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Question:
Are there attorneys who represent students/parents rights
on a fee based on income and/or
contingent on outcome? Our school district
has on several occasions not provided services requested and
included in the IEP. Thank you.
Answer:
There is no easy answer to this question as each attorney or
law firm decides for itself how they
handle their billing practices. At the same time it is
important to be aware that the few attorneys in the state
that regularly represent parents are
mostly sole practitioners or members of small law firms.
Therefore, just like any business
person, they need to insure that they receive
an income for their services and funds to
pay the costs of operating a law
office. It is also a fact that as the relationship between an attorney
and a client is one based on the exchange of
confidentiality, what a client pays or does
not pay is not a matter for general
discussions. Therefore, each office or
attorney establishes their own method of billing and may
apply that method to all new clients
or may vary the method depending on any number of factors.
In terms of
how I operate my office, I have a pretty standard procedure I have
developed over the years. After a
brief telephone interview, and before
agreeing to represent a new client, I ask to see a copy of the
child's school records. After I
review the records I then hold a "consultation meeting" with
the potential clients. I charge a
fixed fee for the review and the meeting. If
we mutually agree that legal representation is
needed (many times the parents take
the information they learned during the consultation and proceed to
handle the dispute themselves) I then
discuss with the parents my hourly rates, the
amount of the initial retainer, how
they are going to pay for my professional
services, the various costs associated with the
representation (expert witnesses
fees, filing fees, court reporter fees, etc.) and the possible
outcomes, both good and bad. Their ability
to pay, the need for a monthly payment plan after
payment of an initial retainer, etc.
are all discussed in confidence and what we
agree to is contained in a written retainer agreement. In
terms of accepting contingency fee
cases, the practice of my office is to limit the cases it will
consider representing on a
contingency fee basis is to those cases involving
permanent physical injuries that occurred
in a school setting.
For parents
of low or moderate income there are some alternatives. Depending on
a parent's income and the
availability's of attorneys trained in school law,
your local Legal Aid offices may provide assistance. The
law schools also have legal clinics
that may provide supervised assistance of third year students at
no charge. Michigan Protection and
Advocacy Services (P&A) will provide no cost
legal services if the matter meets their
annual criteria. If a free speech issue in
involved, the ACLU may be interested. Also, some
attorneys may be willing to take
cases on a contingency fee basis or for a reduced fee. Lists of
attorneys who are interested in this
area of the law are available from any
number of public interest groups including
the Council of Parents Advocates and
Attorneys (COPAA), Michigan P&A, Edlaw.net and others.
As to the
second part of your question, if services detailed in an agreed upon
IEP are not being provided, the
parent should document the lost service in a
letter to the school, and if not resolved, file an administrative
complaint with the local ISD. In that
complaint they need to detail the failure to provide
what was agreed to. They also need to
note that if their complaint is found valid,
they are requesting an award of "compensatory
educational services" to make up now
for what was not provided then.
John Brower,
JD
Education Law Center, PLLC |
