Aimee Rankin Zundel has been an education attorney for her entire legal career. She founded Zundel Law in 2022. Prior to opening her own practice, Aimee was a Partner at Weiss Burkardt Kramer, a leading Pittsburgh education law firm representing public school district clients. Throughout her time as a legal advocate, Aimee has used the same collaborative, student-centered approach she is known for. Aimee has represented clients at all levels of state and federal court, as well as administrative agencies such as the Pennsylvania Office for Dispute Resolution, Office for Civil Rights and Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Aimee has expertly handled special education cases, student discipline matters, employment matters, and Title IX investigations. Aimee graduated, magna cum laude, from the University of Mount Union with a B.A. in Sociology. She obtained her law degree from The University of Pittsburgh in 2008, where she participated as Senior Research Editor for The University of Pittsburgh Law Review. Aimee was named a Super Lawyer Rising Star for 2020-2022, and proudly serves as Vice Chair of the PBA Exceptional Childrens’ Committee.

Ms. Brooks is the Administrative Partner at Wisler Pearlstine. She is a member of the firm’s Special Education and Education Law practice groups, focusing her practice on advising school administrators on legal issues in student services and special education. A strong advocate for her clients, Ms. Brooks helps schools understand and navigate the existing legal framework to proactively achieve their goals. She routinely attends school board meetings, litigates for schools in administrative and local agency proceedings through the appeals process and defends them against legal claims brought under the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Ms. Brooks also represents schools in investigations by the PA Department of Education and US Office for Civil Rights. A former teacher and collegiate coach, Ms. Brooks brings practical, knowledgeable experience, from her involvement in the educational community, to her practice. She advises school clients regarding student records and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), issues of risk management, matters of child abuse and reporting under the Child Protective Services Law, Homelessness under the McKinney Vento Act, sexual harassment, and gender equity involving Title IX, and bullying and harassment investigations under Pennsylvania’s Anti-Bullying Law. In addition, Ms. Brooks handles matters regarding the Public School Code of 1949, including transportation, enrollment, residency, custody, discipline, charter schools, Pennsylvania Approved Private Schools, and private schools.

Mr. Faust is special counsel to the education law firm of Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams. He has represented public school entities throughout Pennsylvania in special education and civil rights litigation since 1986, appearing at every level of the state and federal judiciary and in hundreds of administrative due process proceedings. He has spoken widely on special education, student services, and civil rights to audiences of educators, attorneys, college students, and parents and has appeared as an expert witness on special education. Mr. Faust received his law degree from the Dickinson School of Law a very long time ago.

Bradley Flynn practices in the areas of education and civil rights law with Montgomery Law, LLC. Brad brings a unique perspective to the firm in that he has spent many years working in schools directly with children with special needs. Brad’s keen understanding of how schools operate from the inside enables him to advocate more effectively for parents. He is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Hearing Officer Ford received a B.A. from Franklin & Marshall College and a J.D. from Penn State Law (Dickinson) with a certificate in advocacy and dispute resolution. While working as a research assistant at Penn State, he studied ODR’s mediation system while completing a state-by-state analysis of special education dispute resolution systems. After law school, Hearing Officer Ford practiced special education law for nearly six years, representing both families and educational agencies at various points in his career. Hearing Officer Ford has been an ODR hearing officer since 2010 and has been certified by the National Association of Hearing Officials (NAHO) as a Certified Hearing Official (CHO) since 2014. 

Ms. Say is the Chair of Stock and Leader’s School Law Group and practices in the areas of education (school) for public school districts throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. In her school practice, she has developed expertise in advising school districts in special education, gifted, discipline, and civil rights matters. She counsels her clients through internal compliance audits and defends them in administrative hearings and federal litigation. She represents school districts before various administrative bodies, including the Bureau of Special Education, Office for Dispute Resolution, Office of Civil Rights, Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and in federal and state court. In more recent years, she has served as an expert witness in various special education matters. Ms. Say is privileged to hold a position on several insurance panels as counsel for school districts who are subject to claims under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. She serves as a court-appointed certified mediator in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. In her local practice, Ms. Say pioneered the Stock and Leader Special Education Series, which includes a compilation of seminars addressing the latest topics in Special Education presented to Special Education Directors, Supervisors, Pupil Personnel Administrators, head teachers and School Psychologists. During the COVID‐19 pandemic of 2020, she hosted weekly conference calls with her clients, guiding them in their navigation of the legal pitfalls of educating disabled students in their virtual and hybrid educational settings. She regularly presents for the PA Exceptional Children’s Conference (ECC), Lehigh University’s various Special Education Conferences hosted by Dr. Perry Zirkel, Pennsylvania School Board Association, and Pennsylvania Bar Institute workshops. In 2021, she was selected to give the time‐honored “Year in Review” for the ECC, alongside a parent attorney/colleague. More recently, she has enjoyed speaking across the United States to special educators, at the Tri‐State Law Conference for Nebraska, Kansas, and Iowa, the Utah Law Conference, and the Northern Plains Law Conference for North and South Dakota and Montana. In 2012 and for eight consecutive years, Attorney Say was named to the Pennsylvania Rising Stars list as one of the top up‐and coming attorneys. The list, published nationwide in Super Lawyers® magazines, highlights individuals under the age of 40 who have significantly impacted their professional careers. Additionally, she was the recipient of the Legal Intelligencer, Lawyers on the Fast Track in 2015. In 2020, she was awarded the Central Pennsylvania Business Journal’s Women of Influence award.

