The Richardson Family Education Equity Clinic launched in January 2024. It offers free legal advice or representation to low-income families seeking to protect and/or restore their children’s educational rights. Most of the Clinic’s cases involve special-education or school discipline.
The Clinic also provides free virtual or in-person (travel permitting) trainings on specific aspects of children’s educational rights under the IDEA, Section 504, and/or the ADA as time allows.
The Clinic aims not only to provide legal advice and representation to eligible families, but also to empower parents and others with knowledge and resources that offer a strong foundation for self-advocacy in support of children’s educational rights going forward.
The Clinic offers client-centered, compassionate, strategic advice and advocacy on a variety of special-education and discipline matters, including:
- Providing advice and consultation on legal matters that may impact the academic success or educational rights of children with disabilities;
- Helping resolve special-education concerns through meetings (including at IEP meetings), mediations, and, where necessary, preparing and filing grievances, due-process complaints, or state complaints;
- Assisting in requesting and reviewing records and evaluating IEPs;
- Assisting with eligibility, evaluation, and placement issues (including the right to an independent educational evaluation);
- Working collaboratively to plan develop appropriate IEP goals and objectives;
- Facilitating review or development of behavioral assessments (FBAs) and plans (BIPs);
- Advising on strategies to secure appropriate services and accommodations, including therapies, assistive technology, and extended school year (ESY) services, when appropriate;
- Consulting on transition services and decisions;
- Assisting in appeals of long-term suspensions or expulsions or with concerns over disciplinary removals; and
- Assisting with manifestation determination reviews (MDRs) and other matters involving the discipline of students with disabilities.
Funding for the Clinic was generously provided by Billy (Campbell Law ’80) and Barbara Richardson. The Clinic is honored to carry the Richardson family name and aims to emulate the commitment to hard work and compassionate, committed, capable service the Richardson family embodies.
To contact the clinic, reach out to Clinic Director Lisa Lukasik, or the Clinic’s Education Equity Fellow by phone at (919) 865-4454 or (919) 865-4740 or email at educationlawclinic@campbell.edu.