YAF Celebrates Pro Bono Week 2024!

With this week coming to a close, we want to again recognize and thank all of the firms and people who have been volunteering their time, working with us in 2024, to ensure Massachusetts' children and emerging adults are able to receive access to an equitable education.

Since inception in 2015, YAF's pro bono panel has helped over 160 students across Massachusetts!

Please read through these stories below, highlighting the wonderful work they’ve done this year or are currently doing, and join us, one more time, in thanking all of these incredible people for their time and expertise volunteered!

Thank you to Kristen Gagalis of Anderson Kreiger for representing a 17-year-old autistic young woman, who, thanks to Kristen's advocacy last year, was appropriately placed in a day school that is able to meet her needs. It has been a tough transition for the student and Kristen is working with the new school to make sure the student's needs are properly being addressed.

Thank you to TJ Roskelley also of Anderson Kreiger for successfully fighting for improved transition services, assistive technology, and inclusion support for a teenager with autism who had made no progress in his district high school for years. He is now on-track with a terrific program to support him until he ages out of high school in a few years.

Thank you Matt Leno and Sean Phipps of Barnes & Thornburg for representing a fourth grader who was in the hospital at the time of intake. The team was able to obtain a new placement within the school district for this student. They are now looking at making the case for an out-of-district placement to better fit this student’s needs.

We’d also like to thank the team of Matt Leno, Derek Roller and Alex Nagorniy of Barnes & Thornburg for their representation of a fourth grade student with dyslexia. Through their advocacy, the district found the student eligible for special education and then they secured a placement at a school designed to support his needs as well as targeted 1:1 tutoring over the summer. This student is now thriving in school.

Thank you Michael Gass and Seth Mennillo for acting as Pro Bono Coordinators of Choate, Hall & Stewart.

Thank you Conor O'Sullivan-Pierce of Choate, Hall & Stewart for representing a third grade student with severe non-verbal ASD. Thanks to Conor, this student obtained placement in private therapeutic day school.

Thank you Seth Mennillo and Silvia Faria of Choate, Hall & Stewart for representing a 7th grade student with emotional and learning disabilities. They secured placement in a substantially separate classroom within the school district and when that could not provide for all this student's needs, they secured a placement at an out-of-district special ed school. Seth and Silvia continue to represent the student to ensure that this school is a fit.

Thank you Natalia Smychkovich of Choate, Hall & Stewart for representing a young elementary school student who is deaf/hard of hearing. Thanks to her advocacy, this student is now receiving instruction that meets her needs. The student and their family are moving to a new town and Natalia is helping to ensure a smooth transition of school district responsibility for the student.

Thank you Stefano Sharma and Robert Shames of Choate, Hall & Stewart for advocating for a student with a learning disability and cognitive delays to receive appropriate inclusion supports to support him in the classroom.

Thank you Conor O'Sullivan Pierce and Meg Ziegler of Choate, Hall & Stewart for advocating for a student who is now going into 9th grade with significant learning disabilities. They originally secured him a placement in 4th grade at one private special education school and have helped his family find another school for him when he aged out of his old school.

Thank you Rebecca Cazabon for being Pro Bono Counsel of Foley Hoag.

We'd also like to thank Jasmine Brown and John Shope of Foley Hoag for representing twin six-year-old boys with physical and occupational therapy needs. Their family moved districts over the last year and was seeking appropriate special education services. The Foley team helped the family transition to appropriate services in the new district.

Another big thank you to Spenser Angel of Foley Hoag for representing a 2nd grade student with a history of school avoidance due to anxiety and medical issues and a psychiatric history of severe anxiety, separation anxiety, and sleep disorder that was found ineligible for special education. This representation is ongoing and they are currently waiting for a team meeting.

Thank you Nicholas Anastasi of Foley Hoag for advocating for appropriate services for a six-year-old student with ASD to receive appropriate IEP and services in his school setting.

We'd like to give a huge THANK YOU to Carolyn Rosenthal the Director of Pro Bono at Goodwin Procter.

Thank you Gregg Katz and Gaebriella DeLisle of Goodwin Procter for representing three students over the course of this year! This team provided representation for two siblings, each with unique struggles in their school district. One of the siblings, a 7th grade student with developmental, physical, and emotional disabilities, has already been placed in a more appropriate out-of-district placement and great progress is being made to secure the necessary services for the other sibling, a fourth grade student in need of language-based program. They are also representing a 5th grade student who is struggling both academically and emotionally. Gabriella and Gregg worked with an independent evaluator to update the child's IEP with appropriate services.

Thank you to the team of Gregg Katz, Laura Wood and Maria Smith of Goodwin Procter for representing a 5th grade student with autism who is not receiving the needed services at school. They are currently arranging for an observation of his program by an expert to determine what his needs are.

Thanks again to Gregg Katz and Laura Wood of Goodwin Procter who, in additional to the student they represented with Maria Smith, represented two other students in the past year. They provided Pro Bono representation of an eight-year-old boy who was hospitalized due to aggressive behaviors as a result of a brain injury at birth. His school was not providing appropriate supports. They immediately jumped in to advocate for student and as a result, he received placement at an appropriate specialized school and was able to be discharged from the hospital and is now attending school and thriving at school and at home. This team of exceptional attorneys are also representing a high school student in need of therapeutic day program. A placement was made in early 2024, but the student is currently having issues with that placement and they continue to help the student find a program to fit the student’s needs.

