Bridget Bourgette

Bridget and the team at Shaw Law Group did an outstanding job of representing my family for our son's complex IEP. She quickly became familiar with our son's medical, therapeutic and schooling history. She took the time to understand our perspectives and what would be best for our son. And she rep...resented us (both in communications and in meetings) in a way that ensured the best outcome for our son. I couldn't be happier with results. Thank you Bridget and team!

We hired Bridget to help us in appeal with the school district over the unreasonable disciplinary action imposed by the school's athletic director. We had never challenged the system before so it was very helpful to have guidance and legal representation. We ended up going through two levels of app...eals before eventually winning our case. Bridget was professional and knowledgable in navigating our best options.

Our 18 year old special needs son was having difficulties with his classroom environment. These became worse over a 4 month period and ultimately resulted with him acting up in class and regressing academically. We understood the root cause of the issue and suggested the fix several times but we were... ignored by the high school each time. In parallel, we were trying to negotiate with the school his IEP for the following year. When discussing the IEP, the school wanted to place him in a program that would not meet his needs. We hired Bridget to help champion our son’s immediate and future needs. Within 2 weeks he was moved to a new classroom environment; immediately ending his difficulties. And 2 weeks after that our son’s IEP was finalized with him being recommended for the program we wanted him to attend. Bridget was very professional, responsive and did a great job ensuring our son’s rights were being met. Will definitely hire her again if the need should arise.

Bridget was hired by a Seattle commissioner August of 2013 to make a recommendation on what school system would best fit 2 of my children's educational needs. The public school system on Mercer Island or the Catholic private school they have attended for 7 and 5 years. It is now April 2014 and she JU...ST made her recommendation. I paid her $3,000, and my own lawyer almost $20,000 for this decision. Bridget spoke with me and the kid's dad in Nov. 2013 once during this whole "investigation". She just finally interviewed the teachers March 2013, and hadn't even looked at the report cards or other important information until March 2013. It's so frustrating as a parent who has one child with dyslexia and an IEP with the public schools, and another child with ADD and a possible auditory processing deficit to sit for months-almost an entire school year, and get the results basing her decision to keep them at their Catholic school (which is wonderful but just can't meet my kid's special needs) on student/teacher ratios. Both schools are on Mercer Island for goodness sakes and are the best around. The most insulting part of this whole mess, was that not only do my kids have to continue to stay at the Catholic school which can not meet their needs, but they have to attend 5 days of private tutoring! After school! Why? Well Bridget felt the need to not only mock me but also to suggest the desire to send my kids to the public school so their academic special needs could be met was driven by wanting more CHILD SUPPORT MONEY! OMG this is so nuts I don't even want to justify a reason for her "recommendation". I now am going to mediation and possibly to court because these are my KIDS and she's got to make this crazy decision which will affect my precious children for possibly the rest of their lives. I want to cry and scream and ask her what if she traded me places? If I was the decision maker and she was the mother trying to make life as successful and meaningful for HER children. What if I took almost an entire school year and then accused her of being financialy motivated when I made a crazy decision like she has? I feel powerless....these are my children for heaven's sake. They are my life. Shame on you Bridget.