Areas of responsibility: Legal and policy analysis, legislative and congressional developments, dispute resolution, federal monitoring, Medicaid, cultural competency and diversity issues, civil rights history and litigation analysis, organizational development, non-profit corporate and special education law
The Legal & Regulatory Workgroup is one of NERRC's most longstanding workgroups, having celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2005.
The scope of the workgroup encompasses all of the legal, policy, and conflict management needs of our states. Upon request of the northeast State Directors of Special Education, this workgroup was created by NERRC in order to give directors access to high-quality legal advice and improve the skills of state mediators to prevent unnecessary litigation.
NERRC staff provide research and coordination support to workgroup members. Each state director in Region 1 is asked to appoint its special education legal counsel, policy drafter, and mediation, due process hearing, and administrative complaints coordinators to this workgroup. Workgroup members regularly communicate with each other about critical and immediate issues. In addition, NERRC hosts a forum twice yearly to discuss current legal and policy developments as well as systems operations issues with both short- term and long-term impact regarding the implementation of IDEA.
