...the solicitor said to pay them £1500 and they would represent me and think there is a good chance that they can mitigate points this will allow me to keep driving albeit with more expensive insurance.
The solicitor should know better than to mislead an 18-year old into parting with £1,500.
He is misleading you when he says that he will make a case for "Special Reasons (SR)." If a SR argument was successful there would be no endorsement on your licence and neither points nor a ban. There are no "Special Reasons" as far as I can see. No Insurance is a strict liability offence and drivers must make absolutely certain they are covered before driving. By your own admission you didn't.
To ask the court to impose a short ban instead of points is not to argue "Special Reasons" All you would be doing is asking the court to sentence you outside their guidelines. A straightforward offence of No Insurance with no aggravating features does not attract a ban. For the court to impose one they would be sentencing outside the guidelines and to do this they must have (and announce) their reasons for doing so. Their only reason to do that would be so that you can avoid the affects of the New Drivers' Act and they should not be prepared to do so.
By all means ask for a court appearance but I would not recommend paying a solicitor £1,500 to make an argument that is highly unlikely to succeed. You can make that argument yourself (with a similar chance of success) and save the solicitor's fees.
If you do receive six points the DVLA will revoke your licence. However, you can immediately apply for a new provisional licence and begin driving (complying with the conditions of that licence - 'L' Plates and a supervising driver) as soon as you have it
