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Special Education
Clinic
The
Special Education Clinic, one of the first of its kind in the nation, was
created in January 1995 under the direction of former Acting Dean and Director,
Eric Neisser. The Clinic provides free legal services to indigent parents
of children with disabilities seeking to obtain appropriate educational
services for their children, trains law students to handle special education
cases, and seeks to educate both parents and school personnel concerning
their mutual rights and responsibilities.
The need for legal representation
and training in this specialized area of law is enormous. Over ten percent
of public school children in New Jersey have been classified as needing
special education. Parents in poorer communities often have difficulty
in securing adequate educational services and have few resources to ensure
that the rights of their disabled children are protected. The legal representation
provided by the clinic has a substantial impact upon whether parents obtain
an appropriate education for their children.
The Clinic seminar concentrates
on both substantive and procedural aspects of special education law as
well as advocacy skills. In addition to representing parents at mediations,
due process hearings and other court appearances, the clinic focuses on
a broad range of lawyering skills. Clinic work encompasses factual
investigation, including extensive document review (IEPs, school records,
and child study team assessments) as well as client and witness interviews,
consultation with experts, meeting with child study teams, and drafting
complaints and other legal documents.
Child
Advocacy Clinic |Community
Law Clinic |Constitutional
Litigation Clinic |Environmental
Law Clinic |Federal
Tax Law Clinic |Special
Education Clinic |Urban
Legal Clinic |Women's
Rights Litigation Clinic
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