Educational Lawyers versus Special Education Advocates

If you have a child in special education whose needs are not being addressed, you might feel compelled to hire a special education lawyer or advocate. Although laws like IDEA and Section 504 ensure the rights and educational opportunities for students with disabilities, many students and their families are still significantly underserved by the Special Education system. Even when a comprehensive IEP is in place, numerous school districts do not comply with these plans and fail to provide the necessary supports, instructional accommodations, and services that students require and are entitled to.

While hiring an attorney may seem like the most obvious or effective option, a lawyer has limited means for dealing with a school district outside of filing a lawsuit, also known as a due process complaint. If you hire a lawyer, your child’s school district will actually refuse to meet with you directly and will only communicate through your respective lawyers.

Instead, hiring a special education non-attorney advocate will be far more effective in getting the school district to acquiesce to your requests and comply with IEPs. 

Non-attorney advocates are well-versed in the law, but are also educators and expert communicators who seek to work with the district, instead of fight against it, to arrive at the best outcome for students.

Special Education Law

Federal laws, specifically the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, entitle all students with disabilities to a free, appropriate, public education (FAPE). Students with disabilities are essentially a protected class of students who have guaranteed rights to education services, according to the Federal Government.

Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act is more broad and was designed to allow students with disabilities to have equal access and opportunity to learning as students without disabilities. Special Education law is notoriously vague, so many parents understandably do not know their rights and those of their children, nor how to proceed when their children aren’t receiving adequate special education services.

Special Education Process

The process of obtaining special education services for your child is complex and can take months from start to finish. Children with disabilities are afforded special protections, and parents have unique rights and obligations at various points of the process. However, parents frequently do not understand what they can and should be doing at every step, and when a district is failing to uphold their child’s needs, rights, and best interests. A non-attorney advocate can advise you during any and all parts of the IEP process, ensuring your child receives the high-quality education they’re entitled to.

What Can a Non-Attorney Advocate Do?

A non-attorney advocate can do everything a special education lawyer can do in terms of filing a due process complaint and representing families at hearings.

Non-attorney advocates can actually do more than lawyers, as we can:

• speak to educational best practices

• help develop your child’s IEP

• communicate directly with teachers and administrators

• attend IEP meetings and annual reviews

• act as intermediaries between parents and the school

• assist with critical documentation

• obtain an alternate school placement

The Special Education process, including the development of an Individualized Education Program (IEP), can be convoluted and confusing. Special Education utilizes its own terminology, acronyms, and procedures in which most parents are not well-versed. A special education advocate can guide you through the IEP process to ensure that your child’s rights are upheld and that they receive the appropriate services at the appropriate intervals, with built in assessments to monitor progress.

A non-attorney advocate can also help you obtain an alternate school placement, whether a private school or another public school in or out of district, at the cost of your home school district without going through a due process hearing. An effective non-attorney advocate will assert your child’s legal rights and articulate their instructional needs. Critically, a non-attorney advocate can speak to not only what is most appropriate for your child, but why and how this should best be implemented via placements, instructional methods, and related services such as speech, occupational, and/or behavioral therapy. 

Why Pay for a Special Education Advocate?

Non-attorney special education advocates bring a variety of skills and experiences to the table, enabling us to effectively obtain necessary services, supports, and accommodations for students with special needs. Special education advocates have strong interdisciplinary backgrounds to advise parents about the best course of action, point them towards appropriate resources, and liaise with schools and teachers to find the most effective solutions for students.

Special Education Advocates Bring Valuable Skills to the Advocacy and IEP Process:

• Writing

• Research

• Communication

• Problem-Solving

• Organization & Documentation

• Knowledge of Child Development

• Educational Best Practices

  
  

What Can an Attorney Do? 

