Attorneys for Special Education Students | The Law Office of Matthew H. Storey

Attorneys for special education students are commonly asked, "what is the difference between an attorney and an advocate?" The confusion makes sense because the roles are very similar. Both are there to guide parents through the special education process, and advocate for the special education student.

Typically both will review educational records including special education assessments and IEP’s; advise on how to work with the schools; inform parents of their child’s rights; and potentially make recommendations for services, placement, evaluations, and strategy.

In fact it is extremely common for attorneys and advocates to work hand and hand with families of special education students. But the differences are important.

We are devoted to our clients because our team has personal experiences with the injustices of the special education system. We are attorneys for special education students advocating for educational equity.

What are the differences between an attorney and an advocate?

The most obvious difference between an attorney for special education students and an advocate, is an attorney can give a parent legal advice.

So what does an advocate do?

Advocates for special education students play an important role and are better suited to help parents through the IEP process.

Advocates for special education students play an important role and are better suited to help parents through the IEP process. A good example of this is attending IEP meetings. Many attorneys will go to IEP meetings, but this is usually going to be far more expensive than bringing and advocate and also less effective. First, attorneys cannot be reimbursed for attending an IEP meetings so the cost will fall on the parents. Second, most attorneys cannot draft an IEP, make recommendations for goals and services, or effectively engage the IEP team. Our experience has been when an attorney shows up at an IEP the team tends to speak less. It seems obvious that an advocate will be seen as less adversarial than an attorney.

Advocates also have specialty skills that most attorneys do not have. Many are former teachers, parents of children with special needs, or work in related fields. This can be of immense help when it comes to drafting an IEP. An advocate who was a teacher can certainly draft a better IEP than an attorney.

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Our team has had personal experiences with the injustices of the special education system, making us uniquely qualified and especially empathetic to our clients.