Our practice focuses on Special Education Law, Personal Injury cases relating to children and adults with disabilities, and Malpractice cases involving children or adults with disabilities.

Individuals with Disabilities

Special Education Law. We help parents and children with disabilities secure the free appropriate public education to which they are entitled under the law. We bring dozens of special education due process hearings each year to compel public school boards to provide effective educational programs for children with disabilities including, but not limited to, intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, dyslexia, speech and language impairments, attention deficit disorder, bipolar disorder, autism, autism spectrum disorder, Asperger’s Disorder, cochlear implants, cerebral palsy, and social and emotional difficulties. We work with the parents to determine the appropriate placement and program for the student’s individual needs and help them secure the program that meets their child’s needs. We often help parents achieve the properly supported regular classroom placement that they desire, although specialized programs are secured for children needing such programs as Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA) or residential placement.

Transitional and Residential Supports. We work with parents and their adolescent or adult children with disabilities to secure transitional services and residential supports. These services are often the difference between a life of independence and contribution to society and a life of dependence. We guide parents through the maze of state and federal regulations and, where necessary, bring legal actions to force public schools and/or adult service agencies to provide the funding and/or the services that are needed.
Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury

Medical Malpractice. We have filed numerous cases to obtain money damages where a person with a disability has been seriously harmed or has died as a result of malpractice. Often, these cases are brought in state court, but sometimes they are brought in federal court as a civil rights case. The selection of the proper forum is based on consultation with the disabled person, if possible, and his/her family. We have resolved many such lawsuits either through settlement or trial.

Personal Injury. We are often asked to represent children or adults with disabilities who have been injured through the negligence or abusive conduct of others. Sometimes those cases are filed against employees of public schools. On other occasions lawsuits have been filed against employees of state or local governmental agencies.

Damages. We frequently are asked to file lawsuits in state or federal court to secure money damages where a school district violates the constitutional or civil rights of an individual with disabilities and causes severe physical or emotional injury. Sometimes we are asked to assess whether a lawsuit is appropriate because a child or adult with a disability has been bullied, stalked or discriminated against because of his/her disability. We have brought and resolved many such lawsuits.