Sweet Stevens Attorneys to Address Emerging Special Education Issues at 2026 Exceptional Children Conference
New Britain, PA – As schools and families navigate an increasingly complex special education landscape, four attorneys from Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams LLP will address some of the field’s most pressing legal issues at the 2026 Exceptional Children Conference on Friday, October 30th at Central Penn College in Summerdale, PA.
Presented by the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, the educational arm of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, the annual conference brings together attorneys, hearing officers, advocates, educators and parents to examine the latest developments in special education law and their practical impact on students, families and school districts. The attorneys from Sweet Stevens will address issues such as the fundamentals of special education law, the growing potential for monetary damages, gifted education, and the legal rights of students with disabilities.
- Rose McHugh, as co-chair of the event, will open the conference with a welcome and introduction.
- Kalani Linnell Asroff will participate in a panel on Pursuing Money Damages for Special Education Students. The session will examine the legal remedies available when schools fail to protect students from discrimination based on sex, gender or disability, including recent appellate decisions that have broadened the circumstances in which substantial monetary damages may be available.
- Shawn Lochinger will co-present The Complexities of Gifted Education and the IDEA. The session will explore Pennsylvania's Chapter 16 requirements for gifted education, implementation in schools and the intersection of gifted education and IDEA for students who are dually eligible for gifted and special education services. It also will examine recent hearing officer decisions, increasing litigation involving gifted education and emerging legal issues in this area.
- Rebekah Van Der Werf will co-present Introduction to Special Education Law, providing a practical overview of the legal framework governing special education, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), Child Find and Section 504. The session also will examine how special education disputes can progress from the schoolhouse to formal administrative proceedings and the courts.
Conference attendees are eligible for CLE credits. For more information, visit pbi.org.
Sweet, Stevens, Katz & Williams, LLP was formed in 1995 by nine experienced education lawyers who created the first private law practice in Pennsylvania dedicated entirely to Education Law. Since then, the firm has grown to 26 attorneys who represent over 290 school and municipal entities as Solicitors or as Special Counsel in more than 50 counties throughout Pennsylvania, and in additional practice areas, such as Construction Law, Tax Assessment Appeals, Audit of Operations and Practices, Real Estate Law and Oil, Gas and Mineral Law.