Founded in 1985, the firm developed a broad legal aid practice for many years but has responded to the need to offer specialist advice and representation by concentrating nowadays on public law issues – that is, helping people to benefit from services set up by government and when they are victims of policy or legal changes or of poor administration by government bodies.

We are a small but dedicated team of four lawyers who continue to be concerned about the interests of people who are disadvantaged by disability, lack of education or their upbringing. Education is central to our work but increasingly we are involved in dealings with complaints about public bodies and the mechanisms for resolving them. These are mainly in the field of education, community care and negligence including some types of personal injury.

We gained franchises in these categories as soon as they were available and in 2002 we were awarded a franchise in public law which enables us to deal with other types of legal challenges involving public bodies and authorities.

We use public funding whenever possible and hold the relevant contracts from the Legal Services Commission. Our rates for private clients are competitive, given the specialities of our practice.

Since July 2002 John Ford has been practising as a sole principal and currently works with three associate solicitors.