Ms. Skidmore has been active in the field of special education dispute resolution in Pennsylvania since 1994. She earned her undergraduate degree in Special and Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University, her Juris Doctor from Duquesne University, and her Master of Education in a program of general special education from the University of Pittsburgh. Currently a full time special education hearing officer, Ms. Skidmore previously served for fourteen years as an appellate hearing officer in Pennsylvania’s former two-tiered system along with private law practice experience. She was also trained in basic and special education mediation and has experience with collaborative dispute resolution. Ms. Skidmore has been a frequent speaker and lecturer on various aspects of special education and disability law, has co-authored several articles related to due process, and remains active in numerous special education and legal professional organizations.

David G. C. Arnold practices in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. He is also Of Counsel to the law firm Robson & Robson. Mr. Arnold graduated from the Villanova University School of Law in 1987. Mr. Arnold has been admitted to practice law in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Sate of New Jersey since 1987. Mr. Arnold is also admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuits, and the United States District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, and the District of New Jersey. Mr. Arnold maintains an active special education practice which is limited to the representation of students and their families. Mr. Arnold brought and won the landmark special education case Lower Merion School District v. Student Doe, 593 Pa. 437, 913 A.2d 640 (2007).  Mr. Arnold lectures frequently on topics related to special education law.

Mr. McAndrews has worked for over forty (40) years in the public and private sectors in several roles in the fields of estate planning and disability law. He is the founder and Managing Partner Emeritus of McAndrews, Mehalick, Connolly, Hulse, and Ryan Law Offices, P.C., a fifteen attorney law firm with offices in Berwyn, Scranton, Wyomissing, Wilmington Delaware, and Metropolitan Washington D.C., which regularly represents individuals and their families in a variety of areas, including estate planning/administration, special education matters, special needs trusts, elder law, abuse of vulnerable persons, guardianships, higher education abuse/discipline matters, and injury cases. He frequently acts as a consultant to other public and private attorneys with regard to estate planning/administration, disability and special education issues. Mr. McAndrews has served as Executive Director and Staff Counsel to two select committees of the Pennsylvania State Senate which evaluated Pennsylvania’s system of care for the intellectually disabled and drafted proposed legislation designed to modernize Pennsylvania’s legal basis for the provision of care to the intellectually disabled. He served for fifteen (15) years as a Special Education Hearing Officer for the Pennsylvania Department of Education, and was assigned to determine the appropriate educational classification, program, and placement of school-age children with disabilities. Mr. McAndrews was also selected to serve as one of the first appellate hearing officers in Pennsylvania under new Department of Education regulations. During his seventeen (17) years as a prosecutor in the Philadelphia area, and thereafter in criminal defense matters, he handled many cases involving defenses of mental disability. He successfully pursued a conviction against the wealthiest murderer in American history, John E. DuPont, for the murder of Olympic gold medal wrestler, David Schultz. He is also a frequent contributor for national and local news media involving legal and political issues and has offered commentary for CBS, NBC, NPR, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Legal lntelligencer, and many other news outlets. For over 30 years, Mr. McAndrews was an instructor of Civil Rights, Constitutional Law, Criminal Justice and Business Law at Villanova University, Immaculata University and Drexel University. He is a frequent lecturer to national conferences, Bar Association Committees and advocacy groups concerning special education, estate planning/administration, the rights of the elderly and individuals and with disabilities and has authored numerous articles regarding these matters. He has served as a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Elder Law Council and served for a decade as Chairman of The Disability Law Committee of the Delaware County Bar Association. Mr. McAndrews obtained his law degree from Villanova’s Charles Widger School of Law in 1978 and was awarded a Bachelor of Science Degree in Education together with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Villanova University in 1975. Dennis is the author and sole actor of a play entitled “If JFK Survived Dallas: Presidential Reflections of an Elder Statesman”. He has also written “The Open” a screenplay which chronicles Ken Venturi’s dramatic victory in the 1964 United States Open Championship where he overcame heat exhaustion to achieve a triumph after years of being a washed-up tour professional.

