Michelle A. Moor

I hired Michelle Moor to help secure funding from my town so that my son could go to a special needs private school, where he could feel physically and emotionally safe, and learn. Michelle is the most intelligent, practical, efficient, kind, and effective lawyer I have ever met. In a remarkably sh...ort time, she was up to speed on the case, and she was able to secure significant (though not 100%) public funding. This enabled my son to continue to go to a school where he could prosper academically, socially and developmentally. Anyone who knows him saw that, after a few months in this private school, he was a thriving, astonishingly different child. My son had endured years of bullying in public school, from physical attacks, to verbal taunts, etc. Despite years of advocacy on my part, the school system would not act to protect him, saying they did not have the resources, and frankly, disputing the necessity for them. Since my son's life had been threatened, I could not believe they would not put safeguards into place. My son has ADHD, anxiety, and social skills issues. The school system tested him in 7th grade (Executive Functioning, Occupational Therapy, Social Skills Issues, Writing Competency, and Anxiety,) and, found significant weakness in all of the above areas. They put him on an IEP (Individualized Education Plan). That seemed promising, given all the services that the written IEP indicated that the school would provide. However, the school did not actually provide most of the services promised. They just didn’t. Worse, because of all the bullying, my son's anxiety had become so severe that he was afraid to go to school, and was consistently miserable. In addition, though he was on medication for ADHD and anxiety, the school environment was so hostile - and the school representatives so dismissive of his challenges - that he simply couldn't take in the subject matter he was supposed to be learning. In short, he wasn’t learning. I hired Michelle Moor after I had “unilaterally” placed my son in a special needs private school, without the public school system’s support. (I am not recommending this course of action.) I had been working with a different lawyer for over a year and she was failing to advocate for my son. Upon an extraordinary recommendation from the mother of a child in my son’s new school, I switched to Michelle. First of all, in just speaking with her, I could hear how she understood the situation, and how much experience she’d had in special education law. She was obviously formulating ideas and approaches, and was going to be a team player. I sent her the relevant documents. In four hours, Michelle had read all of my paperwork (and there was a lot), and called me with a plan, noting the strengths and weaknesses of my son’s case. She had energy and she was very responsive - verbally, and, in returning phone calls and emails. She was also open to my ideas. Michelle and I conferred by phone and email a great deal. By phone we discussed new developments, strategies, and possible outcomes. She was very flexible in scheduling our "phone meetings" to meet my rigid work schedule. And she was available to meet face-to-face whenever I wanted. I can tell you that for the first time in a couple of years, I could relax a little. I knew we were in capable hands. And I was right. Michelle led us through the landmine of special education law and we ultimately settled very favorably, covering 5 years of attendance at this private school. I cannot recommend Michelle highly enough. (I also cannot emphasize the difference between a great lawyer and a not-great lawyer. Before I had hired Michelle, I had already spent about $20,000 on someone who turned out to be a terrible lawyer and got us nowhere. I spent far, far less than that on Michelle and got wonderful results; as I said, she’s terrifically smart, and efficient.)

Michelle was extremely professional, competent and compassionate. She provided detailed guidance and a clear strategy about how we needed to communicate with our child's school system. She was preventative in telling us what NOT to do so no missteps were taken and we arrived at a successful agreeme...nt that resulted in the best outcome for our child.