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Youth and Education Law Project

Overview

Since its founding, the Youth and Education Law Project has worked with disadvantaged youth and their communities to ensure that they have access to equal and excellent educational opportunities.

Whether filing a class-action lawsuit to prevent a local school district from unlawfully excluding students from school without providing them their constitutional right to a hearing, advocating for a preschooler with autism in a mediation session to ensure that he receives appropriate educational services, or drafting a policy brief that seeks to improve the delivery of mental health services to youth with disabilities, students in the clinic are exposed to a wide range of educational policy reform and advocacy work.

Under the direction of Professor Bill Koski (PhD '03), students represent youth and families in special education and school discipline matters, community outreach and education, school reform litigation, policy research, and advocacy.

"In addition to developing first-rate lawyering skills such as client counseling, negotiation, and oral advocacy, students in the clinic are given the opportunity to take ownership of their cases and projects, reflect on their practice, and develop the critical quality of sound professional judgment."

Professor Bill Koski (PhD '03), Director, Youth and Education Law Project

News & Press

News

Press Releases

  • Lawsuit Against the California School for the Deaf Settled
    September 11, 2007
    Related: William Koski, Youth and Education Law Project
  • Federal Judge Allows Discrimination Suit against California School for the Deaf
    October 09, 2006
    Related: William Koski, Youth and Education Law Project
  • Agreement Sends Wrongfully Expelled Minority Students Back to Berkeley High
    March 15, 2005
    Related: William Koski, Youth and Education Law Project

    • Publications

    Fellows

    Carly Munson
    Bingham McCutchen Clinical Teaching Fellow
    650-725-8581

    Carly Munson has joined the Youth and Education Law Project at Stanford Law School as a clinical teaching fellow. Before joining Stanford Law, Munson worked as a staff attorney for the Education Advocacy Program at the Disability Rights Legal Center. While there, Munson co-taught a course on special education law at Loyola Law School. Munson received her JD from the Boston University School of Law, and her BA from University of California, Riverside.

    Clinic Contacts

    William Koski
    Director
    650 724.3718
    Joanne Newman
    Legal Assistant
    650 723.4336

    Recorded & Past Events

    May 2011

    February 2008

    February 2007

    Individual Cases

    Students in the Education Advocacy Clinic of the Youth and Education Law Clinic have the opportunity to represent children and youth in a variety of school-related matters.

    Click on the case links to read more detailed information.

    Civil Litigation Matters

    Robles-Wong v. California, No. RG-10515768

    The Youth & Education Law Project of Stanford Law School's Mills Legal Clinic and the law firm of Bingham McCutchen are representing children and their families in a historic lawsuit that was filed on May 20, 2010 against the State of California. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the current education finance system unconstitutional and to require the state legislature to establish a school finance system that provides all students an equal opportunity to meet the academic goals set by the State.

    The case, Robles-Wong, et al. v. State of California, was filed in the Superior Court of California in Alameda County, and is docketed as case number RG-10515768. The case is currently assigned to Judge Steven Brick, Complex Litigation Division (Dept. 17). The lawsuit was brought by a broad coalition, including more than 60 individual students and their families, nine school districts from throughout the State, the California School Boards Association (CSBA), California State PTA, and the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA).

    Plaintiffs' case has been bolstered by an intervening complaint, filed by the California Teachers' Association (CTA), filed on July 15, 2010. The State filed its demurrer and motion to strike the two complaints on August 10, 2010, seeking to dismiss both lawsuits, and plaintiffs filed their response on October 8, 2010. The State's reply is due on November 16, 2010. Judge Brick will hear arguments for and against the demurrer on December 10, 2010 at 9:00am.

    Specifically, the Robles-Wong lawsuit asks the court to compel the State to align its school finance system - its funding policies and mechanisms - with the educational program that the State has put in place. To do this, plaintiffs allege, the State must scrap its existing finance system; do the work to determine how much it actually costs to fund public education to meet the state's own program requirements and the needs of California's school children; and develop and implement a new finance system consistent with Constitutional requirements.

    Emma C. et al. v. Delaine Eastin, et al., C:96-4179 TEH (N.D. Cal.)

    YELP is lead counsel in a class action lawsuit filed in 1996 against the California Department of Education (CDE) and the Ravenswood City School District (the District) seeking to reform the District's special education service delivery system and the CDE's monitoring and oversight system in the District.

    J.C. v. California School for the Deaf, et al., C:06-02337 JSW (N.D. Cal.)

    On August, 31, 2007, YELP celebrated a significant victory when United States District Court Judge Jeffrey White (N.D. Cal.) approved a comprehensive settlement agreement in a complex disability and educational rights matter.

    Smith v. Berkeley Unified School District, No. C-04-3306 WDB (N.D. Cal.)

    In a closely watched civil rights lawsuit involving the Berkeley Unified School District, YELP and its co-counsel, Legal Services for Children, Inc. and Bingham McCutchen LLP, achieved a notable settlement for students of color who were subject to unlawful school discipline procedures.

    D.J. v. San Rafael City Schools, et al., Nos. C-04-3992, C-05-00662 MHP (N.D. Cal.)

    When D.J., a student with significant mobility and visual impairments, was a 16 year-old sophomore, he had difficulty accessing parts of the high school facilities and much of his curriculum due to his disabilities.

