Contact Us

ELC welcomes contacts from people interested in our work. Here are some things you should know about contacting us:

We can provide legal advice to only a limited number of callers through our Information and Referral service. However, you may find the help you need by checking our publications, our Frequently Asked Questions, and our links to other organizations.
You can also contact us at 215-238-6970, or use our Inquiries Form. We’ll be glad to respond, but we may provide you with publications and/or referrals rather than personalized legal advice.

If you contact us by telephone, you will be asked to leave a message in voicemail. Our Intake Coordinator (who is not a lawyer) will get back to you within two to four days. Because we have limited staff time, most callers will not speak with a lawyer.
A telephone intake service for families of children with disabilities is available through the Disability Rights Network (DRN) at 1-800-692-7443. Please call DRN directly if you have special education questions, or call one of the groups on this list.
If you’d like to get involved in one of ELC’s ongoing advocacy projects, please contact the person listed on our Agenda page.

Locations:

Education Law Center
The Philadelphia Building
1315 Walnut Street, 4th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19107-4717
Phone: 215-238-6970
Fax: 215-772-3125

Education Law Center
702 Law & Finance Building
429 Fourth Ave.
Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Phone: 412-258-2120
Fax: 412-391-4496

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Education Law Center Staff:

Executive Director

Len Rieser

Len Rieser has been with ELC since 1982. He has handled cases and projects in all of ELC’s major areas of education advocacy, became Co-Director in 1993, and is now ELC’s Executive Director. Len graduated from Harvard University and the University of Chicago Law School, and worked in the Civil Rights Division of the U. S. Department of Justice

General Counsel

Janet Stotland

Janet Stotland graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1969. She began working for Philadelphia’s legal services program and became the Managing Attorney of its West Philadelphia office. In 1976, Janet joined ELC, serving initially as its Director and later as its Co-Director. Janet has handled cases and projects in a range of education law issues, and has specialized in special education advocacy. Janet recently assumed the role of General Counsel with a reduced work schedule.

Philadelphia

Camille Camille Dunham, Staff Attorney

Camille Dunham joined ELC in 2009 as a staff attorney through a public interest fellowship. Camille is involved broadly in ELC’s education advocacy, with a focus on enrollment matters, the educational rights of homeless students, and education of students with disabilities. Camille graduated from Harvard University and Temple University Law School. While in law school, Camille worked as an intern for Judge Dolores K. Sloviter of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, U.S. Magistrate Judge L. Felipe Restrepo of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and as a summer associate at Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP.

Chris G. Christine Gaffney, Associate Director

Chris has been Associate Director of ELC since 1999. Her responsibilities are financial management, fundraising, and a variety of management functions that support ELC’s program. Before joining ELC, Chris was Director of a national community development finance coalition, and Associate Director of an international immigration and refugee organization.

Janice Jackson, Administrative Assistant, Legal Secretary, Intake Coordinator

Janice Jackson (a/k/a “JJ”) has been with ELC since November 1978. She started as a Legal Secretary, and over the years has held many different jobs, including Legal Secretary for all ELC attorneys; Administrative Assistant for the Directors and Associate Director; Office Manager; and Bookkeeper’s Assistant. Since September 2008, she has also worked as the Intake Coordinator, working directly with parents and callers to ELC’s HelpLine.

Baruch Baruch Kintisch, Director of Policy Advocacy

Baruch Kintisch is the Director of Policy Advocacy and Senior Staff Attorney in the Philadelphia office of the Education Law Center. He joined ELC in 2003. Baruch received a B.A. from Haverford College, an M.B.A. from Temple University Fox School of Business, and a J.D. from the Temple University Beasley School of Law. He has worked for over two decades in the areas of public education and juvenile justice, including experience as a social worker, classroom teacher, community organizer, and attorney.

Deborah Gordon Klehr, Staff Attorney

Deborah Gordon Klehr focuses on access to public education, fairness in school discipline, improving school climate, and other school improvement issues. Deborah joined ELC in 2005 after clerking for U.S. District Court Judge Raymond J. Dearie in the Eastern District of New York. Before law school, Deborah taught kindergarten and first grade in Hoboken, NJ. Deborah is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School.

