Alicia Upano
Piper Rudnick and the D.C. Appleseed Center for Law and Justice are playing a crucial role in revamping the District's dysfunctional special education dispute system.
More than 15 attorneys from Piper have logged 2,000 pro bono hours on the project -- labor worth $700,000. The team conducted interviews, visited schools, and researched legal and policy issues to determine why the District leads the nation in special education complaints and hearings.
The work produced a report, released in September, identifying an array of factors that have contributed to the problems, including the lack of a system of accountability and ineffective mechanisms for resolving disputes.
The report also fingers what Appleseed Executive Director Walter Smith calls a "distinct minority of lawyers" who have made a "cottage industry" out of filing lawsuits against the schools.
To rein in lawyers who are profiting from the school system's deficiencies, the report recommends encouraging the use of plaintiffs attorneys who are not motivated by money -- e.g., attorneys from area law schools, legal aid offices, and law firm pro bono programs.
"There are people who will resist that," says Smith. "But I'm OK with that, because this should be helping the kids, not helping the lawyers."
Last year, the District shelled out $13 million defending itself against parents who sued schools for the lack of effective special education programs for their children. The District also doled out $137 million last year to fund private school tuitions and transportation of special education children -- largely due to these disputes, the report says.
Still, Smith stresses that plaintiffs lawyers are not the main culprits. "Whoever thinks [they are] the primary problem is missing the boat. The problem needs to be worked in the system," he says.
The next step for Piper and Appleseed attorneys, says Piper pro bono partner Sheldon Krantz, is to work alongside the city and the school system to implement systems of accountability and compliance, including mediation and pilot programs.
While Krantz has prior policy research experience, he admits that the work was novel for many of the attorneys involved. The project, he says, is "unusual" compared with the more standard litigation and transactional pro bono work undertaken at many of the city's law firms.
Also contributing to the project were experts from Georgetown University Law Center, the Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, among others.
"We need to restore the trust of our parents who feel the need to take legal action and go to court," said school superintendent Paul Vance at a Sept. 12 press conference. "Appleseed and Piper have done the school system a great service."
