When should you hire a special education attorney versus going with an advocate? While many advocates can provide useful assistance to parents, when a complaint is filed against a school district, the process becomes complicated. It becomes necessary and important to reach out to an attorney. In this episode, we explore the situations when an advocate is not appropriate because of limitations in their advocacy.

What You’ll Learn in this Episode:

When should you go with a special education attorney and when should you go with an advocate?

What is legitimate legal work and what is it that parent advocates can assist families with?

What is the scope of legal representation?

What does the law authorize advocates to do?

How the law can be interpreted and applied to different scenarios differently, and why that's important to understanding the work lawyers do

Why an advocate cannot assist with preparation of legal instruments and contracts like settlement agreements?

What holds parents back from reaching out to attorneys?

How the recent General Attorney opinion affects what advocates can and can’t

Resources:

California General Attorney opinion

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