The Special Education Clinic, one of the first of its kind in the nation, was created in January 1995 under the direction of late former Acting Dean and long-time Rutgers law professor, Eric Neisser. The Clinic provides free legal services to indigent parents of children with disabilities seeking to obtain appropriate educational services for their children, trains law students to handle special education cases, and seeks to educate both parents and school personnel concerning their mutual rights and responsibilities.

The need for legal representation and training in this specialized area of law is enormous. Over ten percent of public school children in New Jersey have been classified as needing special education. Parents in poorer communities often have difficulty in securing adequate educational services and have few resources to ensure that the rights of their disabled children are protected. The legal representation provided by the clinic has a substantial impact upon whether parents obtain an appropriate education for their children.

The Clinic seminar concentrates on both substantive and procedural aspects of special education law as well as advocacy skills. In addition to representing parents at mediations, due process hearings and other court appearances, the clinic focuses on a broad range of lawyering skills. Clinic work encompasses factual investigation, including extensive document review (IEPs, school records, and child study team assessments) as well as, client and witness interviews, consultation with experts, meeting with child study teams, and drafting complaints and other legal documents.