Unlike non-attorney special education advocates who can speak to best practices and deal directly with administrators to make and implement changes to IEPs and placements, lawyers are shut out of working through the school system administratively. The main and only flex by an attorney in a special educational situation is the ability to represent a parent or family during a due process hearing as a lawyer. A due process complaint, also known as a request for an impartial hearing is essentially what most people refer to as suing a school district for failing to uphold the rights of a student receiving special education services.

A lawyer can represent you at a due process hearing, but they can’t do much more, and you don’t need a lawyer to file a due process complaint. In fact, hiring a lawyer means that a school district will shut down the administrative process and ONLY work and communicate with you via the court system and lawyers. When you hire an attorney, the district considers itself legally at risk, and will therefore not allow you to speak directly with administrators, teachers, and other relevant professionals to come to an appropriate solution for your child. 

Limitations of Hiring an Attorney

One legal advice article makes the misleading claim that you may want to hire a lawyer “if the school district has an attorney.” While this advice seems well-intended even though is too general to be truly informative, it is deceptive because the school district obviously has a lawyer. However, in a typical special education situation, public schools will never bring their lawyer to an IEP or other meeting. A district will only involve their lawyer in the special education process if you have brought a due process complaint and/or hired a lawyer yourself.

Lawyers are not included in IEP and other Special Education meetings, and there are no provisions for them to be included. This is because lawyers cannot be part of the IEP development process unless and only if you have already gone through a lawsuit and won, which is a costly and time-consuming process. 

It is not a foregone conclusion that hiring a special education attorney will automatically win your case or guarantee that you achieve your goals.

Many people mistakenly hire a lawyer thinking that the lawyer can sue a school for tuition reimbursement or similar claim; legal services are frequently misrepresented as a panacea for all issues within the special education system, which is simply not the case.

Lawyers are not Educators

Lawyers are legal specialists, but are not educators and often have minimal experience with actual special education recipients, practices, and settings. While a lawyer may have the legal expertise to sue and get school districts to put things in writing, non-attorney advocates can accomplish the same goal. The difference is that a lawyer likely doesn’t know which services, supports, or placements are most appropriate for your child, nor do they know when a school is adequately following through with high-quality instruction. 

Non-attorney advocates are education specialists who are not only well-versed in the ins-and-outs of the IEP process, but understand best practices, methods, curricula, and supports in education. Advocates keep up with the literature and evidence-based best practices in all areas of education so as to provide the expertise to most effectively advocate for our clients.

Costs of Hiring a Lawyer vs. Non-Attorney Advocate

Like all legal and other professional services, the cost of hiring an attorney for special education advocacy will vary widely depending on where you live, the quality and reputation of your lawyer, the complexity of the case, and other factors. A good attorney can charge a high hourly rate, and legal fees can climb upwards of $500 and $1000 per hour in major metropolitan areas. In fact, I have seen cases where families pay up to $250/hour to be represented by minimally-trained paralegals who have far less experience than most non-attorney advocates.

Additionally, many special education attorneys have a retention fee or other upfront charges that make hiring one out of reach for many parents. Since many special education cases can take months to work through and resolve, most families cannot afford or justify the high cost of hiring attorneys to support their child’s case.

Non-attorney advocates charge, on average, far less than attorneys. Any high-quality advocate will likely provide a free initial consultation via a phone call or zoom, and will honestly assess your case and chances of achieving your desired outcomes.

Paying for a non-attorney advocate instead of a special education attorney is not only the most effective choice, but the best value for your money. 

Hire A Non-Attorney Advocate for the Best Outcome

Advocates for special education aim for the success of students and families, while lawyers aim for districts to be defeated. This difference in viewpoint highlights their respective approaches. Lawyers may quickly exhaust tens of thousands of dollars in billable hours to "win" against a district, whereas a more effective non-attorney advocate can spend less time persuading the district that adopting a more mutually agreeable IEP for a student will yield better results for all parties involved. 

Contact MyMASSAdvocate for a FREE Consult to see if a Special Education Advocate can assist your family in advocating for your child's needs.

508-925-0427