years and initially undertook mainly criminal defence work. She has been a member of the Law Society’s specialist Mental Health Tribunal Panel since 1992 and has since then specialised in representing detained patients, on their applications to the Mental Health Tribunal. Over the last ten years she has also represented many parents of special educational needs children in their efforts to obtain appropriate educational provision from local education authorities, and on their appeals to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal.
She represented the parent in the case of R (M) v. Brighton & Hove City Council [2003] ELR 752 QBD where the reasons given by a Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal for their decision on school placement were ambiguous. On appeal to the High Court the decision of the SENDIST was held to be inadequately reasoned and at the rehearing of the appeal the parent was finally successful.