    Special Education Cases

    Case of A.G.

    A 7-year-old boy suffered traumatic brain injury (ataxia) after choking on a peanut at the age of 3.

    Case of A.V.

    A.V. suffers from both cortical visual impairment and traumatic brain injuries, and required the expertise of a county classroom for the visually impaired, as well as orientation and mobility instruction.

    Case of C.C.

    A blind, multiple-disabled, 17-year-old high school student, C.C.'s educational program needs must be met through a state school that serves blind children.

    Case of C.G.

    A 13-year-old boy in the 8th grade suffers from clinical depression and family strife: he comes from a caring, but very low-income, single-parent home, and has witnessed domestic violence.

    Case of F.P.

    Clinic students Bridget Kerlin ('06) and Ruth Barnes ('07) opened the doors of F.P.'s public high school, after months of failed negotiations between the parent and the school.

    Case of J.C.

    When J.C., a six-year old nonverbal boy with severe autism, first came to YELP, the school had placed him in a general education kindergarten classroom without any autism-specific interventions or staff-support trained in autism.

    Case of J.O.

    For several months, J.O., a hard-of-hearing middle school student, was denied the sign-language interpreter services specified in his individual education plan under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

    Case of J.V.

    J.V. is a high school student with agoraphobia, depressive anxiety, generalized anxiety and bipolar disorder whose primary issue is school (and other social setting) avoidance.

    Case of M.E.

    M.E. is a 3rd grade student with attention difficulties that often lead to inappropriately physical behavior in school,

    Case of N.V.

    A 4-year-old child who attends a county Early Childhood Center that he and his parents enjoy, has a dangerous and unusual tonic-clonic seizure disorder.

    School Discipline Cases

    Case of A.F.

    YELP students Jenna Sheldon-Sherman ('11) and Luke Weiger ('10) represented fifteen-year-old, A.F., in reenrolling in high school after being denied admission for over 2 months.

    Case of A.R.

    YELP clinic student Christine Sebourn ('08) worked swiftly to prevent the expulsion of A. R., a 7-year-old student with autism spectrum disorder.

    Case of A.V.

    A 15-year-old 9th grader began attending her new high school in the 2003 fall semester.

    Case of F.O.

    F.O. is a 16-year-old product of neglect of the school system, which over the years has allowed him to slowly drop from performing at the 50th percentile on standardized tests to between the first and fifth percentiles, because of unrecognized learning disabilities.

    Case of L.A.

    Stephanie Ahmad ('11) and Sean Hassan ('11) represented a 10th grade student, L.A., in an expulsion matter.

    Case of M.H.

    YELP successfully represented a 16-year old student, M.H., who was suspended and later expelled from her high school because of heated comments made during an altercation with another student.

    Case of M.S.

    YELP achieved a recent success in reaching an agreement with the Berkeley Unified School District that allows their client, who had been recommended for expulsion, to complete his senior year of high school and receive a diploma from Berkeley High while fulfilling his credits through Independent Study.

    Case of R.T.

    YELP students Rachel Velcoff ('08) and Craig Zieminski ('08) represented the family of a 13-year old middle school student who had been expelled for bringing a pellet gun to school.

    Case of T.F.

    YELP students Adanna Love ('11) and Stephanie Ahmad ('11) represented a seventh grade student, T.F., in expulsion proceedings after she was found in possession of a small amount of marijuana.

    Case of Y.J.

    Seventeen-year-old Y.J. is an 11th grade special education student attending high school in the San Lorenzo District.

    Projects

    In addition to individual and systemic reform litigation cases, YELP also is involved in myriad policy research and policy advocacy projects focusing on areas such as education funding, equal access to educational resources, access to mental health services, teacher collective bargaining, and commercialism in the schools, to name a few recent examples. YELP has conducted original policy research and briefing, drafted model legislation and policies, provided testimony to local school boards and the California State Assembly, and provided comments to regulatory agencies. Project work provides law students with the opportunity to broaden their understanding of the role of policy advocacy and its potential for enhancing educational opportunities for all children, while applying this knowledge to cutting-edge issues facing California schools.

    Click on the project links to read more detailed information.

    "The Coalition for Adequate Special Education Funding"

    It is generally well-known that Congress and the State of California do not provide sufficient funds to local school districts to ensure that children with disabilities receive the free, appropriate education to which they are entitled.

    Williams v. California: Expert Witness Report and Testimony

    On the 46th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education in 2000, a group of civil rights litigators brought a class-action lawsuit against the State of California, alleging that the state had denied its children many of the "basic educational necessities," including access to textbooks, safe and clean facilities, and qualified teachers.

    Report on 2004 County Mental Health Services In May 2004

    The Youth and Education Law Clinic released "Challenge and Opportunity: An Analysis of Chapter 26.5 and the System for Delivering Mental Health Services to Special Education Students in California," a comprehensive report on Chapter 26.5 (County Mental Health Services) that examines its implementation and the barriers to mental health service delivery to children in special education.

    Contact Information

    Youth and Education Law Project
    Administration Building - Law Clinic - B21
    Stanford Law School
    Crown Quadrangle
    559 Nathan Abbott Way
    Stanford, CA 94305-8610
    650 723.4336

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