“Although I myself am a lawyer, I realized I needed a specialist to represent me at my daughter’s IEP because the school district was threatening to withdraw her services.

Allison was recommended to me and I realized I knew her from private practice years ago. I already knew she was smart, skilled, and great to work with, and she proved to be the perfect advocate for my daughter. She helped me understand the extent of our rights under the law and applied the right amount of pressure on the school district.

Ultimately, we came out of the IEP with exactly what we wanted and yet maintained a positive relationship with the school and district representatives. I am thankful that Allison followed her heart and has chosen to apply her considerable skills to helping special needs children like my daughter, and their parents.” — NATALIE S.

“Allison was instrumental in helping us obtain the appropriate level of IEP services for our son when he was in elementary school. We felt that the school was maintaining services for him that he no longer required but we could not get them to revise his existing IEP.

In a brief, very helpful conversation, Allison provided us with simple but technically correct language that forced the school to comply with our wishes, and in so doing, provided our son with the perfect amount of support. We never would have been able to achieve what was best for our son so quickly and in such a non-confrontational way without Allison’s expert and compassionate guidance.” — FRANCES G.

“Allison Arkin approaches a case with a thoroughness and depth of preparation which are truly impressive. We greatly appreciate her excellent help and would not hesitate to use her services again as well as highly recommend her to other families.” — SUSAN R.

“I have been very pleased to have Allison on my team to advocate for my child.

One would like to think that the school is totally on top of what a child needs and would advocate for that child no matter what. Unfortunately, even if the school personnel are well intentioned, budget and time constraints make that impossible. It is up to the parents to make sure their child’s needs are getting met. This can be very anxiety provoking for parents, who may not even fully understand their rights, let alone what their child needs.

Allison has been extremely instrumental in helping me understand my rights, advising me on what I need to do to enforce those rights and stepping in with both a plan of action and legal representation when required. With Allison’s calm demeanor and clarity about special needs laws, I have felt very supported and empowered to help my child.” — NAJLA B.

“We had been in ‘stay put’ with our daughter’s school district for three years and the negotiations were not going anywhere. Within a month of Ms. Arkin taking over the negotiations we had a settlement that got us more than what we had been asking for.” — JOSEPH T.