David David Lapp, Staff Attorney

David Lapp has been a staff attorney at the Education Law Center since January 2009. He works on a variety of cases and projects, but his main focus has been on improving school climate. He advises and represents students and parents in school discipline disputes and advocates for the elimination of “zero tolerance” policies and other punitive discipline measures in schools. Prior to graduating from Temple Law in 2008, he taught high school social studies in Philadelphia for nine years.

Jennifer Lowman, Director of Client Services & Training

Jenny Lowman has worked at ELC since 1996. She started at ELC as a Philadelphia Bar Foundation Public Interest Fellow, spent a year as a litigation associate at Dechert, and returned to ELC in 1999 as an Independence Foundation Public Interest Law Fellow. While at ELC, she has represented families in special education cases, discipline cases, and a variety of other matters. Jenny’s work at ELC currently involves updating and writing publications for parents and professionals about the legal rights of public school students, doing trainings, and answering questions from callers to ELC’s Information and Referral service. Jenny graduated from Lehigh University and Harvard Law School.

Maura Maura McInerney, Staff Attorney

Maura McInerney’s education law practice focuses on the legal rights of students who are homeless or in foster care, including issues relating to prompt enrollment, school stability, special education and transfer/graduation requirements. Maura is also involved in policy work at the federal, state and local level. She has been a litigator in the private and public sectors for almost 20 years and has conducted numerous trials and appeals at the federal and state level. Maura previously clerked for U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and was an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Maryland. Prior to entering law school, she worked at Covenant House in New York City. In 1990, she co-founded a transitional housing program in Columbia, M.D. that provides housing, legal support and social services for homeless families.

Connie Sung , Philly Fellow

Connie Sung joined ELC as a 2010-11 Philly Fellow, an AmeriCorps VISTA program that partners college graduates with Philadelphia non-profit agencies. Her work includes ongoing outreach to parents, advocates, and education organizers, and administration of ELC’s Web ventures: PASchoolTalk.org and SchoolVictories.org. Connie graduated in 2010 from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Management and Global Analysis. Before coming to ELC, Connie was actively involved in various education-based programs in Philadelphia, including Let's Get Ready, the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project, and the Penn Chess Tutoring Club.

Brett Brett Schaeffer, Education Advocate/Communications Coordinator

Brett Schaeffer joined ELC in 2009. He handles ELC's communications, from managing several Web sites and multiple electronic newsletters to developing media relations and media outreach. He also works with grassroots education advocacy groups on school improvement issues. Prior to joining the Education Law Center, he worked as an education reporter and editor in Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. Brett is a member of the Philadelphia Public School Notebook's Leadership Board. He graduated from New York University with a degree in journalism.

Pittsburgh

Nancy Nancy A. Hubley, Managing Attorney

Nancy A. Hubley has been with ELC since 1985. She is the Managing Director of our Western Pennsylvania office located in Pittsburgh. Nancy has handled cases and projects in all major areas of education advocacy, with an emphasis on educating the youngest children with disabilities. Nancy graduated from Antioch School of Law and received her undergraduate degree, with honors, from Denison University. Nancy served as a judicial law clerk in the Superior Court for the District of Columbia before coming to ELC. Both of Nancy's daughters graduated from the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

Lee Lee Kirpsak, Administrative Assistant

Lee Kirpsak joined the Education Law Center in May, 2008 as Administrative Assistant in the Western Pennsylvania Office. She brings to her work extensive experience from the corporate world, travel industry, retail business, and self-employment. She is responsible for supporting the organization by managing day-to-day administrative operations in Pittsburgh and interacts with parents and family on issues relating to school problems.

Sandra Zelno, School Reform Associate

Sandy Zelno has been employed by the Education Law Center since 2000. Based in the Western Pennsylvania Office, she focuses her attention on federal, state, and local education policy and reform issues such as academic standards, assessment, teacher quality, school finance equity and adequacy issues, parent involvement, and democratic governance. She works with communities, schools, and policymakers at all levels to shape public policy for schools which results in school improvement and the reduction of achievement gaps, especially for disadvantaged student. She brings to her work more than 30 years of experience coordinating and motivating stakeholders to shape public policy through advocacy efforts.

Training Request
To request a training session from the Education Law Center staff, please complete the online Training Request Form.

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