Our next thank you goes out to Gregg Katz and Daniela Sanchez of Goodwin Procter for representing a 19-year-old student with emotional disabilities who attends a private therapeutic school. This student recently received an autism diagnosis and the team is working to update the student’s IEP to accurately reflect their needs.

We'd like to start by thanking Kiara Vaughn for acting as Pro Bono Coordinator of Latham & Watkins Boston office.

Thank you Cory Lewis of Latham & Watkins for helping a young adult student with autism receive a residential school placement and transitional supports to appropriately meet their educational and behavioral needs.

Thank you Kenneth Parsigian, Allison Carbonaro and Matthew Duffy of Latham & Watkins for filing a class action challenging the failure of the state to provide special education services to young adults confined in County Houses of Correction.

Thank you Christopher Lloyd and Samual Townsend of Latham & Watkins for representing a student with emotional and learning disabilities who Latham attorneys have represented over four years. Initially they helped secure a residential placement for the student and just this year they secured a day placement, so the student could go home. They also secured specialized language-based tutoring for this student.

And last, but certainly not least, we want to thank the team of Priyanka Krishnamurthy, Avery Boreliz and Annabel Kupke of Latham & Watkins for representing a second grade student to secure his eligibility for special education and many services to meet his learning, speech, and social needs.

We'd like to thank Kelly Crosby and paralegal Janet Nolan of Liberty Mutual for representing a 17-year-old multilingual learning student with neurological, physical, and intellectual disabilities. The student recently moved districts and his complicated profile has made the transition difficult. The legal team is working to make sure the new district can adequately support the family.

We'd like to start by thanking Alison Sclater for acting as Pro Bono Counsel of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius.

Thank you Stephanie Faraci and Laurie Burlingame of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius for representing a 9-year-old girl who was attending a charter school. She has ADHD and dyslexia and the charter school was not supporting her special education needs. Instead, the school retained her in a lower grade which led to serious bullying by other students. She is now back in her home district public school in a language-based program at her appropriate grade level and she is feeling more confident and better about herself.

We'd like to give a big thank you to Laura Lerner of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius for helping four students this year through her pro bono representation. Laura represented this first student over the past two years and secured an appropriate out of district placement for her, after trying an in-district program with a 1:1 aide. This year there have been challenges with transportation and Laura has stepped up to help. Laura also continues to support two brothers, both on the autism spectrum with respect to their special education needs. Additionally, Laura continues to support a student with dyslexia, who she represented when he was back in 6th grade, and now he is in his last year of high school.

Thank you Stephanie Faraci of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius for representing two more students this year in addition to the student discussed earlier. Stephanie is representing a student whom her firm has worked with since 3rd grade and who is now a junior in high school. This student has dyslexia and over the years, Morgan Lewis attorneys have ensured this student received the appropriate services in school and also secured tutoring services throughout the summer. The student is now attending a vocational school and is excelling in all subjects with a bright future on the horizon. Additionally, last year, Stephanie secured an appropriate out-of-district placement for a non-verbal student who came home from her public school with unexplained bruises. She continues to advocate for this student at IEP meetings and as transportation issues have arisen.

We'd like to thank Steve Miklus and Nicola Sullivan of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius for representing a 14-year-old multilingual learner with autism, depression, and anxiety. He has struggled for years, being bounced from one out-of-district placement to another without a real understanding of what supports and programming he needs to be successful. This Morgan Lewis team helped get him an independent evaluation that laid out clearly what he needs and he has just started at a new school. The family and the attorneys are optimistic that he will be able to flourish here.

We'd also like to thank Shannyn Henke of Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and Melissa Waite of MassMutual for representing an 8-year-old boy with an emotional disability who was punished with seclusion at his public school. He is in a new program and they are monitoring his progress there.

A big thank you to Lisa Burton and Laurielle Howe of Ogletree Deakins for advocating for a middle school student with multiple suicide attempts. They were able to obtain a therapeutic day school placement for this student.

Thank you Alexandra "Lexie" Reynolds and Hayley Kronthal of Proskauer for their representation of a 7th grader with dyslexia who was reading at an early elementary grade level. Despite advocating with the district for years, his guardians were unable to secure the appropriate services. Thanks to the Proskauer team, he received specialized tutoring over the summer and has started at a school designed for students with his profile and he is thriving.

We'd like to thank Brandon Arber, Lisa White and Katie Groves of Shook, Hardy & Bacon for representing a 9-year-old non-verbal student with autism who is currently at home due to concerns about the safety of her school program. This team of attorneys are arranging for independent evaluations of the student and the program, assisting family with applying for DSS services, and as a result of their representation, a "Failure to Send" case against the parent was dismissed.

Another thank you to Brandon Arber of Shook, Hardy & Bacon for representing a student when the district was threatening the student's parent with a hearing, because they were not able to support him in the public school. The student is now at a more appropriate program where he is doing well.