Carla Congdon Leone

Carla Leone is an excellent lawyer to work with. We needed an advocate and a Special Education lawyer to help get our School District to provide FAPE for our child, and Carla was able to do both. She attended IEP meetings, and helped with the IEP. Her support and knowledge helped us better advocate f...or a more appropriate IEP for our child. She also helped resolve the other issue which was that the school district placement was not an appropriate placement for our child's educational needs. Carla filed a due process hearing with the Bureau of Special Education Appeals (BSEA) to try and resolve this issue, which was complicated because it also involved the breach of a settlement agreement and the district won't even admit or talk about that breach. Litigation was the only option to get them to be held accountable. We made it clear that we will go through with due process at BSEA, then state court or Federal. Carla was clear and concise at explaining the entire process and what to expect like the strategic approach, the potential timeframes and litigation costs. Our School District is known for being difficult and for their delay tactics and unreasonable pushbacks. The District did stall for as long as they can possibly can...they even wanted us to agree to postpone the BSEA hearing because an agreement “is close” but we refused. They consistently delayed their responses so it took weeks of back and forth, trying to settle. They stalled up to the day and time of the Prehearing Date of our BSEA Case. The end result was a settlement agreement that we are happy with. We highly recommend Carla. She is experienced, professional, and outstanding at written and verbal communication: efficient, detailed, easy to comprehend, and tenacious.