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About us

A niche firm of solicitors close to Fareham town centre, founded to bring quality legal advice to the families that need it most.

Since 2004, we’ve worked in close collaboration with our clients and their families, whether they’re dealing with care proceedings or complex special educational needs.

Our focus is on securing the best possible outcomes, every time – drawing on our specialist expertise in law, education, and family proceedings. This comes from our two directors, both members of the Law Society’s Children’s Panel, and our talented team.

As a firm, we are:

Comprehensive: Our unique position at the cross-section of family law and education law allows us to handle even the most complex cases
Compassionate: We understand the strain of coping with family proceedings and educational needs, and have a contract with the Legal Aid Agency to provide family advice
Collaborative: We know the importance of positive relationships with our clients, delivering quality legal advice, and working together to achieve the right outcome

As a result, we’ve achieved Specialist Quality Mark accreditation and a Legal 500 recommendation for our education work.

Sarah Palmer
Since training with Blake Lapthorn (now Blake Morgan) and qualifying as a solicitor in 1990, Sarah became a Member of the Law Society’s Children’s Panel (1993) and dealt with a range of family law cases.

She founded The Children’s Legal Practice in 2004 to provide specialist advice on children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and care proceedings. Today, she helps the families of children with significant disabilities secure specialist educational provision and assists those involved in the care system.

Outside work, she enjoys spending time with her family, walking her dog, and football.
Kirti Patel
Kirti qualified as a solicitor in 1993 and has been a Member of the Law Society Children’s Panel since 2000. Since then, she specialised in Family and Children’s Law until setting up The Children’s Legal Practice in 2004.

Her diverse expertise covers representing children directly or via a guardian, and working with parents and other family members. She also has extensive experience on complex cases involving serious allegations of abuse.

Beyond work, she enjoys theatre, travel, and spending time with her family.
Kieran Baker
Kieran joined The Children’s Legal Practice in 2010 as a legal assistant. While this role was initially administrative, he has grown to become an integral part of the team and the first point of contact for many of our clients.

He has worked on a number of complex care cases supervised by Sarah and Kirti and, more recently, has started working towards a Chartered Legal Executive qualification through the Cilex Law School.

Outside of work, Kieran’s interests include the latest technology, football, ice hockey and boxing.
Anna McLoughlin
Anna has worked in the legal profession for more than eight years and has been a graduate member of Cilex since 2014. Her role at The Children’s Legal Practice involves supporting the education team led by Sarah Palmer.

Day-to-day, Anna brings her unique empathy and sensitivity to working with clients, experts, and the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. She has also been involved in liaison with counsel instructed and is in regular contact with local authorities.

Beyond work, Anna enjoys walking her dogs, the cinema, and travel.
Shannen Dewis

Shannen qualified as a Solicitor in 2020 and joined the Children’s Legal Practice in June 2020. She specialises in providing advice to children and families with Special Educational Needs.

Shannen has worked within the legal profession for over 5 years and has gained a multitude of experience in a variety of complex cases.

Outside of work, Shannen enjoys being outside exercising, watching football and drinking coffee.