August 2025: 

The MLO Minute: “Special Education: Our ‘Why?’ and Our ‘What?’ ” — 

By Dennis McAndrews, Esq., Founder and Managing Partner Emeritus — 

The work of our experienced and talented attorneys and support staff in the field of special education is much more involved than reviewing records and setting out a position for our clients. There is an important fundamental reason for why we do this important work.

Early in my legal practice, I was uniquely drawn to the field of special education, as my college degree is in education, which was itself a natural progression since my parents and all my siblings worked in the field of public education. But I was also drawn to the practice of law, and it did not take long to combine my interest in education and my desire to advocate for children, and especially children with disabilities.

As our firm grew, our mission to help children naturally attracted other professionals with a deep interest in education and children to join us as attorneys and support staff. As a result, our firm is now the largest special education practice in Pennsylvania, but this does not diminish the individual attention which our clients receive. Just as students in special education receive individualized education plans, each of our clients is an individual and must be respected and treated as such.

So “what” is it that we do when prospective clients call our office about special education issues concerning their child? We have a very thorough initial process that allows us to determine relatively quickly whether a child’s rights have been violated, and how we can help that child and the family. We take a comprehensive telephone intake from the family and request that records be sent to us as soon as possible, as those records are always a critical foundation of a claim against a school district or a charter school. These records are organized and reviewed by highly experienced paralegals and the assigned attorney.  We summarize those records, develop questions for the client, and prepare a proposed action plan, all before we have a detailed conversation with the family to flush out all considerations which are not present in the records and to confirm or modify our preliminary perspectives. After the client meeting, we are able to carefully identify the next steps toward obtaining justice for the family.

We welcome the opportunity to serve your family in special education matters. The overwhelming majority of our cases are handled without a retainer or charge to a family for hourly fees as the case progresses, and we have an excellent track record of obtaining compensation from school districts or charter schools. If you believe your child has not received the education he or she deserves, please do not hesitate to reach out to us by clicking here.