Gabrielle has dedicated her life to children and education. After beginning her career as a public school teacher, she attended law school and in 2000 combined her love of education with her love of the law to become an education attorney. She has represented both school districts and parents over the past 23 years, litigating matters from administrative hearings through appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She is a sought after authority on special education law in Pennsylvania, frequent speaker, and trusted advisor. Gaby has been named a Pennsylvania Superlawyer since 2013 and is a Delaware County Daily Times Top Lawyer. She is a graduate of Villanova University School of Law, JD; University of Pennsylvania, Graduate School of Education, M.Ed.; and St. Joseph’s University, BA. To deepen her understanding of the inner workings of school districts in order to further enhance her service to them, Gabrielle is also currently pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership at Neumann University.

Ms. Goldsmith has been serving the needs of children and families in the area of special education for 20 years. Prior to founding Bradley Goldsmith Law, Ms. Goldsmith practiced law at McAndrews Law Offices. During her 19 years at McAndrews Law Offices, Ms. Goldsmith became a Shareholder of the firm and was Supervising Shareholder of the Special Education Department for almost 10 years. Ms. Goldsmith is the Parent Attorney Representative to the Stakeholders Council of the Office for Dispute Resolution and has recently been appointed to the Professional Advisory Board of the Learning Disabilities of America. Ms. Goldsmith frequently speaks at National and State-Wide Special Education Conferences including the LDA, Arthritis Foundation, COPAA and PBI. Ms. Goldsmith offers substantial expertise in the area of Special Education Law and handles a wide variety of special education matters, civil litigation cases and criminal justice issues.

Ms. Bradley is a co-founding Partner of Bradley Goldsmith Law, LLC located in Wyomissing PA. Ms. Bradley represents clients across the state of Pennsylvania in all aspects of special education matters including due process, manifestation and expulsion hearings pursuant to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Public School Code. She participates in Individualized Education Team meetings to obtain appropriate programs and placements for her clients. She pursues cases on behalf of her clients including matters related to identification, eligibility, IEP disputes, tuition reimbursement, bullying, disability discrimination and school discipline. In addition, she has represented juveniles charged with criminal acts as well as families facing PIAA disputes.  Prior thereto, Ms. Bradley was an Assistant District Attorney in Berks County where she prosecuted defendants charged with felony and misdemeanor crimes including Homicide, Rape, Burglary, Robbery, Assault, Theft, and DUI. Additionally, she managed the Intermediate Punishment Program which is offered as an alternative to prison and is designed to assist, rather than punish, people with addictions. She also served as the lead attorney for the juvenile justice unit for two years. Ms. Bradley was also an adjunct professor in the Political Science Department at Albright College where she taught Criminal Law and Civil Liberties. Ms. Bradley graduated cum laude from Villanova University School of Law in 1999. In addition, she graduated magna cum laude with honors from Susquehanna University in 1996. Ms. Bradley is a member of the Berks County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association. She is active in her church, St. Ignatius,  and her community where she volunteers for St. Ignatius Loyola Regional School and Berks Catholic High School.  Ms. Bradley also provides trainings to various organizations including the ARC of Lancaster and Lebanon County and the ARC of  and Northampton and Lehigh County.  She has also published articles for The Pennsylvania Lawyer and The Berks Barrister.      

