Colleen Shea

Colleen Shea is a Partner at Gillis Law LLC with over ten years of legal experience in special education, disability rights, student discipline, bullying, and other related civil and constitutional rights matters (e.g., Title IX, Title VI, 1st Amendment). Colleen’s experience includes extensive litigation practice before the Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals well as representing clients before other administrative complaint agencies (e.g., United States Department of Education Office of Civil Rights, Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Problem Resolution System). Colleen has dedicated her career to public sector education.

Prior to joining Gillis Law LLC, Colleen worked as a Partner at Stoneman, Chandler & Miller LLC and represented over 50 public and charter schools in the Commonwealth in all aspects of student-related legal matters with special expertise in special education, disability rights, student discipline, and bullying.

Before this role, Colleen was awarded the prestigious Skadden Fellowship and partnered with Disability Law Center to bring her fellowship project to life. Here, Colleen represented low-income students in school discipline and special education disputes. Her work also included conducting investigations of suspected abuse and neglect of classes of students with disabilities by public schools and private special education schools. When she made adverse findings, she worked with schools on comprehensive corrective actions to remedy problematic practices.

During law school, Colleen amassed an invaluable background in educational law as a Legal Intern for the Massachusetts Bureau of Special Education Appeals, the Massachusetts Governor's Legal Counsel Office (via the Rappaport Fellowship), the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and a special education law firm.

In Colleen’s professional career before law school, she worked as a 7th-grade special education teacher in a Title I school in Brooklyn, NY, through the competitive Teach for America program. She later transitioned into a role as a Legal Investigator for the Special Education Litigation Unit within New York City’s Department of Education.

Colleen holds a J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts, and is a member of the Massachusetts Bar. She also holds an M.S. in Education (specializing in Childhood and Middle School Special Education/Learning Disabilities) from Hunter College in New York, New York, and a B.S. in Integrated Marketing Communications from Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

Colleen lives on the South Shore and enjoys spending summer weekends fishing for stripers, clamming, and soaking up the sun at Second Beach with her family in her hometown of Newport, RI. In the winter, Colleen loves to spend time on the ski slopes, particularly Jay Peak in Vermont.