Is this appropriate conduct for solicitors?

[AugustaFinkNottle]

A solicitors' firm which acts for councils in special educational needs tribunals has tweeted the following:

"Great ABA Trib win this week ... interesting to see how parents continue to persist with it. Funny thing is parents think they won ;)"

I can't link to it due to having been blocked but it's been retweeted, e.g here.

The original tweet resulted in numerous complaints and a quick change to the tweet.

The case they're triumphalising about will have involved a disabled child. Lovely.

It's sad to see some lawyers defending him on Twitter, plus some in SEN. Most not having the guts to use their own name of course.
Apparently he was 'provoked'.

I would have just climbed in to the nice swimming pool and calmed myself down a little bit.

Where are they defending him, Jeremysfavouriteaunt?

I'm sure divorce lawyers, criminal lawyers, corporate lawyers etc, have been called words far worse but they still act professionally! And have the professionalism and integrity to step away from the keyboard if they've had one too many!

The sad thing about this entire fiasco is even if the SRA discipline MS and/or his firm goes bust, there will be plenty more willing to step into his shoes to make a handsome sum out of public money.

Still - in this case - karma is a bitch. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer person.

Starlight that is appalling behaviour by the LA. And I'm sorry this story has brought back the bad memories.

OMG. That second "apology" letter. He's just slinging mud to the parents.

The lawyers defending him don't understand. They see it as a mistake, and they see the apology as genuine.

The Director has a very charming way that does indeed does often appear genuine.

They have sympathy for what they believe is a silly but a nevertheless fellow human being.

The Guardian is tweeting again wanting names of LAs who use BS. If you know yours does (it'll be in the council's website), contact her [email protected]

Yes, they believe it's just a little mistake and he was 'provoked'. It's slightly infuriating that a couple are defending him just by dint of being other lawyers, no connection to him or work in the same field.
It shows how utterly clueless they are and the lack of understand or empathy for parents that have to resort to the tribunal process and deal with the bully boy tactics.

Pleased to say that there are also lawyers who are absolutely not defending their behaviour either.

jeremy I am purposely avoiding those tweets - won't do my blood pressure much good.

I'm concentrating on those that are listening and can help. This is one huge chance to get our voice heard. And to get BS off other cases involving disabled children and stopping his habit of bringing families to breaking point.

It's partly what has caused the fire here, the fact that parents have had to keep quiet for so long because their stories are not believable. All of a sudden now they might be.

Those slow and behind in the story have not yet found their way into the matrix. It's not their fault.

Ruling It's what the SEN world is like for a good many, but then you get BakerSmall added and well, some families have lost everything just to survive it.

An incredible number have sold their homes to either pay the legal fees or for the provision their child needs (note, this changes over time and so can involve a number of tribunals during a child's education), moved away from support networks to escape assault, deprive themselves of help from the resulting depression lest mental health issues are used to undermine their credibility.

I don't know if this is 'normal', but it is certainly common.

I probably need to stop now as I will start to look deranged. But thank you for your responses Ruling. They are very much appreciated.

This is interesting. It is also worth noting that there is 1 shareholder.

twitter.com/edyourself/status/742632490733608960

I just don't want other similar firms to move into the vacancy and carry on in the same way. The whole system can be improved if we keep the momentum.

I have just this minute sent a PM to someone about her. She has been defending Mark Small.

Forget that, it linked to a different person when I went through the link first time.

740k left over in shareholder funds, that will be after salary and dividends and tax etc taken.
Not bad.

Hopefully enough mud will stick on BS and in short term no other law firm will want to fill those shoes just yet.

Looking again at the Mail article, he claims this was a "moment of madness". That was SOME moment. His tweets spread over the entire evening, didn't they?

I've just looked at the spreadsheet on Twitter and it would appear that my LA have spent more on this firm than most of the others put together!

£550k cash at bank (plus owed about £150k) is pretty good but not unusual for a law firm and does he not have to pay the corporation tax out of that at 20% and then once he has the money pay his own income tax at 45% on that?

How much he earned isn't a problem if it was done ethically.

Bear in mind he's probably paying himself a fat salary which comes off those figures before he takes anything else out.

Herts County Council have just tweeted they are reviewing their contract with BS. Let's hope they put (public) money where their mouth is!