Kalani Linnell is an associate attorney in the general education and special education departments of Raffaele & Puppio, a Delaware County law firm. Her firm serves as solicitor and special education counsel for local school districts, and intermediate unit, and a community college. Kalani currently serves as secretary of the Women in the Law Section of the Delaware County Bar Association. Before law school, Kalani was an English teacher in a Chester County school district. More recently, Kalani has participated in a national thought leadership group on the 2020 Title IX regulations as well as published an article on Title IX in the Pennsylvania Lawyer magazine. Kalani enjoys supporting Philadelphia sports teams by attending games in her spare time. She currently lives in South Philadelphia with her fiancé and her adorable mutt, Ginzie, who is named after Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Ms. Metcalfe has practiced special education and pupil services law since 2010 and has represented both school districts and parents. She is currently the Managing Attorney of Special Education for Raffaele & Associates, LLC where her focus is advocating for students and families in all aspects of education. She has expertise in all areas of special education: analyzing and providing advice regarding special education documents, attending IEP meetings, litigating due process hearings, and advocating for clients in federal court. She has conducted numerous professional development and training opportunities for parents, teachers, administrators, attorneys, and other professionals regarding the IDEA, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the corresponding Pennsylvania special education regulations as well as the gifted regulations. Prior to her special education practice, Ms. Metcalfe began her law career as a public defender at the Defender Association of Philadelphia representing both adults and children in criminal matters which gave her extensive training in the courtroom as a litigator. She then transitioned to the Child Advocate Unit and represented dependent youth in Philadelphia in both dependency and delinquency court. Ms. Metcalfe graduated from Temple University Beasley School of Law in 2002 with recognition in Outstanding Oral Advocacy and cum laude from Muhlenberg College in 1999 with a Bachelor of Arts in both Political Science and Philosophy. She is barred in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Kristen Weidus is a Partner at Ruder Law, and is licensed to practice in the United States District Courts in the Western and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania, as well as the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Prior to joining the firm in 2015, she was an associate attorney for a general practice law firm in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. As a resident of Greensburg, Kristen remains active in the Westmoreland Bar Association, currently serving on its Board of Directors and formerly chairing the Young Lawyers Committee and the Membership Committee. She received the Westmoreland Bar Association’s Outstanding Young Lawyer Award in 2016, and currently serves as a Zone 6 Delegate in the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s House of Delegates. Kristen was also selected as a Pennsylvania Rising Star by SuperLawyers in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Kristen graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law in Washington, DC in 2012. She worked as a law student attorney in the Took Crowell Institute for At-Risk Youth, representing students with disabilities enrolled in the DC Public Schools. She also served as President of the Women’s Law Society, Articles Editor for the Law Review, and President and Founder of the UDC-DCSL Disability Rights and Advocacy Society. Kristen graduated Cum Laude from Hiram College in 2009, and is currently the President-Elect of Hiram’s Alumni Executive Board. Beginning in 2000, she worked for the HELP Foundation Summer Program, an extended school year program that serves children with disabilities in Northeast Ohio.

Macy T. Laster is an Associate in the Education Law practice group at Wisler Pearlstine, LLP. Ms. Laster is admitted to practice in all Pennsylvania State and Federal Courts as well as the Supreme Court of the United States. She is a member of the Pennsylvania, Montgomery, and Bucks County Bar Associations and the Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Ms. Laster was included in the 2024 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for Education Law. She received her law degree in 2018 from Syracuse University College of Law, where she also earned a Certificate of Advanced Study in Disability Law and Policy. While attending law school, Ms. Laster served as a student attorney at the Disability Rights Clinic, providing indigent clients with free legal services. Throughout her time at Syracuse, she was a senior member of the school’s nationally renowned Moot Court Honors Society and was recognized in intra-school competitions for her oral advocacy and legal writing abilities. Prior to embarking on her legal career, Ms. Laster earned her undergraduate degree in Education and Public Policy, with minors in Sociology and Women’s Studies, from Pennsylvania State University in 2015. She is a board member of Voice & Vision, Inc. a non-profit aimed at helping families and individuals dealing with mental health, addiction, and disability issues.

