National Legal Service began its journey in March 2018. Now well in to our third year of business, we have grown from 20 fee earners in the family department, to around 140 staff across our 20 national branches.
Our Family and Care departments comprise of Law Society Accredited Solicitors who are well supported by a team of Trainee Solicitors, Paralegals and Caseworkers. We specialise in domestic abuse and child care matters and our dedicated teams are committed to the provision of access to justice through the legal aid work carried out at NLS.
Many of our Solicitors have been recognised by the Law Society as being experts in the field of child care / public children law matters.
These specialist Solicitors have legal practice spanning the full spectrum of family law matters including domestic abuse, private children law disputes, divorce and finances, FGM, Forced Marriage, adoption, care proceedings and other public children law disputes
Our Family Department has a number of its Supervising Solicitors specialising in child care and other public law proceedings and their expertise is recognised by having achieved the Law Society’s Children Panel Accreditation. Our specialist solicitors are:
• Kirsty Richards – Head of Family & Director – London
• Laura Burrows – Supervising Solicitor – London
• Asma Begum – Supervising Solicitor – London
• Thakmina Begum – Supervising Solicitor – London
• Shazia Saliheen – Supervising Solicitor – Coventry
• Jasbir Raindi – Supervising solicitor – Birmingham
• Lindsay Bell – Supervising Solicitor – Middlesborough
• John Wilson – Supervising Solicitor – York
We also have a dedicated Care team based in our London office, this group of specialist Solicitors focus their legal practice on care proceedings and other public children law disputes (but they also have wider family law experience just like their colleagues in the Family department).
Our Care team accredited specialists are:
• Sheena Donlon – Head of Care – London
• Tish Reel – Supervising Solicitor – London
• Annie Francis – Supervising Solicitor – London
• Priti Shah – Supervising Solicitor – London
If you have Social Services involved with your family, contact our accredited specialists now; early advice can be very effective at avoiding formal court proceedings. If the local authority has already given you formal notice that they intend to issue care (or other public law) proceedings, get in touch with our team immediately as we can help you navigate through the legal process to achieve the best results for you and your child/ren.
