Pro Bono Client Wins Special Education Relief

Paul, Weiss successfully obtained relief for a child with autism in a special education due process hearing. This is Paul, Weiss’s third successful representation of this pro bono client and his parents.

The team obtained all of the requested relief, including tailored therapies for the student, translations and interpreters to allow the parents participate in their child’s education, and further relief in response to the government’s persistent failure to offer the child an appropriate education for more than seven years. Though the impartial hearing officer initially questioned counsel whether it would be appropriate to order educators to incorporate certain services into the student’s educational program going forward, the officer was ultimately persuaded that the student would benefit from greater educational stability if his parents were relieved from the obligation of initiating a new due process challenge each educational year.

The Paul, Weiss team included, among others, litigation associate Meaghan Brennan, who successfully presented the case to the impartial hearing officer.