Nicole is a founding partner of Batchis Nestle & Reimann and has focused her practice on special education and civil rights since 2015. Before co-founding the Firm, Nicole was a partner at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis in Philadelphia, where she was a commercial litigator for more than 25 years and represented Fortune 500 companies in a wide range of matters, including insurance coverage, federal anti-trust, contract disputes, economic torts and products liability. She is a highly skilled courtroom lawyer with extensive experience trying cases to verdict before judges and juries in federal and state court. At Schnader, Nicole also had extensive experience in mediation with great success in resolving matters through alternative dispute resolution and negotiated settlements. Nicole brings these unique skills to her practice of special education and civil rights law. Since 2015, she has devoted her practice to obtaining appropriate educational programming and placement for students through the cooperative process outlined in the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including the IEP process and informal meetings. She represents students from early intervention until age 22. On those few occasions where this cooperative process falls short, Nicole applies her decades of litigation experience to the dispute resolution process outlined in the IDEA and implemented through Pennsylvania Department of Education, Office of Dispute Resolution (ODR), including mediation, hearing officer settlement conferences, discipline hearings and manifestation determinations, due process hearings, and judicial review in federal court. She has been successful countless times in obtaining compensatory education, tuition reimbursement and has maintained pendency in student’s then-current placement, and has been successful in obtaining placement in the least restrictive environment (LRE). Through the administrative process, Nicole also obtains independent educational evaluations and related services, including speech therapy, occupational therapy and physical therapy. Nicole also brings the extensive experience she gained in federal court as a commercial litigator to her special education and civil rights practice. In 2017, she tried a Section 504 claim to a jury in the Middle District of Pennsylvania and when the Court refused to instruct the jury that a service dog was a per se reasonable accommodation under Section 504, the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed and ordered a new trial. Nicole has been successful on judicial reviews of hearing officer decisions and on preliminary injunctions in federal court. Most recently, Nicole won an appeal in the Third Circuit seeking to reverse the district court’s holding that an ADA claim had to be exhausted and therefore loses its independent existence and the appellants lose the rights, procedures and remedies available under the ADA. Regarding pro bono work, the Support Center for Child Advocates recognized and honored Nicole for her efforts on behalf of children with its 2010 Distinguished Child Advocate Award. Separately, in 2015 Nicole received the Earl G. Harrison Award for distinguished pro bono service. She is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law, J.D., and Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, B.S. She is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, United States District Court for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, United States Court of Appeals for the Third and Fourth Circuits.

Rebecca Heaton Hall is an attorney at Weiss Burkardt Kramer, LLC where she represents and advises numerous school districts in special education matters. Ms. Heaton Hall is also the Director of Legal Consulting for PREVAIL Educational Solutions. She and Dr. Jessica Dirsmith were recently selected as Delegates for the International School Psychology Association’s 40thconference and conducted a workshop in Tokyo, Japan with school psychologist’s from various countries focused on student safety and emotional well-being. Ms. Heaton Hall has lectured locally, nationally, and has been a guest lecturer at several universities. In the past, she has served as court-appointed educational and medical decision-maker for numerous dependent, special needs children. Throughout her career, Ms. Heaton Hall has worked with approximately 2,000 children. For her work on behalf of disabled children, Ms. Heaton Hall was the recipient of the 2013 Achieva Excellence in Advocacy award and a 2014 honoree of the Leading Education and Advocacy for Families award. Her past legal experience includes the representation of parents in special education disputes, serving as Guardian ad litemto children at KidsVoice, and representation of victims of abuse at Southwestern Pennsylvania Legal Services. Ms. Heaton Hall received her Juris Doctor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and graduated Cum Laude from West Liberty State University.

Ms. Alvarado founded Alvarado Law, LLC, which is dedicated to representing students and families, including Spanish speaking families, in obtaining appropriate special education services as well as reasonable accommodations for entrance, licensing, and certification examinations for persons with disabilities. She has secured appropriate special education services, placement in the least restrictive environment, independent educational evaluations, compensatory education, and tuition reimbursement, in administrative proceedings and federal court. As a frequent speaker to community groups, bar associations, and advocacy organizations, Ms. Alvarado provides an understanding of student’s rights and access to special education, including the impact of recent legal developments on our students. As a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association Committees of Legal Services for Exceptional Children and the Learning Disabilities Association of America, she addresses issues involving equity in education for low income and culturally diverse populations. She is a 2022 recipient of the Distinguished Service Award from the ARC of Lehigh and Northampton Counties. Ms. Alvarado is published in the Pennsylvania Bar Association Quarterly and L.R.P. Publication, and is featured in newspapers, podcasts, and Puerto Rican Panorama, a talk show addressing the concerns of the Latinx population. She was born in Ecuador and as an attorney who is culturally Latina and fluent in Spanish, has successfully represented hundreds of children with disabilities for 30 years.

Mr. Warner, originally from Eldersburg, MD, is a magna cum laude graduate of Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA with a B.A. in Political Science. He went on to receive his J.D. from the Duquesne University School of Law in Pittsburgh, PA. Mr. Warner has been practicing law since 2007, when he began his career with the education law firm of Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams, where he remains today as a Partner. His practice focuses primarily on the representation of Pennsylvania school districts in matters of special education. While Mr. Warner devotes much of his practice to representing clients in matters of special education litigation, he also spends a significant amount of time providing in-service training to school districts regarding various matters, including developing defensible special education programming and confidentiality/disclosure issues involving education records. He also frequently presents at conferences focused on special education legal issues.