need referral for an Attorney - (DCPS of course)

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know a great attorney who works fast and has a strong reputation for success with DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Does ANY attorney have much luck with DCPS anymore?

Sorry to be a downer. Best of luck, OP.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, you need someone who has gotten good results within the past 2-3 yrs. Getting good results prior to that was a cakewalk since DCPS often failed to send anyone to the hearings.

[Anonymous]

It's a different era now. You can spend a lot of money on an attorney and not get anywhere with DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Brian Gruber is in Bethesda but does mostly DCPS cases.
He is fair, attentive, detailed, thorough, totally competent and has the best record for wins in DC over the last three years.

[Anonymous]

Brian will also be the first one to tell you the realistic odds of getting private placement, if that's what you want, and how much it will cost you in time, effort, money, and aggravation.

DCPS is fighting hard against pretty much every private placement, new or existing. They simultaneously drag their feet and try to intimidate you into knee-jerk decisions.

Brian works all over and says DCPS is definitely the worst to deal with.

Good luck

[Anonymous]

OP, you may not have thought through this or it may not be practical for you but if you can afford to risk expending 30-40K on a lawyer and not prevail or take a full school year or more to prevail, which is precious time lost in a child's education, then you may want to apply to the private schools you are interested in and ask for financial aid, and bypass the due process with DCPS altogether. I did not want to waste the time, energy or money dealing with DCPS. I had a knowledgeable source within DCPS who told me flat out that DCPS would not pay for a 504 outplacement for my ADHD DS who had executive functioning issues. So, I applied to the schools which I thought would best suit his needs. One offered an acceptable aid package and the other did not offer aid at all. We are very happy with our decision and DS is getting the support he needs and was not getting in DCPS without being pulled out of class more and more which would have affected his self esteem. So, if you are at least middle income and can afford a special needs school with a financial aid package, you may want to consider this approach. You do understand that even if you get the school system to pay, it is not guaranteed that they will pay each year, so you will have to deal with the stress of fighting for the full payment each year.

[Anonymous]

Margaret Kohn in DuPont Circle area is wonderful. Great attorney!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you may not have thought through this or it may not be practical for you but if you can afford to risk expending 30-40K on a lawyer and not prevail or take a full school year or more to prevail, which is precious time lost in a child's education, then you may want to apply to the private schools you are interested in and ask for financial aid, and bypass the due process with DCPS altogether. I did not want to waste the time, energy or money dealing with DCPS. I had a knowledgeable source within DCPS who told me flat out that DCPS would not pay for a 504 outplacement for my ADHD DS who had executive functioning issues. So, I applied to the schools which I thought would best suit his needs. One offered an acceptable aid package and the other did not offer aid at all. We are very happy with our decision and DS is getting the support he needs and was not getting in DCPS without being pulled out of class more and more which would have affected his self esteem. So, if you are at least middle income and can afford a special needs school with a financial aid package, you may want to consider this approach. You do understand that even if you get the school system to pay, it is not guaranteed that they will pay each year, so you will have to deal with the stress of fighting for the full payment each year.

This is a very wise post. I had similar feelings but am glad this poster put it so articulately.

[Anonymous]

I agree. DCPS is not paying for outplacement like they did in years past and returning many students back to the public school system rather than pay for private school. There have been several articles in the Washington Post on this subject. OP, before you run out and get a lawyer thinking you are going to kick ass on DCPS, you need to do some research first. I would be willing to bet these lawyers to whic the PPs have referred you will not tell you that your chances today are slim to none in getting the school system to pay because their business in DC is not as lucrative and they need clients like you to keep their business going. And, I am a lawyer, although not in the special Ed area. So be warned...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree. DCPS is not paying for outplacement like they did in years past and returning many students back to the public school system rather than pay for private school. There have been several articles in the Washington Post on this subject. OP, before you run out and get a lawyer thinking you are going to kick ass on DCPS, you need to do some research first. I would be willing to bet these lawyers to whic the PPs have referred you will not tell you that your chances today are slim to none in getting the school system to pay because their business in DC is not as lucrative and they need clients like you to keep their business going. And, I am a lawyer, although not in the special Ed area. So be warned...

OP, I'm not in DCPS, but MCPS, which also is not very good about paying for outplacement because they have more options that DCPS for different kinds of internal MCPS placement. FWIW, I found it most useful to go and interview attorneys. Pick 2-3 and call up and say that you are looking for an attorney and what is their process? Some will meet with you for free for an hour or so to hear an overview of your case and get a sense whether they can be of help. Others will charge a fee of 250-500 to review the documents and consult with you about your options, after which you might ask them to represent you and sign a retainer or not. I found the 2 attorneys I interviewed to be very upfront about what they could or couldn't achieve with my case. (And they were both very clear that private placement was not a likely outcome, even though one of them had placed a lot of cases privately in DC and the other had a reputation of a lot of experience in court. I could see their assessment was correct given the facts of my child's special needs.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Brian will also be the first one to tell you the realistic odds of getting private placement, if that's what you want, and how much it will cost you in time, effort, money, and aggravation.

DCPS is fighting hard against pretty much every private placement, new or existing. They simultaneously drag their feet and try to intimidate you into knee-jerk decisions.

Brian works all over and says DCPS is definitely the worst to deal with.

Good luck

Brian was extremely understanding and fair.
He was thorough, detailed oriented and explained every detail to us.
Other nearby attorney's we met with were
Were ego maniacs who barely listened, ignored details and
Were less than respectful.